...Geronimo. The last great defender of Native American land. Fearless in battle. Fighting for what he believed in. He battled Americans and Mexicans so much, at one time, there were 5,000 U.S. troops hunting him down. But what made Geronimo the way he was? The answer is in his early life. A legend of the untamed American West, the Apache leader Geronimo was born in June 1829 in No-Doyohn Canyon, Mexico. Geronimo was a exceptional hunter, who, according to legend, as a boy swallowed the heart of his first kill in order to guarantee sucess on the hunt. Geronimo belonged to the small band known as the Bedonkohe Apache. Surrounded by enemies, such as the Mexicans, Navajo and Comanches, the Apaches were constantly raiding their neighbors. This led to tension between the Mexicans and the Apache, with the Mexican government putting a $25 bounty on an Apache scalp....
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...American Literature I Prof. Ignacio Magaloni Over the last 5 weeks, there have been many interesting readings assigned. We have experienced readings from Native Americans and European Americans that settled here in America. Through these readings we have learned how each culture communicated with each other and expressed their views. We have also learned many different customs that each culture practiced or believed in. Early European Americans expressed how they felt leaving England and then later becoming a new independent country. As I look back, both cultures did believe in a God or Great Spirit and each one worked in a different way. This is one concept that caught my attention the most, the Native Americans believed deeply in the Great Spirit. In week five, we read stories of the Pontiac and other Native American Tribes. As I read through the stories they all had one thing in common and that was the Great Spirit. The Native Americans relied heavily on the Great Spirit for guidance and worshipped him greatly. “Our Great Father, over the great waters, is angry with the white people, our enemies. He will send his brave warriors against them; he will send us rifles, and whatever else we want-he is our friend, and we are his children.” (449) When the white men were trying to overrun the native Americans it was the Great Spirit who gave them advice to rely on the ancestor’s techniques to overcome the white men. The European Americans on the other hand viewed...
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...Americans personify things in nature as spiritual. They believe that there is one Supreme God, just as those who practice African American religions. In Native American religions the High God is separate from the spirits of Earth. Very similar to African beliefs, Native Americans believe there are lesser deities called to on a regular basis and that the High God is only present in situations of great emergency. Most Native American religions practice this belief of the High God. (30-31) Some Native American religious groups think of the High God as a personal God. They call this a Great Spirit. They believe that the Great Spirit presents itself in the form of humans, items in nature, and things in the spiritual world. These personal Gods are of divine and sacred power. Some believe that anything that has an influence over life is a Great Spirit. (30-31) The role of ancestors is an element of religions that played a special importance. Our textbook explains ancestor veneration as the act of honoring ones’ ancestors. Both African and Native American religions practice ancestor veneration. In African religion ancestors are the most important and most recognized spirits. Africans believe that the deceased continue to live in the afterlife. Unlike the High God as mentioned before, ancestors take a great interest in everyday life of the humans left on Earth. Ancestor spirits watch over people’s lives and participate in affairs that take place...
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...The Native America Just the other day in a routine walk to work I overheard a person use the term “A typical American like me”. This stayed with me and had my head spinning the whole day. It kept me wondering, what really can classify a person as a “typical American”, can it be the color of their skin, or the fact that they were born here. In a sense all of us originate from immigrants, the only people that come to mind that were here originally are the Native of Americans. This is a very diverse and multicultural country that has no official religion, culture, or ancestry. It all a melting pot that has a little bit of everything and from and to everybody. What we must take in great consideration that is the origins of America it begins with settlers, arriving to this land and encountering Natives. It is believed that during an Ice Age they traveled a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from Siberia to what is now known as Alaska today. It is due to Christopher Columbus that they are known as “Indians” this is due to the fact the he believed he had arrived in the Indies. The interaction and trades with the settlers paved the way of nations to born in this continent and with help of Native of Americans the development of these nations. There is a great contribution to the birth of this country be the Native of Americans. However not just to birth but to the development and endurance of time. In the beginning it was Sacajawea who helped Lewis and Clark reached the west...
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...were Britain arming the Native Americans with weapons but the reason for this is because America was in the process of developing so they kept pushing the Native towards West. Native Americans resistance started to weaken from joining British war which conflicted with the Americans. The British imprisoned American sailors to work for them in their navy by kidnapping them from Americans ship. Also, Britain placed a blockade on France because America and France needed to get through Britain in order to trade amongst each other. But for their actions there is always a reaction, the USS Constitution defeated British ship on the 19th of August in 1812. America's Commodore, Oliver Hazard Perry, lead the...
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...life. Two stories that we discussed in class, “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” show how the Native Americans passed down their stories and were able to spread their culture to others. Reading stories from the Native American culture helps us learn more about others, teaches us to respect cultures that are different from our own, and reflects on the beliefs of people from that time period. Through the use of origin myths and oral tradition, the Native people of North America were able to keep their culture alive even to today. In the first story, “Earth on Turtle’s Back”, the beliefs...
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...History 214 May 30, 2014 Michael Kent Ward, “Teaching Indigenous American Culture and History: Perpetuating Knowledge or Furthering Intellectual Colonization?”, Journal of Social Sciences 7 (2): 104-112, 2011.doi 10.3844/jssp.2011.104.112 This article was interesting but very hard to read. Mr. Ward imposed some great questions about the way we learn Native American history, but in my opinion never answered them. While I agreed with his main argument, “.. everyone involved (teachers, students and indigenous peoples) are best served when traditional American Indian authorities are regularly consulted, with regard to matters involving public presentations and interpretations of indigenous cultures.” This article still left me wanting more. There are a number of ongoing issues related to the teaching of Native American History but only offering that communication is the answer was too vague for me. I would have liked the author to go into more detail on how the educators can better obtain the information to depict the Native Americans in a way where it was not a misrepresentation. “A related question concerns problems associated with limiting access to cultural knowledge versus increased demands for open access to information.” The only Native American studies I remember from grade school is the story of Sacagawea. Why? When Native American history is essentially the first American history, why are we waiting until the college level to educate ourselves...
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...America is a young country that has a diverse combination of people. In the 1700s many people from all over the world migrated to America and spread across the nation. This affected the people migrating and/or American society. Native American migration, The Homestead Act, and The Great Migration are analyzed as different events of migration in the US throughout its history. In the 17th and 18th century European colonists started coming to North America to settle. Many of the Native Americans who met these colonists died because of foreign diseases which the colonists brought with them. After a few hundred years and a couple wars, a new nation was born. America was a fast growing country, and the president at the time found the...
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...Conflict of Frontier Americans and the Native Americans The Native Americans who lived on the Great Plains depended on vast herds of buffaloes and horses. The buffalo herds provided the Native Americans with food, clothing, and buffalo hides were made into shelter. Horses were used to corral and hunt buffalos, as mounts during wartime and service animals when the clans moved across the Great Plains. The Native Americans lived in family groups called clans, which were ruled by a council of its eldest members. As the Civil War ended, many Americans began looking towards...
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...A Review of North American Indians North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account In her book North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account, Alice Kehoe appears to give a straightforward account of the history of North America from the point of view of the Native Americans. The textbook covers the periods from when humans first inhabited the North American continent, some fifteen thousand years ago, and continues through to the present. Due to the immense size and diversity of the North American continent, the text is written so that each chapter covers a geographical region of the continent. The regions covered range from the rich lands of Mexico, through the eastern and western United States, through the forests of Canada, and concluding at the Arctic Circle. Each chapter covers the region’s history, people, culture, ways of life, and the circumstance that caused its cultural identity to collapse. The book culminates with chapters on the trials and tribulations that the Native American nations will face as they enter into the twenty-first century and a chapter on how anthropologists view American Indians. The author emphasizes several key points and occurrences in the history of the natives of North America and their impact on the Indian populations. While her book discusses the heritages, languages, knowledge, technology, arts, and values that have been passed down through generations; it seems that Ms. Kehoe’s intention is to point out the injustices...
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...A Review of North American Indians North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account In her book North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account, Alice Kehoe appears to give a straightforward account of the history of North America from the point of view of the Native Americans. The textbook covers the periods from when humans first inhabited the North American continent, some fifteen thousand years ago, and continues through to the present. Due to the immense size and diversity of the North American continent, the text is written so that each chapter covers a geographical region of the continent. The regions covered range from the rich lands of Mexico, through the eastern and western United States, through the forests of Canada, and concluding at the Arctic Circle. Each chapter covers the region’s history, people, culture, ways of life, and the circumstance that caused its cultural identity to collapse. The book culminates with chapters on the trials and tribulations that the Native American nations will face as they enter into the twenty-first century and a chapter on how anthropologists view American Indians. The author emphasizes several key points and occurrences in the history of the natives of North America and their impact on the Indian populations. While her book discusses the heritages, languages, knowledge, technology, arts, and values that have been passed down through generations; it seems that Ms. Kehoe’s intention is to point out the injustices...
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...North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account In her book North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account, Alice Kehoe appears to give a straightforward account of the history of North America from the point of view of the Native Americans. The textbook covers the periods from when humans first inhabited the North American continent, some fifteen thousand years ago, and continues through to the present. Due to the immense size and diversity of the North American continent, the text is written so that each chapter covers a geographical region of the continent. The regions covered range from the rich lands of Mexico, through the eastern and western United States, through the forests of Canada, and concluding at the Arctic Circle. Each chapter covers the region’s history, people, culture, ways of life, and the circumstance that caused its cultural identity to collapse. The book culminates with chapters on the trials and tribulations that the Native American nations will face as they enter into the twenty-first century and a chapter on how anthropologists view American Indians. The author emphasizes several key points and occurrences in the history of the natives of North America and their impact on the Indian populations. While her book discusses the heritages, languages, knowledge, technology, arts, and values that have been passed down through generations; it seems that Ms. Kehoe’s intention is to point out the injustices that have been perpetrated on the Native...
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...a sense of pride, patriotism and unity to the new United States. The British had long dictated the path of the Americas in order to bring about prosperity for Great Britain with little regard for the Americas. The Revolutionary war ended that or so the United States thought. As the new nation forged its own path to recognition as a sovereign nation based freedom and liberty, there were continuous internal conflicts over the balance of governmental powers, military preparedness, westward expansion, economic prosperity, slavery and diplomacy with other nations. The War of 1812, also known as the second war of independence, or rather the end of the war, reignited passion in the hearts and souls of all Americans with a little help from a General Andrew Jackson and forced Great Britain to respect all the rights the United States deserved as a nation. The Napoleonic War was waging in Europe between Great Britain and France. The United States had full intentions of remaining neutral throughout the conflict. The attempts of the United States to carry on normal trade relations with both Great Britain and France were nearly impossible. Great Britain and France continuously interfered in the commercial trade routes in Europe and the world with blockades and seizures. The use of impressments and requirements for trade were Great Britain’s way of ignoring the rights the United States has as a nation and the right to remain neutral in times of war. In Napoleon’s Milan Decree, he stated that...
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...Native American Culture Amanda Thaden-Fidjeland December 21, 2015 ENG 301 Marc Bonanni Storytelling is the writing of the past, living the present and preserving the future. As storytelling is changing due to changes in the tribal communities of the native people, the traditional form is threatened. Storytelling has been passed down from generation to generation and remains their main form of communication even after written word was commonly accepted. The Native Americans were divided in several groups and possessed their own customs and language. These tribes lived in regional groups and shared common culture and history. Storytelling was one of the most significant practices of the Native Americans; though their stories can be classified, still many similar aspects have been observed. The storytelling was an oral practice which had revealed the tales of their past. The Native American culture was diverse and had traditional values and came with the rich and insightful past. Storytelling has been a prominent practice among the Native Americans; this practice has passed from one generation to another and has been a way of communicating wisdom. These indigenous people believed in the art of communication to explore and explain their past and therefore the stories were narrated orally by one to another. They depended upon unwritten art to share their customs, history, legends and rituals and held the feeling of pride in doing so. The powerful tales that were narrated by...
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...settlement, particularly in terms of railroad expansion and farming, lead to inevitable conflicts with the Native Americans? The thought of having two very different societies collide, the bigger stronger is always going to prevail. With Americas rapid expansion into the plains states, confrontations with Native Americans was inevitable, due to their nomadic nature. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened the way for Americans looking for a fresh start after the Civil War, giving 160 acres to families that took part. With these homesteads came farms, livestock, modernization and fences. The idea of cordoning off a section of land was an unheard of concept for Native Americans. According to "Native American Indian Facts" (2014), “Many of the tribes of the Great Plains were nomadic and followed the buffalo migrations which provided their food. These tribes spent a good part of the year living in camps that could easily be dismantled and moved to follow the buffalo migrations”. The Native Americans had been traveling the plains in search of food for generations before settlers even ventured west. When these nomadic Indians came across these fences in their nomadic pursuit of food, they were ignored which led to confrontations with farmers. The transcontinental railroad had a significant impact with Native Americans and the decline of the nomadic way of life. According to "American Experience" (2014),” it was an irrevocable marker of encroaching white society, that unstoppable force which...
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