November 2020 (11th grade)
Everything missing from US history
Thanksgiving is one of the most American holidays in our nation, celebrated with family, friends, and turkey. It is a holiday of gratitude but do we really take the time to be grateful for the Native Americans who made our country possible? Those who kept the Pilgrims alive during their first winter in America. The Natives who helped the patriots in the American Revolution and were repaid by being slaughtered and stolen from. Although the Pilgrims were the beginning of colonial America, I argue that Native Americans are deeply intertwined in the history of the US through the contributions they have made and the oppression they have endured; therefore, it is imperative that their experience and history is fully and honestly taught in classrooms.
Indigenous peoples on the American continent had their land stolen and their culture stripped from them before the Pilgrims on the Mayflower even arrived. The Spanish empire was one of the most powerful European empires to reach the Americas during the early 16th century. By the time the Spanish came to the place we now call the United States they were experienced in their strategies of oppression and violence towards Indigenous groups in the lands they were conquering. A prime example of oppression is the California missions system and boarding schools that forced assimilation upon the Indigenous, making them forget all the knowledge and practices of their culture. The influence of other European powers in the Americas and their interactions with the Indigenous started far before the Mayflower. It is important that we recognize that our country’s history had already started to be written before we were founded by the European powers who came to colonize and the indigenous who resisted all over what we now call the US.
This pattern of oppression can be seen from all settlers that arrived in the Americas, including the Pilgrims, but this long and bloody history has not gone without resistance. Indigenous groups have resisted European powers since they arrived in the Americas. The Indigenous in America maintained their cultural and spiritual practices in secret, hiding their gods behind the guise of Catholic saints. They also resisted through warfare and they fled from European invaders.
Present day, Native Americans still face extreme discrimination, they face challenges that often times go unnoticed by the rest of society. They still have to fight for their basic human rights in their reservations, rights like access to clean water and healthcare. According to the article “Montana's Indigenous protesters lead opposition to Keystone XL,” The creation of new and larger pipelines has continually endangered the drinking water sources of different reservations in the US. In response to these pipelines Native Americans have protested and their peaceful protesting efforts have been met with police forces. According to CNN, Native Americans are the race most likely to be killed by police force. “For every 1 million Native Americans, an average of 2.9 of them died annually from 1999 to 2015 as a result of a ‘legal intervention’”(CNN). Even so, these cases of police brutality are rarely recognized on a national level.
Native American’s historical trauma that is so greatly subdued and silenced by the white-washed history that has been perpetuated in schools. Their contributions and struggles are greatly undermined by the colonists one sided narrative and we lose a lot of our nation’s history this way. Despite this, Indigenous communities today continue to advocate for change, create community programs for themselves, and reclaim the knowledge and traditions of their ancestors. The youtube video “History of Native California” describes all the different ways that new generations of Native Americans are reclaiming their culture. Universities like Humboldt State University are working together with nearby tribes to teach students about STEM and combine their ancestors' knowledge and practices for maintaining land with new technology and strategies.
Some may argue that the Pilgrims are the most important part of the US’s history and that we should only be learning about them. After all, they were the beginning of the thirteen colonies that became the United States as we know it today. This, however, is a narrow and one-sided version of our history. To deny the history of Native Americans as it relates to the founding of this country is to deny a part of our country. A very important detail in the story of the Pilgrims is their first winter in the new foreign land. The Wampanoag tribe helped and tried to form alliances with the Mayflower settlers when they first arrived. A lot of the Indigenous people that helped the Pilgrims survive their first harsh winter already had been exposed to Europeans and some even spoke English. They taught the Pilgrims how to provide for themselves and survive in the new land. In choosing to found their colonies on Native American land, oppress and murder Natives, and silence their struggles in the US, they inarguably made Indigenous history a part of this nation’s history.
Native Americans have endured countless injustices at the hands of the colonizers and current US government. Their contributions to society have been continually ignored and disregarded. Despite this, Indigenous people continue to fight to make it known that they are more than their historical trauma and they have reclaimed their culture. It is time that Americans recognize the truth and importance of Native American history in the US. They are unequivocally an integral part of the US, its foundation and its success. True indigenous history must be taught and learned about in schools. The history of the US is a complicated and sometimes an uncomfortable one but in order to truly move forward as a country in which equality and justice prevail we must lean into that uncomfortability. We must truthfully acknowledge both the positive and negative aspects of the Pilgrims and colonizers that founded this nation, the other European powers that had influence in the Americas, and the difficult but resilient history of Native Americans.
Indigenous peoples on the American continent had their land stolen and their culture stripped from them before the Pilgrims on the Mayflower even arrived. The Spanish empire was one of the most powerful European empires to reach the Americas during the early 16th century. By the time the Spanish came to the place we now call the United States they were experienced in their strategies of oppression and violence towards Indigenous groups in the lands they were conquering. A prime example of oppression is the California missions system and boarding schools that forced assimilation upon the Indigenous, making them forget all the knowledge and practices of their culture. The influence of other European powers in the Americas and their interactions with the Indigenous started far before the Mayflower. It is important that we recognize that our country’s history had already started to be written before we were founded by the European powers who came to colonize and the indigenous who resisted all over what we now call the US.
This pattern of oppression can be seen from all settlers that arrived in the Americas, including the Pilgrims, but this long and bloody history has not gone without resistance. Indigenous groups have resisted European powers since they arrived in the Americas. The Indigenous in America maintained their cultural and spiritual practices in secret, hiding their gods behind the guise of Catholic saints. They also resisted through warfare and they fled from European invaders.
Present day, Native Americans still face extreme discrimination, they face challenges that often times go unnoticed by the rest of society. They still have to fight for their basic human rights in their reservations, rights like access to clean water and healthcare. According to the article “Montana's Indigenous protesters lead opposition to Keystone XL,” The creation of new and larger pipelines has continually endangered the drinking water sources of different reservations in the US. In response to these pipelines Native Americans have protested and their peaceful protesting efforts have been met with police forces. According to CNN, Native Americans are the race most likely to be killed by police force. “For every 1 million Native Americans, an average of 2.9 of them died annually from 1999 to 2015 as a result of a ‘legal intervention’”(CNN). Even so, these cases of police brutality are rarely recognized on a national level.
Native American’s historical trauma that is so greatly subdued and silenced by the white-washed history that has been perpetuated in schools. Their contributions and struggles are greatly undermined by the colonists one sided narrative and we lose a lot of our nation’s history this way. Despite this, Indigenous communities today continue to advocate for change, create community programs for themselves, and reclaim the knowledge and traditions of their ancestors. The youtube video “History of Native California” describes all the different ways that new generations of Native Americans are reclaiming their culture. Universities like Humboldt State University are working together with nearby tribes to teach students about STEM and combine their ancestors' knowledge and practices for maintaining land with new technology and strategies.
Some may argue that the Pilgrims are the most important part of the US’s history and that we should only be learning about them. After all, they were the beginning of the thirteen colonies that became the United States as we know it today. This, however, is a narrow and one-sided version of our history. To deny the history of Native Americans as it relates to the founding of this country is to deny a part of our country. A very important detail in the story of the Pilgrims is their first winter in the new foreign land. The Wampanoag tribe helped and tried to form alliances with the Mayflower settlers when they first arrived. A lot of the Indigenous people that helped the Pilgrims survive their first harsh winter already had been exposed to Europeans and some even spoke English. They taught the Pilgrims how to provide for themselves and survive in the new land. In choosing to found their colonies on Native American land, oppress and murder Natives, and silence their struggles in the US, they inarguably made Indigenous history a part of this nation’s history.
Native Americans have endured countless injustices at the hands of the colonizers and current US government. Their contributions to society have been continually ignored and disregarded. Despite this, Indigenous people continue to fight to make it known that they are more than their historical trauma and they have reclaimed their culture. It is time that Americans recognize the truth and importance of Native American history in the US. They are unequivocally an integral part of the US, its foundation and its success. True indigenous history must be taught and learned about in schools. The history of the US is a complicated and sometimes an uncomfortable one but in order to truly move forward as a country in which equality and justice prevail we must lean into that uncomfortability. We must truthfully acknowledge both the positive and negative aspects of the Pilgrims and colonizers that founded this nation, the other European powers that had influence in the Americas, and the difficult but resilient history of Native Americans.
Bibliography:
Givetash, Linda. “No New Worlds.” NBC News, Sept. 16, 2020.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/native-americans-reclaim-history-400-years-after-mayflower-landing-n1240128.
Hansen, Elise. “The Forgotten Minority in Police Shootings.” CNN. Cable News Network, November 13, 2017.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/10/us/native-lives-matter/index.html.
Humboldt PBLC. “History of Native California.” YouTube, August 9, 2019. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-azcPugmKQ.
Lutey, Tom. “Montana's Indigenous protesters lead opposition to Keystone XL.” The Billings Gazette, Jul 21, 2020.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/montanas-indigenous-protesters-lead-opposition-to-keystone-xl/article_c4f86ecd-06ca-5468-80ec-317e66e0668e.html.
Givetash, Linda. “No New Worlds.” NBC News, Sept. 16, 2020.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/native-americans-reclaim-history-400-years-after-mayflower-landing-n1240128.
Hansen, Elise. “The Forgotten Minority in Police Shootings.” CNN. Cable News Network, November 13, 2017.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/10/us/native-lives-matter/index.html.
Humboldt PBLC. “History of Native California.” YouTube, August 9, 2019. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-azcPugmKQ.
Lutey, Tom. “Montana's Indigenous protesters lead opposition to Keystone XL.” The Billings Gazette, Jul 21, 2020.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/montanas-indigenous-protesters-lead-opposition-to-keystone-xl/article_c4f86ecd-06ca-5468-80ec-317e66e0668e.html.