Kathleen DuVal, professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, contests long held beliefs about the historiography of native people and their place in America with her work, The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. DuVal’s insightful book focuses on the Arkansas River Valley and the diverse group of both native groups and European powers that contented over the physical landscape, its resources, and the perception of control and power. The premise of Native is to show that native groups such as the Quapaws, Osage, and the Cherokee had the upper hand in almost every aspect from their economy, military might, and physical presence up until the 1800s. DuVal boldly begins in the introduction by calling into question the concept of the Great Plains as a “middle ground” proposed by historian Richard White. This concept treats the interactions of the Europeans and the natives as an amalgamation of different accommodations with no group gaining significant ground. More importantly the concept of a middle ground is predicated on the natives wanting to compromise or be assimilated into Western culture. DuVal’s book shows that this idea of the region is simply not true because of the heavy dominance of the natives. DuVal uses the term “native ground” in place of middle ground to emphasize the point that all groups roaming the Arkansas River Valley believed to be the true natives of the region. This narrative employed by the natives, and then later the Europeans, helped establish legitimacy and cement power among other groups. DuVal’s first subjects are the chiefdom tribes along the Mississippi River and the Spanish Empire. This section of the book really shows the swing the native t... ... middle of paper ... ...ts causing mayhem. Vu Dal surprise readers by show how Osage view other tribes as savage, a term normal used by Europeans. The strategic placement of the Osage as being most civilized of the regional tribe was a huge advantage among the Europeans who valued such things. Native Ground is a groundbreaking study that tries to establish a new framework to view colonial history. I feel that Du Vul does a wonderful job creating a successful argument of how the idea of a middle ground is just not valid when the Indians had such a large sphere of influence. In the end native groups would still fall to encroachment by Americans that did not understand or respect their way of life. Unfortunately, even with this new framework the outcome is still the same, the destruction of powerful culture and proud people by a group that know perceives itself a the native people.
Dr. Daniel K. Richter is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History at University of Pennsylvania. His focus on early Native American history has led to his writing several lauded books including Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Past, and The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization. Richter’s Facing East is perhaps, a culmination of his latter work. It is centered from a Native American perspective, an angle less thought about in general. Through the book, Richter takes this perspective into several different fields of study which includes literary analysis, environmental history, and anthropology. Combining different methodologies, Richter argues Americans can have a fruitful future, by understanding the importance of the American Indian perspective in America’s short history.
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
Turner fails to realize the extent to which Native Americans existed in the ‘Wilderness’ of the Americas before the frontier began to advance. Turner’s thesis relies on the idea that “easterners … in moving to the wild unsettled lands of the frontier, shed the trappings of civilization … and by reinfused themselves with a vigor, an independence, and a creativity that the source of American democracy and national character.” (Cronon) While this idea seems like a satisfying theory of why Americans are unique, it relies on the notion that the Frontier was “an area of free land,” which is not the case, undermining the the...
Indian to Indian relations could be positive, negative, or neutral. On the positive side, de Vaca notes that in the case of intra-tribe quarrels, “[if] the quarrelers are single men, they repair to some neighboring people, who, even if enemies, welcome them warmly and give so largely of what they have” (95). Warring tribes could put aside differences to help a member of the opposing tribe out. To put aside animosity and give generously to an enemy is no easy feat. This means that inter-tribe relations could display empathy and furthermore, kindness. However, de Vaca also recalls negativity during inter-tribe relations, “All these tribes are warlike, and have as much strategy for protection against enemies as if they had been reared in Italy in continual feuds” (95). This is interesting as de Vaca is drawing a comparison between the Indians to Europeans. Despite helping individuals, it is clear that rival tribes displayed animosity in larger scale interactions. Tribes engaged in war against each other much like Europeans engaged in war against each other. The fact that de Vaca draws this comparison shows an equality in how native tribes and European peoples handled adversaries. For the most part, de Vaca writing shows neutrality in Indian to Indian relations. “When the Cultalchulce...
When the Europeans first migrated to America, they didn’t know much about the ancestral background of the different types of the Indian tribes that were settled in Virginia and along the East Coast. Many of the Indian tribes became hostile towards the colonist because the colonists were interfering with their way of life. This lead the natives to attempt to destroy the frontier settlements. Many forts in this area were erected to protect the settlers and their families. One the historical land...
This book is complete with some facts, unfounded assumptions, explores Native American gifts to the World and gives that information credence which really happened yet was covered up and even lied about by Euro-centric historians who have never given the Indians credit for any great cultural achievement. From silver and money capitalism to piracy, slavery and the birth of corporations, the food revolution, agricultural technology, the culinary revolution, drugs, architecture and urban planning our debt to the indigenous peoples of America is tremendous. With indigenous populations mining the gold and silver made capitalism possible. Working in the mines and mints and in the plantations with the African slaves, they started the industrial revolution that then spread to Europe and on around the world. They supplied the cotton, rubber, dyes, and related chemicals that fed this new system of production. They domesticated and developed the hundreds of varieties of corn, potatoes, cassava, and peanuts that now feed much of the world. They discovered the curative powers of quinine, the anesthetizing ability of coca, and the potency of a thousand other drugs with made possible modern medicine and pharmacology. The drugs together with their improved agriculture made possible the population explosion of the last several centuries. They developed and refined a form of democracy that has been haphazardly and inadequately adopted in many parts of the world. They were the true colonizers of America who cut the trails through the jungles and deserts, made the roads, and built the cities upon which modern America is based.
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
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.
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...
Axtell, James. “Native Reactions to the Invasion of North America.” Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. 97-121. Print.
Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.
Thornton, Russell, Matthew C Snipp, and Nancy Breen. The Cherokees: A Population History Indians of the Southeast. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
After the Civil War, Americans abandoned the sectional emphasis caused by slavery and developed a national focus. During the period from 1865-1890, Americans completed the settlement of the West. For the farmers and ranchers, the American West was a land of opportunity because land was cheap and the Homestead Act provided land to farmers, including immigrants and blacks, in order to grow crops, raise cattle and make a profit. The American West was also seen as a land of opportunity for miners due to the gold and silver rush in the far west which they believed would make them rich. However, both groups faced many challenges and few achieved great wealth.
All in all, the treatment of the American Indian during the expansion westward was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more so than the frontier thesis. Additionally, the common beliefs about the old west are founded in lies and deception. The despair that comes with knowing that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is epitomized by Terrell’s statement, “Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the haze of puerile romance with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).
A historian at the University of Washington, Richard White, took a close look at ethnic, cultural, and racial interactions between whites, Hispanics, blacks, and Indians. In his book The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815, he discusses the geographic area from the Great Lakes to the upper Mississippi basin and the social terrain. His term “middle ground” was not created by the interaction between conquerors and conquered or by adaption of a defeated people (Birzer, 2014). Instead, the middle ground was the result of adjustments and accommodations made as both the Algonquins and the Europeans sought benefits from each other and tried to adjust to the new social order. All people were forced to