On December 29, 1890, after years of government led cultural genocide, troops came to camp to disarm the Lakota tribe at the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This event quickly escalated to a massacre of Indian peoples. The spread of the Ghost Dance religion led to tensions between the Plains Indians and the United States Army and was the main reason for the Battle of Wounded Knee. This was just one example of American Indians having to choose between submission and death in the face of adversity from the U.S. Government. American pressure on the Plains land and their culture led to a struggle for freedom from most tribes. The policies of assimilation were meant to eradicate the cultures and values of the Plains Indians, but in many ways it ended up bringing Indian people closer as a new generation of Indians were schooled in the “white man’s ways”. The Battle of Wounded Knee marked the end of the “Indian Wars” that ushered in a new way of life for the Plains Indians and the loss of the American West. In this essay, I will draw on the experiences of individuals mentioned in chapters twelve through fourteen of Our Hearts Fell to the Ground to explain the difficult and challenging paths the choice of life led the Plains …show more content…
Indians. The assimilation program started decades earlier to bring the Plains Indians into American culture continued into the late 1800s. As the nineteenth century came to an end, non-Indian reformers finally accepted that it would impossible to change the cultures or the older Indians on reservations. However, children’s minds could be changed and “saved”. These children began to represent the future of the Indian people and the hope that Plains Indians would be able to adapt and survive into the twentieth century. Indian children had previously received education from their elders and relatives, but never in skills deemed important by nineteenth-century schools. Because of this, thousands of children were taken from their families and sent off to boarding schools around the country to receive an education and lessons in “civilizing”. The Carlisle Industrial School, a famous such boarding school, was opened in 1879 by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and soon became a model for other boarding schools across the country (pg 169). Luther Standing Bear, son of Standing Bear, was one of a group of Sioux children who volunteered to enroll in the Carlisle school in 1879. ”I had come to this school merely to show my people that I was brave enough to leave the reservation and go East, not knowing what it meant and not caring” (pg 171). While most children experienced anger and resentment towards their time in boarding schools, some students saw life at the school as a haven from the hunger and loss of cultural values they had seen on the reservations. After life at boarding schools, many Indians left with little preparation for working and living in the modern world.
Luther was taught to be a tinsmith, but after leaving the school he found the trade didn’t benefit him. “I figure that I spent only about a year and a half in school, while the rest of the time was wasted” (pg 176). When reformers lost faith in Indians to be assimilated to white culture, they decided to settle for assigning Native Americans to menial jobs shared by other minorities. Students who returned home were seen as outsiders within their tribes for becoming “too white”. Readjustment to those who came home was often tragic and painful as some turned to alcohol to ease the pain; some ended up committing suicide (pg
179). The introduction of boarding schools was one attempt the United States Government used to assimilate the Indian people into American culture. As pressure for Indian lands and the attempts to eradicate their culture increased, one man came to personify the struggle: Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull was the Hunkpapa Sioux chief best known for masterminding the defeat of Custer’s men at the Battle of Little Big Horn. As the new religion of the Ghost Dance was seen as a movement of defiance, and many officials felt Sitting Bull would soon join. Sitting Bull was famous for resisting assimilation and argued forcefully against allotment. He often mentioned he would rather “die an Indian than live a white man” (pg 183). Naturally, authorities saw Sitting Bull as a spiritual ringleader who needed to be stopped. On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was killed when Indian agency police attempted to arrest him at Standing Rock Reservation. When Sitting Bull was killed, continued tensions from the spread of the Ghost Dance religion were still seen. The tensions escalated to the Battle at Wounded Knee and the end of armed conflict between Plains Indians and U.S. Army. Short Bull once remarked “The white people made war on the Lakotas to keep them from practicing their religion” (pg 196). The movement that was a vision of a new peaceful world ended with death at the Battle of Wounded Knee. As Black Elk said, “A dream died there”. As the world entered the 20th century, the traditions and culture of many Indian tribes were nearly eliminated. The American government drastically changed life for the Plains Indians and the firsthand accounts found throughout the chapters in Our Hearts Fell to the Ground showcase that. However, despite the government’s best efforts, the Native Americans were able to survive the policies of forced acculturation. Through the struggles thrown on them, Native Americans maintained there outlast their periods of hardship and misfortune. Five hundred years after the first contact with Native peoples, The Indians and American government are still trying to find a balance of relations. In this essay, I was able to showcase events throughout history that showed why the path of life was often the more challenging path versus death.
In the document “Doomed to Perish”: George Catlin’s Depictions of the Mandan by Katheryn S. Hight, she analyzes the work of George Catlin while he traveled to the Mandan colony west of the Missouri River. Hight identifies that Catlin created a false and imaginative depiction of the Mandan Indians based on his social and political ideas which ended up creating an entertainment enterprise rather than reporting history. Catlin’s extravagant depictions of the Indians, which did have an impact on the Indian Policy in America, seemingly motivates Hight to write on this subject.
The 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
War is always destructive and devastating for those involved leaving behind a trail of death and barren landscape leading to heartbreak and shattered lives. War has its subjugators and its defeated. One enjoys complete freedom and rights while the other has neither freedom nor rights. Defeated and broken is where the Eastern Woodland Indians found themselves after both the Seven Years' war and the American Revolution. The Europeans in their campaigns to garner control of the land used the native peoples to gain control and ultimately stripped the rightful owners of their land and freedoms. The remainder of this short paper will explore the losses experienced by the Eastern Woodland Indians during these wars and will answer the question of which war was more momentous in the loss experienced.
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
This program is part of the PBS series American Experience. In this episode, a critical eye is cast on the early efforts by Congress to "civilize" Native Americans. This homogenization process required the removal of Native American children from their homes and placing them in special Indian schools. Forced to stay for years at a time without returning home, children were required to eschew their own language and culture and learn instead the ways of the white man. Archival photographs and clips, newspaper accounts, journals, personal recollections, and commentary by historians relate the particulars of this era in American History and its ultimate demise. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
It was a great time of despair for the Native American people as the defeat of their nations by the ever westward expanding United States and subsequent placement onto reservations disrupted their culture and way of life as it had existed for hundreds of years. The decade leading up to 1890, which was a main focal point in the history of Native Americans, saw the passing of the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act which called for the breaking up of reservations and offering the Indians an opportunity to become citizens and giving them an allotment of land to farm or graze livestock on (Murrin 628). This breaking up of the different tribes’ social structure was just one of the many causes which led to the spiritual movement known as the Ghost Dance (or Lakota Ghost Dance) that swept across what remained of the Native American people in their various reservations. Other reasons for the Indian’s dysphoria at this time in their history included: lack of hunting, decease of the buffalo, forced abandonment of their religion, nearly forced conversion to Christianity, westernization, and having to farm for the very first time.
Kittelson, James M. Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,” non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for “the advancement of the human race” (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this “conquest of Indian communities” was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people were slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life.
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.
Lakota Woman Essay In Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog argues that in the 1970’s, the American Indian Movement used protests and militancy to improve their visibility in mainstream Anglo American society in an effort to secure sovereignty for all "full blood" American Indians in spite of generational gender, power, and financial conflicts on the reservations. When reading this book, one can see that this is indeed the case. The struggles these people underwent in their daily lives on the reservation eventually became too much, and the American Indian Movement was born. AIM, as we will see through several examples, made their case known to the people of the United States, and militancy ultimately became necessary in order to do so.
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria book reveals the Whites view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging effect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems.
With hope that they could even out an agreement with the Government during the progressive era Indian continued to practice their religious beliefs and peacefully protest while waiting for their propositions to be respected. During Roosevelt’s presidency, a tribe leader who went by as No Shirt traveled to the capital to confront them about the mistreatment government had been doing to his people. Roosevelt refused to see him but instead wrote a letter implying his philosophical theory on the approach the natives should take “if the red people would prosper, they must follow the mode of life which has made the white people so strong, and that is only right that the white people should show the red people what to do and how to live right”.1 Roosevelt continued to dismiss his policies with the Indians and encouraged them to just conform into the white’s life style. The destruction of their acres of land kept being taken over by the whites, which also meant the destruction of their cultural backgrounds. Natives attempted to strain from the white’s ideology of living, they continued to attempt with the idea of making acts with the government to protect their land however they never seemed successfully. As their land later became white’s new territory, Indians were “forced to accept an ‘agreement’” by complying to change their approach on life style.2 Oklahoma was one of last places Natives had still identity of their own, it wasn’t shortly after that they were taken over and “broken by whites”, the union at the time didn’t see the destruction of Indian tribes as a “product of broken promises but as a triumph for American civilization”.3 The anger and disrespect that Native tribes felt has yet been forgotten, white supremacy was growing during the time of their invasion and the governments corruption only aid their ego doing absolutely nothing for the Indians.
"Lost Hearts" written by M R James is a disturbing yet intriguing short story. M R James uses intense descriptions and shows ghostly figures to create tension. Throughout the story unpredicted events take place. Mr Abney’s obsession with pagans and religion makes the reader question why he is so interested about taking in his orphan cousin and how it could benefit him. “The Professor of Greek at Cambridge had been heard to say that no one knew more of the religious beliefs of the later pagans than did the owner of Aswarby.” We learn about the disappearance of the two previous children who had also been taken in by Mr Abney. After the ghostly sightings of the two children with their hearts ripped out, are witnessed by young cousin Stephen, it creates a sense of foreshadowing events and suggests to the reader, the third victim will be innocent Stephen.
The tragedy of the Cherokee nation has haunted the legacy of Andrew Jackson"'"s Presidency. The events that transpired after the implementation of his Indian policy are indeed heinous and continually pose questions of morality for all generations. Ancient Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in an effort to increase the aggressive expansion of white settlers during the early years of the United States. The most notable removal came after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee, whose journey was known as the '"'Trail of Tears'"', and the four other civilized tribes, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, were forced to emigrate to lands west of the Mississippi River, to what is now day Oklahoma, against their will. During the journey westward, over 60,000 Indians were forced from their homelands. Approximately 4000 Cherokee Indians perished during the journey due to famine, disease, and negligence. The Cherokees to traveled a vast distance under force during the arduous winter of 1838-1839.# This is one of the saddest events in American history, yet we must not forget this tragedy.
Have you had something you dearly loved, only for it to be taken away? The Native Americans had experienced something like this with the white farmers wanting their land. The whites did something about it, which resulted in President Andrew Jackson signing the Indian Removal Act, forcing the Native Americans to leave.“We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that the Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth...it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood... we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear." They walked only to deal with death and despair along the way. This was a great significance to American history and led to the a Civil War.