White Man’s Prejudice against Native Americans in the Film, Dances With Wolves
The Movie "Dances With Wolves" shows the stereotypical view of American Indians as uncivilized savages who murder innocent settlers, but most Indians are kind, caring people who were driven from their homes and land as discovered by John Dunbar, the film's main character.
John Dunbar was stationed at a small abandoned fort located in the Great Plains where he was to monitor the activity of wildlife and Indians. He first encountered the Indians attempting to steal his horse while he was bathing, and then later again that evening. But gradually over time he had meetings with the Indians where they tried to learn ways to communicate with each other. After countless gatherings and a successful buffalo hunt John is accepted into the Indian tribe. He learns that the Indians are more caring and dedicated to their family than the whites he called friends. Eventually he lives with Indians after marrying "Stands with a Fist," a white woman taken in by the tribe when she was very young.
At first John had thought these people to be different then he was but not savage murderers. He thought that Indians were thieves who sacked the fort before his arrival, so he kept his guard up for any strange sounds. One night while he was sleeping he heard some children trying to steal his horse. He promptly sat up and smashed his head on the wooden frame of his cabin, which knocked him out cold. This confirmed his belief that they were merely thieves. Then a party was sent to scare him off but he simply held his ground and the Indians left. These first introductions lead John to believe that they were not thieves or murderers but people who had a different purpose. The Indians were only trying to scare him off to protect their homelands from the invasion of the white people.
If the whites had not been so judgmental of the Indians, a people which they knew so little about, then friendships might have been formed and a common ground established. The Indians openly accepted John as a friend after he embraced the ideas and traditions of the Indian tribe. An example of this is after John reports that the buffalo are near and he joins in the hunting party they welcome him into their village to the victory festivities where many times he tells his story of the great hunt.
Carter, Dan T. Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007. Print.
Currently in the United States of America, there is a wave a patriotism sweeping across this great land: a feeling of pride in being an American and in being able to call this nation home. The United States is the land of the free and the home of the brave; however, for the African-American citizens of the United States, from the inception of this country to midway through the twentieth century, there was no such thing as freedom, especially in the Deep South. Nowhere is that more evident than in Stories of Scottsboro, an account of the Scottsboro trials of 1931-1937, where nine African-American teenage boys were falsely accused of raping two white girls in Scottsboro, Alabama and no matter how much proof was brought forth proving there innocence, they were always guilty. This was a period of racism and bigotry in our country that is deeply and vividly portrayed though different points of view through author James E. Goodman.
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Dunbar eventually encounters the “infamous savages”, the Sioux, who are just as curious about him as he is them. Over time a rapport is built between the people and Dunbar which culminated in their allowing him entry into their tribe. This pleased Dunbar due to