Is Jack Weatherford's Stereotypes Of Racism Toward African Americans?

673 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Native Americans and western culture

Today’s society is flooded with racism in every direction we turn, not just racism toward African Americans and people of color, but towards the Native Americans as well. There are countless stereotypes, racist remarks, and myths that rest upon the lives of these people, and this book by Jack Weatherford helps to debunk some of those myths. He goes on to tell the countless stories and things that the Native American people did during their time, even helping the whites and colonists who were forcing them out of their land. Whether it was creating maps, prescribed burns of the forests, building, fur trapping, hunting, farming, the European settlers learned it from the Native Americans. If society knew how many things that the Natives did, and what the white settlers were able to learn from them, then maybe racism wouldn’t be such a problem. Despite being forced out of their homeland and territory, the Native Americans made some of the earliest maps for the explorers (Weatherford, 23). They knew the land so well that they were able to create functioning maps, and were willing enough to let the explorers use them. “Their personal knowledge of the land allowed them to draw maps with precise and accurate detail at the request of the whites” …show more content…

We still use the same hunting techniques that they once did, such as wearing camouflage, trapping, and imitating sounds of the animals. The natives studied the behaviors of animals so that we didn’t have to. When the settlers came they learned everything that they knew from the Native Americans. “Men and women go out to hunt wearing camouflage clothes… and they carry with them bird decoys and assorted whistles and callers, without realizing that all of these devices came directly from ancient Indian hunters” (Weatherford, 69). That sentence by Weatherford is a powerful one, and it sums up his

Show More
Related

  • Shepard Krech's The Ecological Indian

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s

    Read More

  • Printing Press Dbq Essay

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Exploration Era was a time period when countries and people made journeys overseas to find “the New World.” With the help of the printing press, the discoveries of the Americas were known globally making people curious to explore it themselves. In the map “Distribution of Columbus’ Letter” (Document D), it shows where the letter was published and where it was translated to different. This is due to the printing press. Along with the many documents, the news of Christopher Columbus’ discoveries of “India” or the New World had sparked the curiosity of people all over the world. People became more interested in geography and seeing what’s out there along with the different resources. The New World discovery opened up a new trade route and different trade items. This would create pros and cons like economic growth and slavery. In addition the exploration of the Europeans helped us gain knowledge and get a picture of the Americas. In the “Henricus Martellus’ World Map, 1489” (Document E), it shows the world as they knew it with Europe, Africa, and Asia. The “Martin Waldseemuller's World Map, 1507” was an updated, more correct version of the world we see today. Waldseemuller’s map includes the Americas and was much bigger than Martellus’. The printing press had helped Waldseemuller use this new knowledge to create a map that would depict something

    Read More

  • Indian Givers

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    This paper tries to explain Jack Weatherford's Indian Givers by examining the history of the Native American connection to many agricultural products would not have been produced without the knowledge that Indians gave. Weatherford further stipulates that it is through these advances in agriculture that the United States has remained a strong contender in the global market, that without the influences of the Native Americans on the early settlers those early immigrants to America would not have survived. Through his work, "Indian Givers: How Indians of the Americas Transformed the World", Weatherford brings an insight to a people that most individuals have been neglected to consider. The paper concludes that it is Weatherford's purpose to demonstrate that Native Americans have been a misrepresented and forgotten people when the history of North America is discussed.

    Read More

  • Changes in the Land by William Cronon

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Thomas King's 'The Inconvenient Indian'

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Peace Came In The Form Of A Women

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving

    Read More

  • Roanoke Essay

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    This all began when Sir Walter Raleigh, a wealthy courtier, sought-after permission from Queen Elizabeth I to establish a colony in North America. On March 25th 1584 he got a charter to start the colony. Raleigh funded and authorized the expedition .He sent two explorers by the names of Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to claim land for the queen,they departed on the west side of England on April 27th . On May 10 they arrived at the Canaries, a series of islands near the northwest coast of mainland Africa. They arrived at the West Indies on June 10 and stayed there for twelve days then left. On July 4 the explorers saw North American land, they sailed for nine days more looking for an entryway to the sea or river and found one on June 13th. They then set off to explore the land and place it on the map . After they went back two additional journeys there followed after. One group arrived in 1585 and went there for...

    Read More

  • Native Reactions To The Invasion Of America By James Axtell

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article, “Native Reactions to the invasion of America”, is written by a well-known historian, James Axtell to inform the readers about the tragedy that took place in the Native American history. All through the article, Axtell summarizes the life of the Native Americans after Columbus acquainted America to the world. Axtell launches his essay by pointing out how Christopher Columbus’s image changed in the eyes of the public over the past century. In 1892, Columbus’s work and admirations overshadowed the tears and sorrows of the Native Americans. However, in 1992, Columbus’s undeserved limelight shifted to the Native Americans when the society rediscovered the history’s unheard voices and became much more evident about the horrific tragedy of the Natives Indians.

    Read More

  • A Century Of Dishonor, By Helen Hunt Jackson

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    To understand Jackson’s book and why it was written, however, one must first fully comprehend the context of the time period it was published in and understand what was being done to and about Native Americans in the 19th century. From the Native American point of view, the frontier, which settlers viewed as an economic opportunity, was nothin...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Indians Old World By Neal Salisbury

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his essay, “The Indians’ Old World,” Neal Salisbury examined a recent shift in the telling of Native American history in North America. Until recently, much of American history, as it pertains to Native Americans; either focused on the decimation of their societies or excluded them completely from the discussion (Salisbury 25). Salisbury also contends that American history did not simply begin with the arrival of Europeans. This event was an episode of a long path towards America’s development (Salisbury 25). In pre-colonial America, Native Americans were not primitive savages, rather a developing people that possessed extraordinary skill in agriculture, hunting, and building and exhibited elaborate cultural and religious structures.

    Read More

  • What Is The Letter To Christopher Columbus Santangel

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.

    Read More

  • Deconstructing the Map: The JB Harley Theory

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    Historical geographer JB Harley wrote an essay on Map Deconstruction in 1989, in which Harley argues that a map is more than just a geographical representation of an area, his theory is that we need to look at a map not just as a geographical image but in its entire context. Harley points out that by an examination of the social structures that have influenced map making, that we may gain more knowledge about the world. The maps social construction is made from debate about what it should show. Harley broke away from the traditional argument about maps and examined the biases that govern the map and the map makers, by looking at what the maps included or excluded. Harley’s “basic argument within this essay is that we should encourage an epistemological shift in the way we interpret the nature of cartography.” Therefore Harley’s aim within his essay on ‘Deconstructing the Map’ was to break down the assumed ideas of a map being a purely scientific creation.

    Read More

  • The Inequality Of The Native American Society

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    All men are created equal (Declaration of Independence). Yet, the Native Americans continue their fight for decades since colonization. There is a constant struggle to urge for equality from William Apess in his 1833 essay, An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man. In modern day, the fight continues after his lifetime. Equality and freedom is the goal for most Native Americans. Although securing the rights of the Native Americans are progressing, it is slow. Therefore, the inequality continues at a faster pace, as opposed to major changes that would impact the Native Americans positively. Throughout history, they are exploited for their land and natural resources and severely underfunded. As a matter of fact, the common theme seems to be that the Native Americans are continuously suppressed by the “superior race”, which showcases the prevalent thoughts in America. William Apess and

    Read More

  • Native American Culture Summary

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Providing a profound perspective on Native American life, the article contains extremely specific facts, naming specific peoples and their characteristics many people have no knowledge about. Salisbury’s argument in the essay is well thought out and conveyed across the overwhelming amounts of evidence, but in turn loses focus in some areas and draws long on certain topics rather than keeping his explanations concise and well focused. The article also lacks explanation on Native American religion and gender relations; two very important aspects of Native American culture need to fully understand their society. Although this may be true, the article makes excellent connections to how Europeans were not the start of American history, elaborating on examples of Europeans adopting Indian culture and even building peaceful relations with the Indians. Presented with all this evidence revealing how advanced Indian societies were, it brings one to ponder on what would America look like today if Europeans had never interfered with the natives or never found America?

    Read More

  • A Map Is Only Useful if It Simplifies Things. To What Extent Does this Apply to Knowledge?

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    The claim being discussed here is that the only way a map or a way of representing things can be useful is if it simplifies the knowledge that the actual territory gives, that is, if it reduces the salient i...

    Read More

More about Is Jack Weatherford's Stereotypes Of Racism Toward African Americans?

Open Document