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CHAPTER 7
NATIVE AMERICANS
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
• Strangers due to differences in race,
material culture, beliefs, and behavior.
• Europeans showed little interest in
understanding them
• Population in “U.S.” territory about 6 to 10
million
• Several hundred tribes, … discrete
languages, … lifestyles
• Lived in harmony with the land
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Perspective Cont.
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Europeans reflected ethnocentric views
Condemned Native American culture
Considered the indigenous native savages
Others idolized them as uncorrupted
children
• Stereotype often negative, as selfjustification of treatment
– Cruel, … treacherous, … lying, .. Dirty heathens
• “What is the stereotype today?”
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Historical Cont.
• We over generalize about Native
Americans, … as one people
– Differ by: language, … social structure, …
values, … practices, …
– Around 300 different languages in 1492
– 556 tribal entities recognized by the BIA
• Shared physical characteristics
– Thick straight black hair, … little facial, body
hair, … prominent cheek bones, … Redskin?
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Historical Cont.
• Whites were the newcomers, … immigrants
• The relations that developed:
– Distrust, … uneasy truces, … violent hostilities
– Growing antagonisms, …
• At issue: Whose way of life would prevail?
– How would the land be used?
• Must understand the roles of :
– Ethnocentrism, … stereotyping, …. Cultural
differences, … power differentials, …
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Early Encounters
• Reflect differences in culture, …
knowledge, … and lifestyle
• Columbus’s first impressions, … Arawak
– Reflects European ethnocentrism
• Spanish put the Arawak into slave like
conditions
• Native populations began to decline
– Disease, … warfare, … self-destruction
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Early Encounters Cont.
• The Dichotomy of views
– The Noble Savage or Blood thirsty Barbarian
• Fr. Bartolome de las Casas
– Naïve, … ability to learn, … willing to co-exist
• Appealed to King Charles V
– Humane treatment for Native Americans
– Won his appeal, … altered Spanish policy
• Spanish began to use Africans as slave
labor
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Cultural Strains
• When Whites were few in number, …
Natives helped them to survive
• As more Europeans immigrated, …
relations became more strained
• Resulting interaction between the two
cultures, … disadvantage for Natives
– Lost their land, … lost self sufficiency, …
became economically dependent
• Whites began insist on compliance to their
demands and interests
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Differing Values
• Benjamin Franklin’s example, … 1744
Treaty between Whites and Iroquois
• Reflect the attitudes of both Native
Americans and Whites
• Iroquois influence on the U.S. Constitution
– The “Great Law of Peace”
– Gave each of five tribes an equal voice
– Guaranteed Religious and political freedom
– Had an amendment and impeachment
process
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Values and Social Structure
• Marked similarities among native tribes
– Intimate relationship with nature, … not abuse
the land,
– Maximized the use of animal prey, … “Buffalo”
– Tribe or Clan ownership of land, not individual
– Extended family concept of child rearing
• Clear cut and different gender roles
– Cooperative but not egalitarian, … hunting, …
clearing land, … tending crops, … food
gathering, …
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Stereotyping of Natives
• Bloodthiristy: some were, … most sought
to avoid conflict
• Would take Scalp: not a common practice,
… some believe this was learned from
Whites
• Stoic, Silent, Aloof: A device to preserve
dignity and respect, avoid shame and
ridicule
• Backward, Unsophisticated
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Changes in Govt. Policy
• European and U.S. Govt. policy changed
frequently, over the years (p. 249)
• 1763; King George III, “Independent
Nations”
• 1778; Continental Congress, reaffirms
policy
• 1787; Northwest Territory Ordinance
• 1824; Bureau of Indian Affairs created
• 1830; Indian Removal Act
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Govt. Policy Cont.
• 1830-1843; “Trail of Tears”
• 1850-1880; Most Reservations Created;
Forced segregation becomes a policy
• 1871; Tribes are no longer Independent
Nations
• 1887; Dawes Act: Reservations surveyed,
divided into tracts, surplus land sold
• 1898; Curtis Act; Terminates tribal
governments, President to appoint chiefs
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Govt. Policy Cont.
• 1924; Indian Citizenship Act; Grants U.S.
Citizenship to Native Americans
• 1934; Indian Reorganization Act, ends
allotment, encourages self government
• 1953; Termination Act; Authorizes
elimination of the reservation system
• 1973; Menominee Restoration Act;
Revokes the Termination Act.
• 1975; Indian Self-Determination Act;
Expands Indian self control
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Present-Day Native American
Life
• Population
– 2.5 million in 2000
– Almost twice the national birth rate
• Employment
– Exceeds 50% on most reservations
– 95% on the Rosebud reservation
• Tribal Enterprises
– Successes
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Present-Day Cont.
• The New Buffalo
– Casinos
• Life Expectancy
– Average life span is 45 years
– 10 years less than the national average
• Death Rates
• Alcohol Abuse
– Five times the national average
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Present-Day Cont.
• Education
– Senate Sub-committee on Indian Education
• Housing
– Open Air Slums
– 35% don’t have safe water, and sewage
– Mortality Rate
• Natural Resources
– Exploitation
– Navajo Indian reservation
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Present-Day Cont.
• Dances with Garbage and Nuclear Waste
– Disposal companies, … toxic waste
– The Mescalero of Southern New Mexico
• Nuclear radioactive waste storage, (2 billion)
• Water Rights
– Water is considered their most critical problem
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