As an American, one could ashamed of the actions and policies of the US government; unfortunately, much of America’s history has followed the trend of oppression and imperialism started by those first European settlers, who colonized the Americas and supplanted the Native Americans. Hidden in the great American success story, lies a darker history of those who didn’t win, those who never got to write the history books.
The descendants of the European settlers, who eventually founded the United States of America and its government, have not only taken land from Native Americans, but they have repeatedly violated their basic human rights over hundreds of years. Similarly, the U.S. has subjugated, oppressed, or killed people of other nationalities
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Since then, the population of Native Americans has declined consistently (either steadily or sharply), mostly due to violence and disease perpetuated by the European settlers and their descendants; before the arrival of Europeans, populations were likely increasing steadily over the span of at least 12,000 years. Settlers were known to give blankets infested with small pox to Native Americans, contributing to massive declines in population. Estimates of the Native American population before the arrival of Europeans range from about 2 million to 18 million (Johansen, 2006); much of their population and a majority of their tribes have now …show more content…
In fact, many Native Americans worked side by side with the African slaves and their descendants, as many people from both groups were forced to work on the plantations that helped build America’s wealth.
One current example of a misunderstanding both that groups face is related to the way they are identified by mainstream American culture; people tend to identify Africans and Native Americans as individual groups. In reality, Natives Americans were comprised of over 500 groups, each with distinctive cultures and languages; similarly, the Africans that were brought to the Americas as slaves originated from at least 60 unique groups (Handle, p.5). This wide generalization could be compared to grouping Norwegians with Italians and referring to them both as “White
These diseases completely wiped out the 10 million or so Native Americans on the islands and at least ½ of the more than 100 million on the mainland of North America.” The Europeans that came brought diseases that killed many Native Americans and destroyed entire empires. This
“Based on the documentary Black Indians, why did Native Americans and African Americans form alliances and intermingle historically?” The interracial cooperation between Native Americans and African Americans came from necessity. In addition, the rationale for this relationship has changed periodically throughout the history of their contact in Colonial America. During the period of slavery in the United States, the children of African American man and Native American women would gain the freedom of Native Americans in the United States at that period.
During the early to mid 1800s, the colonization of “Indians” and subordination of “women’s rights in the American society,” was very essential to those in authority. They were perceived as a mere means to an end by promises of a better life in exchange for “land and work.” Although locals complied, those in offices took advantage by using antagonistic tactics in achieving wealth, power, and ownership. However, these actions lead to “The First Seminole War, The Monroe Doctrine, Andrew Jackson’s leadership, The Indian Removal Act, The California Gold Rush, The Seneca Falls Convention, and the Birth of the Republican Party.” Although some Americans have been perceived as heroes, their actions have said otherwise about their character.
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin is a searing look into the hypocrisy that is the mortar of America's foundation. A nation whose words are imbued in the immortal deceleration that “All men are created equal”, but denied and stole the unalienable rights of the indigenous and forbade generation after generation, irregardless of ethnicity or creed, people's most basic rights. A nation, whose hymns and anthems speak of the “free” and “brave”, but more often than not, have soiled their hollow words with concrete discrimination and exceptionalism. It is no wonder that Baldwin prologues the second essay of his book, “Down at the Cross” with Rudyard Kipling's infamous work of imperialism and self-deluded entitlement, “The White Man's Burden”. For
government towards Native Americans during the Progressive Era were not implemented in the best interests of Native Americans, but rather in the interests of the U.S. government and white settlers. These policies were motivated by a belief that Native Americans were "primitive" and in need of "civilizing," which led to the loss of Native American land and resources, as well as cultural genocide and trauma for generations of Native Americans. It is important to acknowledge and address the harm caused by these policies in order to move towards a more just and equitable
The desire for vaccinations led the Native Americans in present day America to lose much of their remaining
Many people died from not only diseases, but also from hunger because they "could not get to search for food" and "everyone else was too sick to care of them, so they starved to death in their own beds" (Document 7). Document 2 shows that the effects of the diseases caused a large decline of population for the Native Americans– estimating a decrease of roughly 25 million people to 1.5 million people within about 85 years. Through the exchange of goods, the Americans imported a lot more than they intended. In effect of that, they killed many people and destroyed many civilizations. To make matters worse, they did not have any intentions of helping or caring for the people who they
The United States sent armies into the Native American lands, mistreating the Native Americans, and caused trouble against them by sparkling conflicts and wars. “It is not, of course, to be understood that the government of the United States is at the mercy of Indians; but thousands of its citizens are, even thousands of families. Their exposed situation on the extreme verge of settlement affords a sufficient justification to the government for buying off the hostility of the Savages, excited and exasperated as they are…by the invasion of their hunting grounds and the threatened extinction of their game.” (Document 4) The United States government introduced policies for Native Americans to have a better life, but in fact, they kept them in
Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.
The gap between the rich and the poor widened and not everyone prospered. Many people were taken advantage of and maltreated, including particularly Native Americans and African Americans. European Conquistadors conquered Native Americans and their territory and in the process committed genocide. Roughly ninety percent of the Native American population died due to the Europeans’ arrival. If they were not killed, they would be bound to a contract such as the Requerimiento which blackmailed them into obeying the European rulers.
Losing one’s cultural knowledge, and therefore the reality of their culture, allows others to have control over their collective and individual consciousness as well as their destiny. In this case, it is clear that the United States government has had the dominant relationship over the Native
This is why the numbers went down so drastically. Secondly, while the Native Americans were dealing with a decrease in population. They were also dealing with diseases. According to The Washington Post, “The Native Americans brought over measles.”
We are ‘settlers’. We take up land that belongs to us, American citizens, by paying the government price for it.” (Burton 238). This comment on a deeper context was the view and beliefs of American in 1848. Additionally, the social hierarchy is apparent and supports Alamar’s comment that there is inequality and prejudices within the U.S. government.
According to an Oregon population graph which showed the population of Native Americans and non-Indians, the Native American population dropped drastically between the years 1805 and 1841, while the non-Indian population increased greatly between the years 1841 and 1870. The vast amount of Americans moving Westward resulted in many Native Americans dying. An extensive part of Native American deaths were a result of the new diseases that Americans brought while traveling through American Indian territory. Due to the fact that many of the Native Americans had never experienced these
The main difference that we see between both racial ethnic groups is that white Americans believed that they could strip Native Americans from their culture and civilize them while “nurture could not improve the nature of blacks” (67). Although some Native Americans did try to live under the laws of white Americans, they were eventually betrayed and forced to leave the