Native Americans Persuasive Essay Example For Students

Native Americans Persuasive Essay Native AmericansChristopher Columbus discovered America. But how could he have discovered some place where people were already living? At any rate, Americans celebrate Columbus arrival as a holiday, but they forget the indigenous people. These are people that helped our ancestors live here when the first settlers were having troubles adapting to an environment in which they did not know how to exploit the resources. But the repayment for such selfless aid is sub-par by anyones standards. Nowadays its hard to picture how the Native Americans used to live because meeting one is a rarity. The Native Americans once occupied the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, with as many as a few hundred languages and dialects. The Natives from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their main way of finding food was from agriculture; they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, and this act brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper, seashells and soapstone. To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Natives wearing feathered headdresses and killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, their material world completely changed. The Native Americans were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing, and also by their language. The first Native-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures waiting for the first opportunity to be Christianized. The Natives were called the Noble Savages by the settlers because they were cooperative people, but after having a few conflicts with them, they seemed to behave like animals. We should comprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the Natives, for they were only used to interactions with people from their own race and all of this was just as much a new discovery for the Natives as it was for the white immigrants. The relation between the Engl ish and the Virginian Natives was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Smith, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Natives to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Natives, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Natives when they first settled in Jamestown and Plymouth. In these areas, the Natives showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood. The Natives changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more. The new settlers hunted on the Native peoples land and planted in their grounds. For several years the Natives gave the Virginia colonists little trouble because the came to the area of settlement infrequently. However, an agreement resulted in an imaginary line that prohibited the whites from setting to the West of this new Fall Line. This attempt to keep the races segregated failed as the white population in Virginia rapidly grew. The Native lands were taken up and in the 1670s the Natives became enraged and killed several hundred whites. But the Whites retaliated so by 1669, most of the Virginia Natives had been decimated or driven from their lands. The colonists seemed to have forgotten the help the Natives provided as well as food supplies that sustained some of the first settlements through their Starving Times. Regardless, the Native Americans were doomed in their str uggles against the white settlers. In the end, the superiority of the U.S. government, the large number of settlers, and the destruction of the natural environment upon which the Natives depended for their survival overwhelmed the Native Americans. Have You Ever Seen Anything In Your Life That Just Seemed To Good To B EssayThe Lemhi Shoshone, have asked former president Bill Clinton to carve out a small piece of Federal land in a section of the Salmon River county on the Idaho-Montana border so it can become a place where the Shoshone tribe can tell its story to the hordes of Lewis and Clark history buffs, honor their dead, and try to stitch some of their past history to the present. If Sacagawea wouldnt have been there to help them, the whites would have died. I think that the United States should pay better respect to the generosity and friendship of not only Sacagawea, but also to her people. The government should give the Shoshone tribe a good portion of land to thank them for all they did to help Lewis and Clark in their journey. Two years ago I visited a Museum of the American Native in Milwaukee. This Museum presents a new perspective of the Native American people and cultures through innovate exhibitions that emphasized the great importance of Native voices in the interpretation of Native history and their cultural achievements. Through the Museum, we can learn what Native Americans have to teach us about such things as the delicate balance between our people and nature, about their profound respect for family, their ethic of sharing, and about their deep and spiritual magnificent art. This Museum changed forever my perspective on the way the Native Americans lived in this hemisphere. This museum works to correct many misconceptions, to end prejudice, to stop the injustice, and to demonstrate how the Native culture has enriched the world. One of the exhibits that I really liked was called Creations Journey: Master Works of The American Identity and Belief. This reflects the diversity, aesthetic quality, an d cultural significance of the vast collections of the National Museum of the American Native. The expressions of their everyday life and their spiritually were depicted in some fine works of art. The exhibition illustrates the creative responses of the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere to the complex and changes around them. The section, Refining the Art of Being a Native describes how rites of passage and mastery of skills helped young adults to become contributors to their society. Art that Transcends Time explores the transformation of stone and clay, bone, wood, feathers and wool into images of great spiritual power.4Once thought to be vanishing, the Native Americans are to the contrary still a part of our world. The Native voices grow strong and this Museum serves as a stage to present the diversity and vitality of those voices. By visiting the Museum of the American Native, my knowledge has increased enormously about this topic. I found out things about the Natives that I didnt know. The Native Americans can finally say thanks for the things the U.S. Government in its efforts to keep the Native American culture among our history for all these years. Works CitedEgan, Timothy. Seeking Land for Tribe of Girl Who Helped Lewis and Clark, New York Times, October 26, 1999. Poteete, Troy Wayne. Trail of Tears Advisory Council. Cherokee Nation. May 31, 1992. Richards, Dorothy Fay. Pocahontas, Child Princess. NJ: Prentice, 1978. Milwaukee Public MuseumNative Americans