Native Americans A QuickHistory Native Americans also known

Native Americans- A Quick-History

• Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, except Hawaii and territories of the United States. • There are 574 federally recognized tribes living within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations.

Why they were called red indian?

• Red Indian is an offensive term for a native North American. In North America, the term is now considered a racial slur. • The use of the term Indian for the natives of the Americas originated with Christopher Columbus, who mistakenly believed that the Antilles were the islands of the Indian Ocean, known to Europeans as the Indies. • Though Columbus’s mistake was soon recognized, the name stuck, and for centuries the native people of the Americas were called Indians.

Native Indians lived in peace in their own lands

• When the Ice. Age ended the Native Americans developed their tribes by making wise use of natural resources available

They had first experience with growing different crops such as corn and squash racing animals like turkeys, llamas and guinea pigs

They hunted deer, bison sea mammals and catching fish by using a variety of efficient methods

American Indian cities were as big as the cities in Europe and Asia at that time their fine architecture is still greatly admired

After 1492 European exploration and colonization of the Americas, revolutionized how the old and new worlds perceive themselves

At first, the cultural and materialist exchange were peaceful with not much conflicts

BUT…. • European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, resulted in a gradual decline in Native American population through introduced diseases, warfare, ethnic cleansing, and slavery

Soon war broke out between Europeans and Native population

• The American Revolution the newly proclaimed United States competed with the British for the allegiance of Native American nations

• Native Americans who joined the struggle sided with the British based both on their trading relationships and hopes that the colonial defeat would result in the halt to further colonial expansion on to Native American land

The United States was eager to expand develop farming and settlements new areas and satisfy land hunger of settlers from New England new immigrants

The national government initially sought to purchase Native American land by treaties but the states and settlers were frequently at odds with this policy

Many wars were fought between Natives and foreign invaders

• George Washington and Henry Knox believed that Native Americans were equals but their society was inferior • Washington formulated a policy to encourage the civilizing process this led to the civilization fund Act of 1819 as American expansion continued Native Americans resisted settlers encroachment in several regions in the 1830 s

• President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 a policy of relocating Indians from their homelands to Indian Territory and reservations and surrounding areas to open their lands for non-native settlements

this resulted in the Trail of Tears which took

• The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of approximately 60, 000 Native Americans in the United States from their ancestral homelands in • The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. • The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their new designated reserve, and approximately 4, 000 died before reaching their destinations or shortly after from disease.

Even after the relocations, many wars were fought in many lands

In wars they were plundered and killed, inhumanely

United States under President Woodrow Elson rented citizenship to all Native Americans who had served in World War I

• Nearly ten thousand men had enlisted and served a high number in relation to their population despite this in many areas

After many centuries of struggle, Indian Citizenship Act gave proper citizenship to them as Americans

They were given voting rights and representations in many Govt. agencies

BUT…Despite serving in war and providing support to USA, they were still discriminated , culturally and racially

The conflict between Americans and Native Americans still continues over many issues even after many centuries have passed by…

• The Navajo are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States • At more than 300, 000 enrolled tribal members as of 2015, the Navajo Nation is the secondlargest federally recognized tribe in the U. S. (the Cherokee Nation being the largest) and has the largest reservation in the country. • The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region, and most Navajo also speak English.

• An Indian reservation is a legal designation for an area of land managed by a federally recognized Indian tribe under the U. S. Bureau of Indian Affairs rather than the state governments of the United States in which they are physically located. • Each of the 326 Indian reservations in the United States is associated with a particular Native American nation. • Not all of the country's 567 recognized tribes have a reservation—some tribes have more than one reservation, while some share reservations.

“Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko

About Leslie Marmon Silko Ø Leslie Marmon Silko is one of the most celebrated Native American writers of her generation. Ø Her short story “Lullaby” first appeared in Storyteller (1981), a book in which she interweaves autobiographical reminiscences, short stories, poetry, photographs of her family (taken by her father) and traditional songs. Ø The book as a whole is concerned with the oral tradition of storytelling in Native American culture. Ø Through a variety of formats, Silko attempts to reproduce the effect of oral storytelling in a written English form.

About Lullaby • “Lullaby” is one of the most noted pieces in Storyteller. • It is told from the perspective of an old woman reminiscing about some of the most tragic events of her life, all of which seem to be precipitated by the intrusions of white authority figures into her home.

• She recalls being informed of the death of her son in the war, the loss of her children taken by white doctors, and the exploitative treatment of her husband by the white rancher who employs him.

Lullaby • Story opens with Ayah walking through the snow and later sitting on the edge of Cebolleta Creek • She is taken back to the past when she pulled out Jimmy’s (Ayah’s Elder Son) blanket Memories of her time with mother and grandma

• Memories of jimmy’s birth • She talks to us about how the white police officer delivered the message of jimmy’s death (Jimmy worked in US military and was killed in a helicopter crash) • It was through Chato (Ayah’s husband) she got the news since it was only he who knew how to talk English • She mourned for her only when Chato fell from horse and was unable to work

• She was reminded about jimmy when Danny and Ella (Both are ayah’s children. Danny was a child and Ella a toddler) was taken away • She was reminded about the time when she and her children had to run from doctors but later had to give them up because she signed the papers • It was from that point she hated chato

• Now the story talks about how Ayah conducted her search for Chato, who always wasted all the money on wine which he got in a blue envelope from Govt in form of a check • She walks into a bar and people stared at her but nobody dared to throw her out since she looked bit scary with her old wrinkly face

• As she warmed her body neat fire, she remembered the time when Ella and Danny was brought back to her • In their first visit they were more friendly while later on they were not so friendly with her and she realized they were now slowly becoming ‘white’ by their upbringing

• She walked north down the road, searching for old man • She talk about how Chato waste his money, how he hates to guide sheep since he used to work in white man’s field once upon a time • But she didn’t feel sad for him since she believed he deserved this for his loyalty to the whites

• She later found him walked down a pavement • Chato smelled like smoke and urine • She talks about how Chato is not so good in remembering things now since he is old and how he wanders to white man’s fields even when he no longer works there

• As snow storm got stronger, they walked away from the road and stayed under a big rock until storm settle • The storm passed swiftly and night became clear • The story ends with Ayah singing lullaby to chato who was now tucked in blanket