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Native Americans
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Native Americans
The British Empire in the 18th and 19th century conquered many countries including the United States of America. As a tradition, the British mistreated the native Americans just like they had killed, maimed and took the land of then of other countries they had conquered. In his book “a different Mirror,” Takaki brings out the suffering that the American natives endured from their own perspective.
When the British started pouring into America, they did not take into concern of the people living there; they were only interested in taking the land away from the natives. The British had low regards for the Natives’ way of life and perceived the Indians as savages, beasts, as well as other names such as cannibals, and uncivilized Heathens. The British did not like the Indians way of life, as evident in their claim that, “they lived like herds of deer” (Takaki 33).
The British claimed that their culture was much superior to any other culture in the United States and their way of life much civilized that the native Americans. They therefore classified the Indians as animals. As more British came to the United States, the natives slowly became the minority; the high numbers of the British meant that they needed more space to settle. In order to the space, Indians were evicted from their lands and those who resisted were killed without a second thought. The perception that the British were superior pushed them to kill Indians and ravage their lands. This is because the Indians were perceived as animals that were not fit to live amongst them (Takaki 34).
The need to get more land by the British and to push the Indians out of these lands resulted to the enacting of a bill known as the Indian Removal Act. The act was enacted on the 28th of May 1830 by Andrew Jackson (Takaki 33). It directed that the Native Indians should trade the land they were occupying for another land to the west of the Mississippi. However, the act was not without conditions and the president promised “aid” for those people who wanted to move or to those who were moving. The Indians were also assured that the land they were trading would always belong to them regardless who were occupying. However, the rule had an exception; the treaty stated that if “Indians become extinct, or abandon the same” then “…such lands shall revert to the United States.” The Indians were also offered protection from any harassment if they moved. After examining the treaty and the accompanying promises, five different tribes resolved to move to the land on the other side of Mississippi with the destination being Oklahoma also known as the Indian Territory (Takaki 33).
Trail of Tears
Over 70,000 Natives embarked on the trek to Oklahoma, a journey that took almost ten years to reach Oklahoma. The trek was given the name “Trail of Tears” due to the big number of the natives who died. What had looked as a good deal soon turned into tears as a big number of natives died along the way due to exhaustion and starvation. One of the tribes that were moving known as the Cherokee lost approximately 3,000 members. The other tribes also lost thousands of their members, and for those who were lucky enough to get to Oklahoma, a majority were not spared by diseases and died as a result (Takaki 53).
Nez Perce Tribe
The Nez Perce Tribe was not willing to the designated lands, thus about 750 members of the tribe moved to Montana. They managed to settle in Montana but were not aware of an impending attack from Howard, having fought before to protect their land. The Montana attack took them by surprise as a significant number of people were killed. Sensing that the whole tribe might be wiped out, the chief surrendered and eventually, the tribe was forcefully moved to the one of the reservation. In the reservations, the natives were not allowed to move freely as they used to, the living conditions were not favorable and a majority died of diseases and hunger (Takaki 53).
African-Americans
The Indians were not the only persons that the British killed or mistreated; African Americans also endured torture under the British, made to work for long hours. Some African-Americans even died from being overworked by the British. The British regarded the African-Americans as uncivilized, and animals. However, the British were afraid of the African- Americans because they could not determine their emotions at a given time: the British could not tell when they were angry or happy. Even when mistreated to the extreme the African- Americans did not care, this resulted in the British calling them “Sambo” (Takaki 106). However, the British did not bar the African-Americans from living with them owing to their manpower, unlike that of the Indians (Takaki 50).
Conclusion
The British used intimidation in order to look superior to the other tribes. They knew it was only by instilling fear in the Natives by killing them, taking their land and destroying their crops that they could control them. They had no respect for the cultures of the other tribes and worked hard to destroy them, as they realized there were some cultures that brought the tribes together which could work to their disadvantage.
Work Cited
HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Takaki, Ronald T.. A different mirror: a history of multicultural America. New York: sage, 2010. Print.
Assigned Primary Source Readings List
Assigned Primary Source Readings List:
Your Research Topic Options
Reminder: This research assignment requires you to do 2 things:
Closely analyze the ideas in the assigned primary source reading
Research the biography of the author in order to understand how he/she came to the views and opinions expressed in the text
THIS IS NOT A REPORT ON A FAMOUS PERSON. If you turn in a report like that, you will not do well.
YOU HAVE TO FOCUS YOUR ANALYSIS ON OUR ASSIGNED READING. It’s fine to broaden your horizon in your research to include other key writings by your author. Just do not forget to engage with the specific ideas in OUR TEXT that was assigned for class.
Assigned Readings You Can Choose
(These authors are in order based on the Syllabus Schedule. They also include a brief description of the content of the reading or the significance of the author.)
Carl Schurz–Union general on conditions in the South after the Civil War
Elias Hill–KKK victim
Frederick Douglass—19th century African American intellectual and equal rights activist
Anna J. Cooper—important African American writer who tackled both racism and sexism
Ida B. Wells—prominent African American journalist and organizer who crusaded against the evils of lynchings
Pun Chi (can substitute Wong Kim Ark)–discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants / Chinese Americans. If you substitute Wong Kim Ark, make sure to check in with me about which text you’ll use for your analysis!
Chief In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat—experience of Native Americans during American expansion
N. A. Jennings–Texas Ranger experience in the 1870s
Richard Pratt–advocate for assimilation of Native Americans
Andrew Carnegie–successful and philanthropic businessman
Henry George–critique of poverty and inequality in American society
George Washington Plunkitt–example of boss politics
Mary Elizabeth Lease–organizer for women’s activism and the Farmers’ Alliance
N. F. Thompson–businessman’s anti-union perspective
Samuel Gompers–president of the American Federation of Labor with a favorable view of unions
Emilio Aguinaldo–Filipino independence leader angered by US imperialism
Rudyard Kipling–British author applauding the US for becoming an imperial power and taking up the “White Man’s Burden”
Jane Addams (actually in your reader: 21-1)–social worker who ran a settlement house to help working-class women
Margaret Sanger–women’s reproductive rights advocate
Martha Gellhorn–reporter who describes the Depression-era conditions in North Carolina
Herbert Hoover–US President at the time of the Stock Market Crash and critic of the New Deal
Daniel Inouye (substituted for reading 25-2 for sources)–US Senator who served in WW2 but who experienced anti-Japanese sentiments in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor (would need to talk with me about which of his writings to use!)
Varian Fry–US journalist who reported on the Holocaust and advocated for greater US action
Rosie the Riveter Reading–women who worked heavy industry jobs during WW2
Joseph McCarthy–US Senator who claimed there was a communist infiltration of the US government
John F. Kennedy–US President, explanation of US actions in Vietnam
John Kerry–Vietnam soldier (future US Senator and Secretary of State) who criticized US government for continuing the Vietnam War
Booker T. Washington–prominent Black leader in the late 1800s
W.E.B. Du Bois–prominent Black leader who organized the NAACP in the late 1800s / early 1900s
Hiram Evans–KKK leader in the 1920s
Martin Luther King, Jr.–letter in response to white religious leaders criticism of his tactics in Birmingham
Cesar Chavez–labor and Latino rights advocate
Dolores Huerta—labor and Latino rights advocate
George Wallace–governor of Alabama who defended segregation and condemned the Civil Rights legislation
SNCC–Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee–Chicago office in 1967–affirmation of Black Power
NOW–National Organization of Women–women’s rights organization in the 1960s
Ronald Reagan–US President on cultural issues in America
Tony Campolo–Evangelical Baptist minister critical of evangelical views of cultural issues
Native Americans and the Black Slaves
Native Americans and the Black Slaves
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The strained relations between the Native Americans and the Black slaves were a key defining element that shaped how the two different sides interacted. The nation founders believed that there existed a great divide in terms of racial relations between the two groups. One of the key aspects of the relations between the Blacks and the Native Americans was the gap in terms of privileges and life status. The Blacks who were perceived the weaker side and often mistreated had little say in the running of affairs in the way the two groups related. The relations were also strained in terms of economic and social privileges where the Native Americans had an upper hand in all aspects of life. The Black slaves were pushed to the wall and thus had little influence on how the society was run. These negative aspects of racial relations strained the ties between the two sides and thus caused a negative environment that would often spark racial conflicts. The Native Americans were also influential in most matters that denied the black slaves the right to express their say and thus poor relations.
The Black salves who were a great pillar in the economy of America by 1850 had a role to play in shaping the agriculture and industrial growth mainly in the South (Berlin, 2017). The native Americas who by this time had a strong influence on how the economic affairs were run ensured that the Black slaves remain under their influence. The racial relations between the Blacks slaves and the Native Americans were already strained and thus the founders justified on the aspect of the social status. The Black slaves were by this time seen as an asset to the economic affairs of the Native Americans (Miles, 2015). It is through these strained relations that the founders laid down the rules and laws that even intensified the relations between the two sides. Another aspect of the relations as noted in the governance and local laws was where the Native Americans had the higher privileges in running the affairs of the society.
The Blacks had been subjected to the forced labor and had fewer privileges and this affected the way they related and interacted with the Native Americans. Another outlook into the societal matters that affected the relations was the inclined belief that the Black slaves were an inferior race and this affected how they related with the Blacks (Miles, 2015). However, because Native American labor had been essential to all of the economic activities going on during this first generation of colonialism, it was unthinkable for the European colonists to do without native slaves. With the pivotal roles plated by the Black Slaves, the unfolding events that surrounded their relations with the Native Americans were kept at bay in the governing and law making in America. The founders thus laid always and made social rearrangements based on the dominance of the Native Americans and the perceived relations between the two sides (Berlin, 2017). Another outlook on how the founders reasoned when laying the ground work in frameworks of law making and governance was seen in the social, political, and economic roles played by the Native Americans mainly in the South.
The founders also based their views on the racial relations between the Native Americans and the Black slaves on the social students that had been adopted before and during the slavery. One of the defining elements of tense relations was based on what each side believed and did to claim their social status in the society (Berlin, 2017). The Black slaves were by far left behind the social and political developments that gave them little infeluce on matters at hand. The key aspects of these relations were the basis upon which the founders perceived and made key governance frameworks on that have a huge impact for many decades. The American history shows that the racial relations between the Black slave and the Native Americans were a key factor in shaping the social, political, and economic spheres of the country for many decades (Miles, 2015). The effects of these relations even affected how different races like the native Indians and the Whites related on many fronts.
The various scopes and inclusive values that were rooted in the social and political had a huge influence on the founders’ views. The native Americans were also driven by the social and racial gaps that existed where they capitalized on these values and differences (Miles, 2015). Another outlook into the societal matters that affected the relations was the inclined belief that the Black slaves were an inferior race and this affected how they related with the Blacks. However, because Native American labor had been essential to all of the economic activities going on during this first generation of colonialism, it was unthinkable for the European colonists to do without native slaves. The founders also perceived that the gaps and roles played by each race was far more different thus this was used in laying governance and political policies (Berlin, 2017). The issue eve affected how the two sides related on a different angle that was found to have great values and impacts on the way the racial matters were addressed.
References
Berlin, I. (2017). From creole to African: Atlantic creoles and the origins of African-American society in mainland North America. In Critical Readings on Global Slavery (4 vols.) (pp. 1216-1262). Brill.
Miles, T. (2015). Ties that bind: The story of an Afro-Cherokee family in slavery and freedom (Vol. 14). Univ of California Press.