Reflect
Change and Stagnation: The Relationship Between White and Indigenous Groups
Native Americans, although a significant portion of United States history and culture, are often overlooked in most facets of American life. History textbooks frequently erase major indigenous contributions, reword conflicts, and generalize their culture in order for it to be palatable to impressionable young people. Thus, misunderstanding surrounding Native cultures has permeated all of history, beginning in the first contact with the First Nations peoples, continuing into the loss of land and culture of native communities, all the way up into misrepresentation and marginalization today. However, the most major change seen in this relationship has been efforts to understand each other today.
Indigenous American societies thrived before colonial contact, and relationships between white settlers and Native communities were successful at first as they lived, for the most part, peacefully. In our summer work for AP US History we read extensively about the traditional lives of pre-colonial Native Americans from our American Yawp textbook. This mostly gave us an overview on broad belief systems, agriculture, social structure, location, and food sources, mainly to provide us with background surrounding the formation of various pre-colonial societies. I then created a map that reflected the information we had read about, and color coded it to help visualize the basic territorial outlines of each set of nations. The map gives an overview on a diverse set of people and tribes, and sheds light on why traditions and habits may have been formed. However, it was also a huge generalization that lumped many communities into a few broad groups. Nonetheless, it did help to contextualize information and situate students within an inherently Eurocentric curriculum. Later, in AP US History, we wrote about early relations between the North and the South, and compared the New England and Chesapeake regions in the time when they were first settled on by white colonists. The writing details the first contact between settlers and Natives, and how originally they were peaceful and codependent mostly because of the mercy of local communities. As part of my English class we were assigned a project in which we were to investigate a question regarding a developing issue regarding Native Americans. As a section of mine, I studied the preservation of traditional Cherokee arts and clothing- specifically tear dresses and metal work. Many traditional forms of artwork changed after early contact because of the introduction of beads, steel tools, other metals. Many of these resources were traded between settlers and Native communities, but many were also lost later on through restrictive white laws. Researching this topic helped me to understand specific change in the unique arts traditions within the Cherokee nation, and spoke to a larger trend of change that happened to indigenous people living all over the country. These sources weave a picture of relative calm between native and white settlements, but it clearly shows that they fundamentally did not understand or respect one another.
Over time, relations between white and indigenous communities soured, and interactions such as the Indian Removal Acts, the forced loss of traditions, and the white media deepened mistrust and misunderstanding between the two. In US History we read and discussed the Indian Removal Acts, analyzing them through different perspectives. The Indian Removal Acts were enforced by Andrew Jackson in 1830, and their purpose was to “place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage hunters” in order for a few states to “advance rapidly in wealth, population and power” (Jackson 9). First, we read through them, each person focusing on a different section. Then, as a class, we debated as various groups- mine being politicians- to see how people may have argued for or against them. To us, living in the 21st century, the actions toward the Native communities were clearly wrong, but by seeing them through the viewpoint of many different people it became more nuanced through the lenses of misunderstanding and greed. The Indian Removal Acts were a truly painful time for hundreds of Native communities forced to leave their land, their traditions, and their homes. This was a drastic change for many First Nations peoples and created an even bigger rift between indigenous and non-indigenous societies.
In English class we read “Pocahontas Paradox,” By Cornel Pewewardy, which is labeled as a cautionary tale for educators. The essay details the different and incorrect ways Native Americans are portrayed in the white media, and how these stereotypes were developed to help white Americans further oppress indigenous people. Pewewardy explains, “Children, and children now grown, have at best a mixed conception of these mysterious peoples whom they meet through history books and the mass media. The Indian portrait of the moment may be bellicose or ludicrous or romantic, but almost never is the portrait that of real persons” (Pewewardy 1). This quote illustrates the different kinds of incorrect ideas that are formed early on through exposure in all facets of media. If a child is exposed to derogatory representations of First Nations peoples, it is often cemented in their mind as fact, and leads to further generalizations and misunderstanding. This further hurts the broken relationship between white and Native communities because of the inaccurate expectations and standards that indigenous people are expected to meet.
Today, the relationship between Native and white groups is defined mainly by stereotypes and marginalization, leading to further misunderstanding between the two sets of people. In English we read the essay Superman and Me, by Sherman Alexie, which is an autobiographical account of Alexie’s growth into a writer and the current education system for Native children on reservations. Alexie details, “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike” (Alexie). The essay shows the disparity between education systems in the US, the racism that seeps into the self-image of many Native American students, and the discouragement many of them face from white communities. It also details the relative stagnation of improvement within the reservation education system due to white stereotypes and lack of resources, often making it harder for children within to reach their full potential for growth. This creates a cycle of oppression and poverty for many reservation families, and illustrates the continuation of white oppression that has been instituted for years.
In AP Spanish IV our class did an activity surrounding cultural appropriation and how one would identify it in real life. We were shown images and asked to determine if the subject was appropriating a culture or not. Some of these images included halloween costumes depicting skimpy Native American outfits loosely based off of traditional clothing, and festival-wear consisting of cheap feather headdresses. We explored the underlying reasons for appropriation, as well as the line between being respectful and appropriating traditional cultures. We had a long discussion about each image and situation, and we found that for some, cultural appropriation was a large grey area. This activity showed up the different ways people today still take advantage of and oppress other cultures through trivializing traditions that were originally forcefully banned. This further reveals the tensions between Native and white societies today and how culture is being appreciated both thoughtfully and disrespectfully.
However, while much of the relationship between non-indigenous and native communities is tense, active outreach and cultural exchange is the most drastic change in the relationship over time. While in New Mexico, we visited the To’hajiilee School on a Pueblo reservation. The school has about 500 students enrolled in grades K-12, all of whom reside on the reservation. While there, we each explored a certain part of the school, and got to share our backgrounds with students there. This experience was unique in that we were not there to do service or observe from afar, which many programs such as this are built around, but instead to encourage a cultural exchange and get to know students we would not normally be exposed to. I was able to help out in their garden with the Kindergarten class, most of which is taught in the regional dialect of the Navajo language. We learned about where different kinds of corn that would be traditionally planted in a garden- white corn at one cardinal point to reflect the early morning sky, then yellow, then blue, then black. We moved around the garden, digging holes and letting the five and six-year-olds plant four seeds into each one. Both sets of students were actively making an effort to bridge the gap between cultures and share their own stories. This proves that with an active effort, relationships between communities can be repaired over time, and white and indigenous communities can work together to destroy misunderstanding and misrepresentation. By actively striving for equality between cultures, we can expand opportunities and and reduce institutionalized oppression within various systems.
Indigenous American societies thrived before colonial contact, and relationships between white settlers and Native communities were successful at first as they lived, for the most part, peacefully. In our summer work for AP US History we read extensively about the traditional lives of pre-colonial Native Americans from our American Yawp textbook. This mostly gave us an overview on broad belief systems, agriculture, social structure, location, and food sources, mainly to provide us with background surrounding the formation of various pre-colonial societies. I then created a map that reflected the information we had read about, and color coded it to help visualize the basic territorial outlines of each set of nations. The map gives an overview on a diverse set of people and tribes, and sheds light on why traditions and habits may have been formed. However, it was also a huge generalization that lumped many communities into a few broad groups. Nonetheless, it did help to contextualize information and situate students within an inherently Eurocentric curriculum. Later, in AP US History, we wrote about early relations between the North and the South, and compared the New England and Chesapeake regions in the time when they were first settled on by white colonists. The writing details the first contact between settlers and Natives, and how originally they were peaceful and codependent mostly because of the mercy of local communities. As part of my English class we were assigned a project in which we were to investigate a question regarding a developing issue regarding Native Americans. As a section of mine, I studied the preservation of traditional Cherokee arts and clothing- specifically tear dresses and metal work. Many traditional forms of artwork changed after early contact because of the introduction of beads, steel tools, other metals. Many of these resources were traded between settlers and Native communities, but many were also lost later on through restrictive white laws. Researching this topic helped me to understand specific change in the unique arts traditions within the Cherokee nation, and spoke to a larger trend of change that happened to indigenous people living all over the country. These sources weave a picture of relative calm between native and white settlements, but it clearly shows that they fundamentally did not understand or respect one another.
Over time, relations between white and indigenous communities soured, and interactions such as the Indian Removal Acts, the forced loss of traditions, and the white media deepened mistrust and misunderstanding between the two. In US History we read and discussed the Indian Removal Acts, analyzing them through different perspectives. The Indian Removal Acts were enforced by Andrew Jackson in 1830, and their purpose was to “place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage hunters” in order for a few states to “advance rapidly in wealth, population and power” (Jackson 9). First, we read through them, each person focusing on a different section. Then, as a class, we debated as various groups- mine being politicians- to see how people may have argued for or against them. To us, living in the 21st century, the actions toward the Native communities were clearly wrong, but by seeing them through the viewpoint of many different people it became more nuanced through the lenses of misunderstanding and greed. The Indian Removal Acts were a truly painful time for hundreds of Native communities forced to leave their land, their traditions, and their homes. This was a drastic change for many First Nations peoples and created an even bigger rift between indigenous and non-indigenous societies.
In English class we read “Pocahontas Paradox,” By Cornel Pewewardy, which is labeled as a cautionary tale for educators. The essay details the different and incorrect ways Native Americans are portrayed in the white media, and how these stereotypes were developed to help white Americans further oppress indigenous people. Pewewardy explains, “Children, and children now grown, have at best a mixed conception of these mysterious peoples whom they meet through history books and the mass media. The Indian portrait of the moment may be bellicose or ludicrous or romantic, but almost never is the portrait that of real persons” (Pewewardy 1). This quote illustrates the different kinds of incorrect ideas that are formed early on through exposure in all facets of media. If a child is exposed to derogatory representations of First Nations peoples, it is often cemented in their mind as fact, and leads to further generalizations and misunderstanding. This further hurts the broken relationship between white and Native communities because of the inaccurate expectations and standards that indigenous people are expected to meet.
Today, the relationship between Native and white groups is defined mainly by stereotypes and marginalization, leading to further misunderstanding between the two sets of people. In English we read the essay Superman and Me, by Sherman Alexie, which is an autobiographical account of Alexie’s growth into a writer and the current education system for Native children on reservations. Alexie details, “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike” (Alexie). The essay shows the disparity between education systems in the US, the racism that seeps into the self-image of many Native American students, and the discouragement many of them face from white communities. It also details the relative stagnation of improvement within the reservation education system due to white stereotypes and lack of resources, often making it harder for children within to reach their full potential for growth. This creates a cycle of oppression and poverty for many reservation families, and illustrates the continuation of white oppression that has been instituted for years.
In AP Spanish IV our class did an activity surrounding cultural appropriation and how one would identify it in real life. We were shown images and asked to determine if the subject was appropriating a culture or not. Some of these images included halloween costumes depicting skimpy Native American outfits loosely based off of traditional clothing, and festival-wear consisting of cheap feather headdresses. We explored the underlying reasons for appropriation, as well as the line between being respectful and appropriating traditional cultures. We had a long discussion about each image and situation, and we found that for some, cultural appropriation was a large grey area. This activity showed up the different ways people today still take advantage of and oppress other cultures through trivializing traditions that were originally forcefully banned. This further reveals the tensions between Native and white societies today and how culture is being appreciated both thoughtfully and disrespectfully.
However, while much of the relationship between non-indigenous and native communities is tense, active outreach and cultural exchange is the most drastic change in the relationship over time. While in New Mexico, we visited the To’hajiilee School on a Pueblo reservation. The school has about 500 students enrolled in grades K-12, all of whom reside on the reservation. While there, we each explored a certain part of the school, and got to share our backgrounds with students there. This experience was unique in that we were not there to do service or observe from afar, which many programs such as this are built around, but instead to encourage a cultural exchange and get to know students we would not normally be exposed to. I was able to help out in their garden with the Kindergarten class, most of which is taught in the regional dialect of the Navajo language. We learned about where different kinds of corn that would be traditionally planted in a garden- white corn at one cardinal point to reflect the early morning sky, then yellow, then blue, then black. We moved around the garden, digging holes and letting the five and six-year-olds plant four seeds into each one. Both sets of students were actively making an effort to bridge the gap between cultures and share their own stories. This proves that with an active effort, relationships between communities can be repaired over time, and white and indigenous communities can work together to destroy misunderstanding and misrepresentation. By actively striving for equality between cultures, we can expand opportunities and and reduce institutionalized oppression within various systems.
Works Cited
Jackson, Andrew. “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875.” Hillie John
Franz Collection: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress, The Library of Congress, 1 May 2003, memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=llrd&fileName=010/llrd010.db&recNum=438. Accessed May 2018.
Pewewardy, Cornel. “The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for Educators.” Journal of Navajo Education, 1996. Accessed May
2018.
Alexie, Sherman. “Superman and Me.” LA Times, 1998. Accessed May 2018.
Franz Collection: Veterans History Project (Library of Congress, The Library of Congress, 1 May 2003, memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=llrd&fileName=010/llrd010.db&recNum=438. Accessed May 2018.
Pewewardy, Cornel. “The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for Educators.” Journal of Navajo Education, 1996. Accessed May
2018.
Alexie, Sherman. “Superman and Me.” LA Times, 1998. Accessed May 2018.