The Story <- of the Native American is
unique, tragic and inspiring: 1.) Unique- because they were the original inhabitants of the
continent and experienced every change of America. 2.) Tragic- because
the conflict with whites paralleled with the traditions of people around the
world. 3.) Inspiring- because they have survived, have asserted their
political and economic rights, and have succeeded in retaining their identity,
culture and heritage.
Indian
children <- use computers to learn their language of
Ojibway.
Full
Citizenship <- granted in 1924, are proud of America, their
own culture and heritage.
Indian
Heritage <- some states have Indian
names-
Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Idaho and more. Indians
taught Europeans how to cultivate crops such as corn,
tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco. Indians invited
canoes, snowshoes an
moccasins. Are master craftsmen in pottery, silver jewelry, paintings and woven
rugs
and baskets.
Population <- there were one million Indians when the settlers came, then
down about 350,000 by 1920. Today there are 2 million, 62% percent live in
large cities and the remaining live on the reservation. In 1816, there were
12.9 million whites, 2.5 million blacks. In 1990 there were 251.4 million
people living in the United states.
Transfer of Land <- from Indian to European, then later American came by
treaties, war and coercion (to compel or persuade by force or threats). The
history of the United States is the story of the Native American struggle.
Columbus <- set out to sail west from
Spain to
find Asia, he came to the Bahamas Islands close to Florida. He named the people
he met “los Indies”, Indians. He discovered the New World. Indians has since
then been the name for North American people.
The
Indians <- north of Mexico to Canada spoke over 300
languages, lived in small bands or groups called “tribes”. Scientists <- speculate that the Native
Americans came from Asia (Siberia), crossed over the Bering Straight into
Alaska
after the Ice Age, and
migrated south through North, Central and South Americas.
The Pueblos <- Indians in southwest part of America, built and
lived in busy towns with many-storied building that several families lived in.
The
Apache <- Indians, also in the
Southwest
hunted wildlife and gathered plants, nuts and roots. They acquired horses
from the Spanish and started
to raid the Pueblos and settlers for food and goods.
The Iroquois <- Indians live in the Easter
Woodlands of
America, they hunted, fished and grew crops like the Pueblos. They built long
houses that 20 families could live together in them. They were fierce warriors.
The Haida <- Indians live in the North
West part of
America, they were rich in fishing and game. They built their homes with tree
logs and also built “totem poles” carved from trees, that told of their family
history.
Many Indians <- were and still are great master craftsmen in pottery,
baskets, carvings and woven cotton and plant-fiber cloth. The Winnebagoes of
the Midwest developed a sophisticated calendar that took the motions of both
the sun and the moon into account.
Europeans <- The Spanish arrived in America in the
1500s and settled in Florida, California and in the southwest.
The French and the Dutch came also came in search of profit. Many came to trade with the Indians, exchanged guns, iron tools and furs. They also came to establish new homes and start a new life.
Thanksgiving <- is the American holiday in the month of November
that celebrates the Indian generosity with the Pilgrims in 1620. The Pilgrims survived their first
winter in Massachusetts and the Indians showed them how to survive and live.
Thus, the Pilgrims were very thankful to God and the Indians.
Vacant Land <- Europeans thought they had the right to farm
the land and improve it by putting up fences, digging wells and building small
towns.
Manhattan Island <- In 1626, the Dutch came
and bought the island from the Shinnecock Indians, that was plentiful for hunting and
fishing. The Dutch felt that is was their right to keep the Indians off. The
Indians believed that the land was to be “shared’ by all men and can only take
what was needed for food, clothing and shelter. To Europeans, the game or
animals were to be killed and the land to be owned and farmed.
Lost Land <- to make room for the new
settlers
were forced to give up their land, hunting lands and fields because of war,
threats and treaties.
Several Tribes <- came together as one and went to war with the
Pilgrims in 1675. For a year they fought, but not even 20,000 allies could
overcome the numerous colonists and their guns.
The Iroquois <- who inhabited land below Lakes
Ontario and
Erie in northern New York and Pennsylvania were successful in resisting the
whites. The “League of Iroquois”, a council of 50 representatives from each of
he five tribes was very democratic in governing their people. They sided with
the British who fought against the French from 1754 to 1763, without the
Iroquois’s help, the British would have been defeated and would of lost their
dominance over the land. The League was strong until the American Revolution in
the 1770s.
Go West! <- the United States western
boundary was the Appalachians at the time of the American Revolution. The
colonies became expensive, so settlers moved west into the wilderness of
Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. The Indians attacked the traveling settlers
because their “hunting grounds” were being overtaken. The French and British
trying to retain their settlements, encouraged Indians to attack frontier
settlements. The whites struck back, there was a lot of bloodshed and lives
lost on both sides.
Indian Problem <- In 1817, President James Monroe wrote; “if the Indian tribes
do not abandon that state, an become civilized and if that they will decline an
become extinct.” Monroe felt that the only chance for Indians to survive was to
remove them from their land and put them at another place where they could not
be disturbed by settlers. In, 1830, the Indian Removal Act became law, and the
Indians in the east were moved to the west side of the Mississippi.
The Cherokee <- was one of the tribes to be removed, even after they adopted to
live the white man’s way. In 1821, Sequoyah, a Cherokee chief, developed a
written language for his people and used his 85 character alphabet, they
printed Bibles and a newspaper. They also adopted a constitution modeled on of
the United States. Unfortunately, a small group of Cherokees, that did not
represent the Cherokee Nation, signed a treaty with the American Government
agreeing to the removal of the Cherokees.
“The
Trail of Tears” <- the Cherokees
were removed
from their homes by force and marched overland to Indian Territory
in Oklahoma. This journey
took 3-5 months and some 4,000 Cherokees, ¼ of the Cherokee Nation, lost their
lives in this shameful process of removal.
The
Sioux (Lakota) <- roamed on
horseback hunting the Buffalo, that gave them everything they needed to live for
food,
clothing and shelter
(teepees). The Sioux allowed “wagon trains” going west to pass through their
lands, but
the whites began to settle on
their lands. Then came the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, that proclaimed that
white settlers could not
settle on their land. But 6 years later, gold was discovered in the Black Hills
of South
Dakota and the treaty was
ignored. The United States try to buy the land from the Sioux, but they
refused.
Sitting
Bull <- the Government no longer
recognized the Indian Nation, so at “Custer’s Last Stand”, Sitting Bull
defeated
the soldiers in 1876 and soon after that because
of the loss of Buffalo and starvation, the Sioux Tribe
surrendered and moved to live
on the reservation. Unrest developed of broken treaties, disappearing of game
and failure of crops, disease
and resentment.
Wounded Knee <- in 1890, at Wounded Knee, South
Dakota; a cavalry regiment of soldiers were transporting a group of Sioux
Indians, a bloody confrontation broke out, that resulted in over 300 deaths of
Indian men, women and children. Marked the end of all hope.
All the West <- from the Prairies to the Pacific, the land was settled by
ranchers, farmers and townspeople. There was no more Frontier, Indians were confined to reservations. The
Government made promises that it could not keep; because of poor management,
inadequate supplies and dishonest government workers, that led to unnecessary
suffering for the Indians living on the Reservation.
Helen Hunt Jackson <- heard Poncha chief Standing Bear speak
about the sufferings of Indians. Thereafter, wrote the book “A Century of
Dishonor” in 1885. It brought the sufferings of the Indians to the attention of
the nation.
The General Allotment Act <- in 1887, each Indian was allotted 160 acres of land to
farm, but many Indians didn’t desire to farm and the land was not fertile to
grow crops. The Government sold off the rest of the land after the allotments
to the settlers. By 1934, the Indians land reduced from 138 million acres (56
million hectares) to 48 million acres (19 million hectares).
The
Indian Citizenship Act <-
in 1924,
declared that all Indians born within the territorial limits of the United
States to be
citizens. This came by the
increase of respect by white legislators that acknowledged the Indians
contributions
in World War I. Soon after,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in Washington D.C.
<- in 1928, Presidential
candidate Herbert Hoover selected Charles Curtis, a Kaw Indian from Kansas, as
Vice-Presidential candidate.
In 1946 <- The government set up the
Indian Claims Commission to deal with unfair treatment claims or fraud. In the 32 years of
operation, it awarded $818 million in damages.
Compensation <- The United States continues today to recognize
the “mistreatment” and “injustice” of the entire Indian
Nation of North America, and
makes the efforts to “pay back” to the Native American Indians for their
suffering, humiliation and
losses.