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Literature essays in the history of native americans
Literature essays in the history of native americans
Stereotypes of indigenous peoples
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Little Crow follows the story of the easternmost Sioux people, but the book mainly ponders the decisions and actions of Chief Little Crow. By blending in an analytical style, Anderson can create a book that challenges social and political beliefs of the time period. Anderson scrutinizes the relationship between native people and the United States government to show how politics shaped many of the social issues for native people. Since he creates a book that combines storytelling and historical understanding, Anderson can truly explain the social and political landscapes of Sioux and United States
In Cheyenne River American Indian Joseph Brings Plenty’s article Save Wounded Knee (2013) asserts that American Indian Reservations all over the country are in danger of becoming nothing but a real-estate transaction, leaving behind all of the rich culture that once thrived over the Oglala land. Plenty supports his claim with the use of pathos. He goes to explain the horrors of bloodshed of the soldiers of the United States Army’s Seventh Cavalry in the winter of 1890, explaining that the soldiers open fired with their machine guns on to the Lakota. He adds that 150-300 Lakota people died as a result of this massacre. Brings Plenty’s purpose is to explain why the Wounded Knee land should be saved from being sold off.
“Now the Sioux Must Battle Big Oil”, authored by Alan Gilbert, is an argument with many forms of evidences. Gilbert uses a variety of statistics, quotations, as well as personal experience to support his argument and his opinion. Most of these evidences are reliable, but some can be improved by adding more authority to the evidences. In the beginning of his essay, Gilbert uses a quote from a Standing Rock Tribal chairman. This is a trustworthy source, since it is from a firsthand witness of the situation.
Scholarly reviews provide a reader with an analytical insight to an author’s analysis on a monograph. In The Comanche Empire, Pekka Hamalainen creates a thesis, which claims the Comanche Native Americans created a powerful empire in the Southwest. Assessing Hamalainen’s thesis, reviewers Joel Minor, Dan Flores, Gerald Betty, and Joaqin Rivaya Martinez present a variety of views on the monograph. Providing the strengths and weakness of Hamalainen’s text, each reviewer agrees and disagrees on several of the monograph’s points. The scholarly reviews provide a structured assessment, which offers the reader with an individual perspective of the monograph under review.
President Jefferson told Lewis and Clark to “cultivate good relations with the Sioux” because at the time “the Sioux were the dominant power on the northern and central Great Plains more than able to hold their own against white Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century.” (The American Journey Ch.13 Pg.349). This was because the Sioux were able to successfully mix important components of American life with their traditions. Unfortunately these components including guns they had acquired from the French and horses introduced to the New World by the Spanish helped the Sioux push weaker tribes to the south and west of the Missouri River basin. These weak tribes became dependent on the Sioux.
Balance and Power: The Lakota Expansion The outstanding power of the Lakotas against other tribes and the settlers is said to be caused by the numbers and superior organization skills of the Lakota. But that is only half of the reason for the Lakotas’ power. The Lakotas succeeded partly because other tribes failed.
Sitting Bull Champion of the Sioux: A Biography, by Stanley Vestal, is a great book to read for anyone wanting vivid, yet serious, insight of the lives of the Sioux Indians, or more specifically, one Sioux Indian, Sitting Bull. There are three sections in the book that describe three major time periods of Sitting Bull’s life. Each section focuses on a different time span. The author highly exceeds his goal of “writing the first biography of a great American Indian soldier and statesman in which his character and achievements are presented with the same care and seriousness they would have received had he been of European ancestry.” (xxi)
Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.
In the nonfiction book Saga of the Sioux, there are several conflicts discussed. The Native Americans had many struggles during this time; Some conflicts are Man vs. Man, Man vs. Society and Man vs. Nature. There is also a recurring theme, equality was not given to the U.S. at this time. One conflict in the book Saga of the Sioux is Man vs. Man. One example of Man vs. Man was when a Native American arrested a fellow Native American.
Today December 29, 1890 tensions rose high between the Sioux chief Big Foot and a force of US troops at Wounded Knee Creek. The Sioux Tribe has been struggling for a long time since the way of life they’ve always known was destroyed. Seeking to regain their glory, the Sioux traveled to Nevada to meet the self-proclaimed Messiah Wovoka. Wovoka prophesied that the dead would soon enough join the living and the Ghost Dance was performed to catalyze the event. This dance has spread throughout the reservations of Dakota instilling fear to the white troops.
The Lakota Sioux, facing pressure to conform to “civilized” norms, adopted a new belief consisting of a central creed, code, and cultus. This
FDR, a former President of the United States, once said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This famous quote was used in a time of distress among the citizens. The people of the United States were out of control because they didn’t know what was happening or how bad it was. Roosevelt satisfied the people of his country by telling them that the only thing they had to worry about was the fear that they make up themselves. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about an abundance of schoolboys who get in a plane crash and get stuck on an island with no adults.
The name “Sioux” is short for “Nadouessioux”, meaning “little snakes”, given to them by their spiteful long time rival the Ojibwa tribe. The Sioux community was divided into a organized nation of seven different, smaller tribes; later becoming known as: Oceti Sakowin, which translates into “Seven Council Fire” in the Sioux indigenous language. To keep their history alive, the Sioux practiced oral tradition in sharing their past, through the Siouan language and occasionally, they communicated through sign language. They were a dominant tribe in Minnesota that later migrated continuously through the northern Great Plains region following buffalo patterns. The Sioux depended on bison for most of their food source, clothing, and shelter.
“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.
Returning to college was a big decision, one that was greatly affected by my trips around the world. I had been to Zimbabwe, Africa several times on short-term mission trips. We traveled to several orphanages, ministering to the children throughout Harare. My heart broke seeing their lack of care and love, but moving from one orphanage to the next throughout each day did not leave much time to connect and care for these children. Having been adopted myself, I had a huge heart to love these children as my adopted family had loved me.
