We are nearly finished with the first unit of U.S. History – often called the Colonial Period. We went from a land bridge across the Bering Sea to the takeover of New Netherlands by the English. I’d like you to ponder what we learned about the first peoples (Native Americans) of this land. Were we fair in our study? (Do we need to be?) Were we accurate? What really is the most valuable thing to study from this time period? Is it better to understand who did the conquering or should we re-evaluate how we learn the colonial period to better understand the relationships among Indian nations and between Indians and Europeans?
I have included some quotes that I’d like you to consider as you explore this issue. Do you agree with any of them? Disagree? Who should we believe?
“What we committed in the Indies stands out among the most unpardonable offenses ever committed against God and mankind and this trade [in American Indian slaves] as one of the most unjust, evil, and cruel among them.” Bartolome De Las Casas
“Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its history?" Michael Dorris
“The invaders also anticipated, correctly, that other Europeans would question the morality of their enterprise. They therefore [prepared] quantities of propaganda to overpower their own countrymen’s scruples. The propaganda gradually took standard form as an ideology with conventional assumptions and semantics. We live with it still.” Francis Jennings
“There is not one Indian in the whole of this country who does not cringe in anguish and frustration because of these textbooks. There is not one Indian child who has not come home in shame and tears.” Rupert Costo
“God has not been preparing the English speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand years for nothing….He has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made us adept in government that we may administer government among savage and senile people…..And of all our race He has marked the American people as His chosen nation to finally lead in the redemption of the world.” Senator Albert Beveridge, 1900
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I believe we have studied our history accurately studying who did the conquering, why they did the conquering and how the conquering affected the colonies and the people already living there. However, I think we should have maybe studied a bit more about the damage we caused to the Indian peoples and how we disrupted their way of life. When we celebrate the foundation of our country, sometimes we forget that we destroyed the Indian way of life. We must understand how we affected them and how they affected us to truly understand out heritage and roots.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Costo about the way Indians are portrayed in the textbooks. It is sad to read how we treated the Indians when settling here, and then we praise that conquering with an entire day every year, Thanksgiving.
I do not agree with Albert Beveridge, however. His belief that the American people have been chosen to "lead in the redemption of the world" is ignorant and arrogant.
I think the way we study The Colonial Period is fair; it was necessary to really focus on the transition from England to the 13 colonies. I also think that we should re-evaluate the view we had on the Indians. Yes we did study them but not that much. I think we should learn how to better understand Europe's relations with the Indians. I think it would be a good idea to better understand Indian culture and how they felt when the English came and took their land.I agree with Rupert Costo's quote, becuase all the books that I have read on Indians were very intense and the authors do say very degrading things about the Indians. They look on the negative aspect of Indian culture.
ReplyDelete-Hilary
I agree with both Christine and Hilary. I feel that we didn't truly take the time to focus on the Native Americans, their culture, and way of life. I believe that one of the most valuable things to study in this unit is the relations amongst the Native Americans and the Europeans. Unfortunately, the book moslty portrays the Native Americans as savage peoples. When really, they were trying to protect their land and way of life. I agree with Rupert Costo because, like many, the book barely emphasizes on the few tribes who helped the Europeans and instead exemplifies that the Native Americans were savage. We should explore Native American culture to see how it affected our own.
ReplyDelete-Skylar
In a way I agree with de Las Casas in that enslaving the American Indians in the Indies was unjust. I also agree that Indians are portrayed unfairly in most textbooks, as savages and uncivilized people. I too find Beveridge's quote arrogant and wrong, and I don't think anyone should take pride in essentially stealing land from the native americans. Overall popular culture and media in america, like many textbooks, tend to degrade Indian culture, which is wrong. I also agree with Jennings' statement that propaganda is a dangerous tool used to sway the minds of citizens, changing their original opinions on various issues.
ReplyDeleteI think that we've studied history pretty accurately and fairly. I think that we could spend more time talking about the Indians and our relations with them. Like what Christine said, I believe that we need to take in that we did disrupt the Indian way of life and affected their life and culture. By truly understanding our relations with them will help us understand how we got to be the way we are today. I agree with both De Las Casas and Costo. I think that we were very unjust in enslaving the Indians and treating them cruelly. And it is really sad to read about our cruelty towards them when we first settled here.
ReplyDeleteWe are studying American history, right? Our focus is how we went from a colony under England to independent states. I believe that Native American history is not relevant to some extent to our studies. We are not obligated to learn about what the people who came before us farmed, built, gathered, or fished for. This information is not necessarily relevant to our history. Native American history, yes, but not US History. However, there is one clear exception- the parts of their history that pertain to us. For example, it is surely important that in 1675 the Wampanoag tribe wiped twelve colonies off the map during King Philip's War, but only because it directly affected the English colonials. We also see that learning about how we kicked the people off the land is relevant as well. Our cruelty toward the native peoples was undeniable, but us nationalistic Americans tend to remember the past in a much better light than at the time. Maybe it's because Lynne Cheney was head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and got to pick and choose was was included in the history books and what was left out...
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Michael Dorris' quote, I do agree wholeheartedly. We are all biased in some way or another. We chose to see this part of our history in a much better light than it is- myself included. Maybe it IS in fact necessary to the American psyche to "exploit and debase" those who got in the way of where we are today. Maybe it is just easier to acknowledge that those who got us where we are today did so by ethical and just standards. Even if they didn't.
-Gaby Cohen
As many said, I too feel that we were unjust in our studies. The book is very prejudiced in making the Native Americans look like savages, as opposed peaceful people protecting their homeland. The most important thing to study from the time period is the relationship between the Europeans and indians. To look into the eyes of each group and see as they see. This way we would not have a biased opinion. If the point of this unit is to understand how North America had been founded, then learning solely from the point of the conquerors is not enough. We should see the point of both sides. The book makes you feel sympathy for the Europeans, which shouldn't be the case because the Europeans took land and many lives for their own selfish reasons. I strongly agree with Rubert Costo. The book has done an injustice to the Native Americans and should be altered so there are no misconceptions.
ReplyDelete-sam
It is true that our textbook lacks a sensitive tone when addressing the behavior and reactions of the Native Americans, Robert Custo makes an excellent point criticizing them. I think the textbook should be edited or clarified to avoid misconceptions about the Native Americans, but overall I don't think the way we study is completely unjust. Although Native Americans are important in the history of our country, our course is focused on the history after the creation of the colonies. The most important part, for us, in studying Native American history would be focusing on their relationship with the settlers in the colonies, because that would be more closely related with our curriculum.
ReplyDelete-Alice Newman
Although we have learned many historical facts that are important and necessary to understanding U.S. history in this unit, I do not think we were very fair in our study of the Colonial period. Our textbook, which is obviously our main source of information, portrays many Native Americans as ruthless and wild people, which can create a very wrong and unfair generalization that can be easily implanted in the minds of the readers of this book. There are also instances where the book portrays the Native Americans as confused and unintelligent, by describing times when tribes would "sell" their lands to the English, but use it after the sale for themselves as well. (In reality they just thought that they had agreed to share it). For these reasons, I agree with Costo completely, and I believe we should focus a little bit more on the point of view of the Native Americans, who are victims of a terrible fate that is often overlooked.
ReplyDeleteHillz I think you're right. What's relevant to our course in particular is the transition from England to the thirteen colonies. The relevant part is the colonials' relationships with the Indians. How we study them and to what extent is fair and just.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading what Gaby wrote, I kinda agree with her. Originally, I thought it was important for us to understand the culture of the people who came before us. I thought we should understand their culture to really understand our culture. But the truth is, we only really need to know the basics about the Natives and maybe the specific ways they changed our culture (i.e. the way we dressed, the way we talked). More importantly now I feel that we should understand the British better, because we were once British. Understanding the way we tormented the English won't really do anything for us except feel guilty about the foundation of our country. I'm not saying we should be ignorant, but having thought about it more, why should we spend so much time studying the people we massacred? Unless we can draw specific things about us from that, I don't think is necessary to study in depth and I think we studied the right amount.
ReplyDeleteI think that we've done our job of studying American history well. We've learned where we've come from, how we came to be, and why things turned out the way they did. We have also learned how Indians played a major role in our beginnings as a country. It seems to me that as long as we learn and talk about how we've mistreated and took advantage of the Indians, then we are taking responsibility for our actions. That being said, I don't think we do the Indians justice when we read what they have been through. Even out of the text we are reading makes Indians seem like monsters in some of their actions. I agree with Bartolome De Las Casas' quote, because in most texts we read that even though the foreigners were bad, the Indians were much worse, when in reality, the things that we did to the Indians were beyond cruel. I think we've studied the American side of things the proper way, but we are lacking in the true impact we made on the Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, I agree with Christine's most recent comment. I agree with the part that says we should learn more about the British because those are our true roots. That is where we were first from (for the most part). However, I disagree with the idea that the Indians were not relevant to our coming together as a nation and that we should disregard what they did unless it really affected the Americans personally. What the Indians did really did affect us, even if it didn't affect us physically such as the way we dress or speak. They did however, have an impact on the way we perceived the foreign land that we first landed on. It was Indian ideals and ways of going about life that had an impact on the way we thought and the actions we carried out. The Indians were just as important to the creation of this nation as the first Americans themselves.
ReplyDeleteGaby's comment totally changed my view. She's right, its US history not Native American history that we're studying. I now believe that the amount of time focused on the Native Americans was enough. Although it might seem little time spent on the Native Americans, we covered how the Native Americans affected the British. No need to truly go in depth about the Native American culture and their way of living.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Anna, the Native Americans had a huge impact towards the creation of America.
-Skylar
I think we are fair in our studies, as we are taught to absorb the facts, sift through the opinions, and create theories from what we find. And fairness is essential as it allows us to view all sides of a topic. I don't think that there is a single most valuable thing studied in this time period, as they all work off of one another, and the combination allows us to come up with the theories that we do come up with. I believe that it is more important to study who did the conquering, for they are the ones who write history, and the land they conquer is usually inhabited by their descendants for the generations to come. However the Indians are very important to study as well because their relationship with the colonies and the other nations colonizing North America greatly shaped history and the development of the colonies.
ReplyDelete-Greg
ReplyDeleteI think the way we learned about the colonial period has both positive and negative aspects. In my opinion, it is most important to learn about the people who were here before the Europeans, the Native Americans because without the Native Americans some colonies would not have been able to survive. I do think learning about the europeans is also important because our customs were established on their principles. Without the Quakers or the Puritans we would not be "Americans". We would be spread out and the melting pot of American cultures would not exist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Gaby said. We should not learn the little facts about the Native Americans unless it directly influenced the creation of the US. If we were studying American history, that would be another study. Then it would make sense to know everything that happened on the Americans.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Connor said. After reading his comment, it actually changes my opinion about my earlier post when I commented that i thought we've been studying history pretty fairly. I think Connor is right when he said that the book definitely portrays Native Americans as ruthless and savage people, which is unfair because that one opinion can change many readers' opinions as well. Like Connor said, I think it actually would help to look more into Native American history to get a sense of their point of view.
ReplyDeleteEven though this is U.S. history, and I guess it can be argued that we shouldn't be considering the Native Americans if we are only learning about our history, I think Cory brings up a good point in that the Native Americans are pretty essential to our study because they were here first. Although that might seem obvious, its crazy to think about what our country might be like if there weren't Native Americans here before us, and for that reason I still believe they are pretty necessary to study.
ReplyDeleteLike Connor said, although it is the colonial period and the advancements made by the settlers that we are studying this unit, the Native Americans are essential to North America because they were here first. That said, I still believe it was right to spend the majority of our time this unit studying the colonists and how a few charters from the crown eventually became the USA. If there weren't Native Americans here before us I believe things would be much different, but it is also interesting to thin about what this country would be like today had the English not stolen land from the Native Americans, and true compromises had been made between the two cultures.
ReplyDelete--Matt
I also agree with Connor. The book portrays the Native Americans unfairly. It changes my opinion because the people who first inhabited America should be just as much a part of American History as the people who colonized it. They greatly influenced the lifestyles of the early settlers and had a huge effect on the history of our country. They should be respected in our text and recognized for their impact.
ReplyDelete