Importance Of Native Americans In Education

Why Native Americans should be taught in Schools

Throughout classrooms in America, Native American history is as if they lived hundreds of years ago, and when talking about the conflict between the colonizers and Native Americans it is perceived that Native Americans peacefully relocated and left their land for the colonizers use. Dakota Access and Keystone Access Pipeline and have divided the country and brought hundreds of Native Americans tribes together. These protests have brought Native American cultures, traditions, oppression and social injustice into the spotlight. Native Americans should be better represented in ELA and History classes because Native Americans have greatly influenced our culture and traditions, inventions and the

These traditions and cultures include ceremonies, burials, clothes, religion, pottery and inventions. Unlike many modern religions where there is only one god or goddess there are many gods and goddess, in Native American culture, there are many. Some of these gods and goddess include the Three Sisters, the Three Sisters are corn, bean and squash. The three sisters are extremely important to Native American culture because the main part of their diet included squash, beans and corn; without these three foods it is possible that Native Americans would have starved. There are many other Native American gods and goddess such as Dawn, Humanmaker, and Iya, however every tribe has different gods and goddess . In fact, Religion, Beliefs, Rituals and Ceremonies state that, “Native American Mythology is based on a collection of myths and legends of a people, concerning the origin of the people (creation myth), the nature of the universe, deities, ancestors and heroes. Myths and legends were verbally passed down through generations of storytellers.” Native American also had many ceremonies and rituals. They don’t view them as rituals or going out of your way to do something like Christians or Catholics view them, to them it was just everyday life. Native Americans celebrated and held many rituals such as Pow-Pows, healing rituals, Death ceremonies and Green Corn Festivals. “They also embraced ceremonies and

At this time, many doctors would only treat white people so by helping all people when she, herself was a Native American who faced many hardships in her life because of white people she showed white people that Native Americans aren’t savages. She also advocated for modern hygiene and helped lower the spread of disease in Native American communities. “Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. As member of the Omaha Reservation, she worked tirelessly for her people.” There are many other great examples of Native Americans being crucial to the exploration America, the shaping of American morals and the political arena however one of the most important in the last 50 years has been Mildred Loving. In 1967 the interracial marriage ban was lifted in a groundbreaking case between the state of Virginia vs Loving. Mildred loving was a young girl born in Virginia with African American, European and Native American descent, who fell in love with a white man named Richard Loving. At the age of 18 she became pregnant and then decided to get married to Richard Loving. In 1958 they were taken from their home under arrest because they had violated the 1924 ban on interracial marriage. A local judge allowed them to flee the state to