The uses and significance of Native American writing in Colonial America forms the basis for Brooks’ forthcoming book, “The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast” (University of Minnesota Press). Through her scholarship, Brooks aims to reshape the general perception that Native people were illiterate and entirely oral.
By focusing on Native American writings that address relationships and riverways within the “Common Pot,” Brooks was able to reconstruct the political geography of 18th and 19th century New England from the Native American perspective. She drew from a wealth of materials in public archives, such as the Newberry Library in Chicago (where the petition is held), as well as state libraries and historical societies.
According to Lisa Brooks, assistant professor of history and literature and of folklore and mythology, the petition signifies more than skillful use of sarcasm and irony. It is one example among many, she says, where Native Americans used their English writing skills to resist colonization and reclaim land.
“These writings, from people with very different cultural backgrounds, allow readers to understand how separate tribes viewed contemporary political processes,” she said.
Arts & Humanities
“The illusion of Native Americans as illiterate people was popularized by the writings of James Fenimore Cooper in the early 19th century. And those stereotypes persisted,” Brooks explained, including the notion that “if Indians did take up writing, they wouldn’t be Indians anymore — they would become handmaidens to the Colonial project.”
In 1747, three members of the Abenaki Native American tribe and their Mohawk ally posted a petition on a wall of an English fort in the Connecticut River Valley. The paper was small, but it spoke volumes.
“The Common Pot” also addresses peace negotiations between the fledgling United States and the United Indian Nations, a federated group of tribes centered in the Ohio Valley. Two of the native leaders selected to forge the peace — Joseph Brant of the Mohawk Nation and Hendrick Aupaumut of the Mohican Nation — had highly dissimilar visions of what the new political landscape should look like, and wrote extensively about their opinions on the subject.
Indeed, a contemporary reader, expectant of a global environment of international produce available constantly, immediate air travel to almost any destination on earth, and technological advances that allow instantaneous communication, would never recognize the world of the mid-1400s. The killing blow came from human migration, through no premeditated malice, and certainly without an understanding of disease vectors and transmission. Instead, "the fatal diseases of the Old World killed more effectively in the New, and the comparatively benign diseases of the Old World turned killer in the New" (Ibid). In fact, it was smallpox, to which most Europeans had a limited immunity due to centuries of exposure, which resulted in the largest death tolls for the Mesoamerican and Amerindian populations.
The town of ounded Knee is located on the present day Pine Ridge Reservation. The leaders of the resistance purposefully chose ounded Knee as the site for their protest, as it is loaded with spiritual and political significance for Native Americans.
Torbert, B. Tracing Native American Language History through Consonant Cluster Reduction: The Case of Lumbee English. American Speech 76 (4): 361-387.
Instead, children were allowed to roam freely throughout the community and were free to ask questions when and where they pleased (Indian Treaties, 1999). Children worked alongside adults, learning life skills through pay and imitation.
Native Americans in 1492 the
McClellan, James Edward. (2006). Science and Technology in World History: An
The geographic area now known as the West ndies, Caribbean slands, Mexico and Central America were very different places just a few short years prior to 1492. Central to the vast cultural and ecological changes in this area were the ways in which the European explorers impacted the native civilizations, decimating many through disease, and the manner in which the native cultures molded, mediated, and refracted into a new world order, creating a hybrid culture that is neither European nor Amerindian.
Aygen, T. (2001, June 25). The Nation
efore Christopher Columbus discovered the United States of America, and people from all over the globe including Europe, Asia and Africa migrate to inhabit the New World, it was already home to a group of people. This group of people is known as Native Americans or American Indians. These Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherer societies, with tribes living on pieces of lands as a community, using them for agriculture. The migration of Europeans into the New World changed the cultural dynamics of the land. There were arrays of differences between the European and Native American cultures were subsequently led to immense political tension as a result of ongoing contradictions between the two groups along with shifting of alliances of different nations between the two. The increase in the European expansion in America led to a rise in the tension between the groups. In 1830, the Indian Removal Act…
The clans and tribes of the Pacific Northwest are noted for their ability to weave and fashion clothing from plant and wood fibers. Blankets, rain hats, mats, and baskets were also woven. By contrast, the Plains tribes used buffalo and deer skins to make clothing such as moccasins. Some Plains groups excelled in beadwork to adorn their clothing, while others used porcupine quills, feathers, elk teeth, bear claws, or shells to adorn clothing. Those living in arctic or colder climates made parkas from hides, with pants to cover their legs, along with sunglasses to cover their eyes. Mittens and fur boots were also worn. Tribes living in the desert wore very little in the heat of summer, but woven grass and reeds were used to make clothing, as were sagebrush and bark to make shirts and skirts. Clothing was made of cotton, and with the introduction of sheep, wool was used for a similar purpose. Tribes living in the southeastern area used furs, bark, feathers, hair, and plants to make clothing. The clothing of all clans and tribes was functional, colorful, attractive, and durable (Mason 1946
Clearly, there are those who hold respect if not admiration for the traditional religious practices of Native Americans. Yet the dominant, mainstream culture seems generally inclined to either ignore or suppress the indigenous cultures that it has tried to destroy since Europeans first arrived. Many Catholic priests, known as “Blackrobes,” and other clergy do go to great lengths to respect and preserve traditional ways. Many funeral directors also make great efforts to respect and preserve traditional ways. Even among the clergy and those who call themselves religious, there are many who exploit, abuse, and ultimately denigrate cultures, beliefs, and peoples who are different (for further information on American Indian religions, see Anderson 1997
Evil is also embellished with meaning, with the ultimate evil often portrayed as death. The world is a violent, dangerous place, and yet spiritual worlds evoke images of peace and harmony. The sacred gives meaning and purpose to human existence.
While the indigenous peoples of this continent may have disappeared from the contemporary public awareness, their reality remains alive. For example, the Inde or Apache are dynamically evolving today among the 41 U.S. groups that identify as Apache. For the most part, they continue to live on a few reservations in New Mexico and Arizona. The myth of the vanishing Indian also has given rise to the belief that they have assimilated into white society. For the most part then, Native Americans are studied as if they are a part of the past. Social sciences such as sociology and anthropology as well as philosophy, psychology, history, literature, social work, law, population studies/demography, health, and theology have all contributed in some way to American Indian studies and the mythology that has become ingrained in the American mind.
X. Religious Issues
At the beginning of the twenty-first century there are 41 institutions that offer a four-year degree in Native American Studies. In 1969, the University of Minnesota became the first program to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree, and as noted by Thornton (1998:88), graduate programs in the area include a master’s degree program at UCLA, First Nation’s Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, a Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona, an area of emphasis at the University of California, Davis, a Ph.D. in ethnic studies with a concentration of American Indian Studies, and a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Minnesota with a possible focus on Native American Studies (Thornton 1998:90).
Native Americans engage in rituals and practices that reflect their religious beliefs pertaining to death and spiritual afterlife. Like other groups, American Indians view desecration of the dead to be a seriously offensive act. It is believed that disease and even death may befall those who violate the dead and their sacred resting place, but archaeologists have long dug up human remains to learn about culture and health-related matters. Following the Civil War, the Surgeon General of the United States ordered U.S. Army personnel to obtain Indian skulls for study at the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. (McMaster and Trafzer 2004:16). Subsequently, the skulls of Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Kiowa who were killed at the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado became objects of this scientific inquiry. Because of such acts, many tribes are reluctant to discuss their practices with contemporary researchers.
Other issues that will require attention during the 21st century are related to the loss of tribal languages and culture. There are 154 surviving Native American languages, but only 20 tribes encourage the children to learn their traditional language (Schaefer 2006:150), and just under 50 percent of all the Indian language speakers in the United States today are Navajo. Seven hundred American Indian languages were spoken in 1500 (Schaefer 2006: 151)
While sociologists have studied the Red Power Movement, treaty violations, and a variety of environmental issues and archaeologists have examined many long-forgotten indigenous tribal societies, the focus of contemporary Native American Studies/American Indian Studies/First Nations Studies is now to offer an indigenous people’s perspective on what has become of contemporary American Indian life. Unlike more traditional minority studies programs in sociology or archaeology, Native American Studies/American Indian Studies/First Nations studies, both in the United States and Canada, are multidisciplinary. Rather than offering a traditional academic approach, Kidwell and Velie (2005) suggest these aforementioned programs intentionally focus on literature, history, arts, language, land and identity, and tribal sovereignty (Kidwell and Velie 2005:7–15). The University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, the University of California at Davis, and the University of British Columbia are among the increasing number of institutions that offer excellent graduate programs in Native American Studies (Thornton 1998:90).
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- an online reprint of the 1866 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (Cooley, 1866)
- a letter, originally appearing in the December 1961 issue of the Seminole Indian News, from the Executive Council of the Miccosukee Tribe of Seminole Indians pleading to all Americans for help in protecting Seminole life ways
- Covington, J.W. (1993). The Seminoles of Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
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Culture of Native Americans Research Papers delve into a specific aspect of storytelling among native Americans and how they pass it on.
Early Seminole Indian Tribe
A research paper on the Seminole Indians might begin: The Seminole Indian tribe of Florida is a people descended from the Creek tribes who lived in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida. Under Spanish rule, many Creeks settled in the region, intermixing with the Choctaw tribes, escaping the rule of the English just to the North. The word “Seminole” grew out of the corruption of the Spanish word cimarron, or runaway. Their most sacred ceremony is the Green Corn Dance, witnessed by few outsiders.
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During the 1700s, the Seminoles became an increasingly independent and separate group from other Creeks, forging a new culture. Many African-American slaves also ran away to Florida and were accepted by the Seminole Indians. As Spanish control over Florida waned and American colonies began to appear, the Seminoles were able to establish their own independence, which came into conflict with the United States, who acquired Florida in 1819. During this process, many cross-border raids into Georgia sparked the attention of the US Government and Florida governor Andrew Jackson. The First Seminole War ended when Jackson invaded Seminole territory and forced many of the tribe to relocate in the Everglades.