Professor Sarah Deer from the University of Kansas visited Dayton to give a presentation entitled, “Sovereignty of the Soul: Sexual Violence in Native America.” Throughout her presentation, Dr. Dree exposes important and disheartening information about the way Indians have been treated. She stated that the majority of Native American women have been or will be sexual assaulted in their lifetime. Dr. Deer has dedicated her efforts towards ending violence and discrimination towards Native American women and works towards educating individuals on harsh realities that have been occurring throughout our history.
Dr. Deer commenced her presentation by stating the uncomfortable truth about the way Natives have been treated throughout history. The
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Speeds statistics showed that the majority of Indian individuals are being abused and she explained that civilizations that lack respect and safety last long. Abuse disrupts people’s quality of life and prevents them from being productive members of society. Tribal nations have sovereignty which means not only does the government have authority to make laws, but they also are required to abide by those law. Deer found work produced by William Bartrams on Creek and Cherokee Indians that proved how respected women were in Indian society. He wrote “I never saw or hear of an instance of an Indian beating his wife or other female, or reproving them in anger or in harsh language.” Speed used this quote to show females have not always been treated poorly in Indian tradition. She claims that one reason why these values started to change was because of westward expansion. Throughout westward expansion, Americans forced Indians to assimilate into western culture or else they would be murdered. Assimilation included learning to speak English and changing law to tradition western Law. The Creek rape laws in 1824 were written in English meaning they were written after forced assimilation. The rape law states, “And be it farther enacted if any person or persons should undertake to force woman and did it by force, it shall be left to woman what punishment she should satisfied with to whip or pay what she says it be law.” Pay in this context doesn’t refer to paying the female for her …show more content…
Firstly, many tribes lost sacred land during forced migrations. Land is important to Native Americans because it provides a place to pray and visit their ancestors. When they lost those places they not only lost the tangible land but it separated these indigenous people from their church. If individuals weren’t forced from their homes, they were put into concentrating camps or boarding schools. Boarding schools solved the Indian problem of how to eliminate Natives while being cost efficient. At these schools, Indians couldn’t speak their first language or practice their faith. They had to completely assimilate into western culture. This was one part of the presentation I was well informed on and had learned about boarding schools and the transformation of Indian children from high school. Another reason why tribes lost their sovereignty is because after an Indian chief murdered another chief, the US federal government intervened and declared their right to arbitrate any major crime that Indians committed. Although the federal government has taken some of the tribes sovereignty, the Indians can’t persecute any other race but their own. Dr. Speed explained that the federal government often won’t work with Indian women on rape cases because they are expensive and far away from the reservation. This means Indian victims are not getting justice for their tragedies. This
There is much literature about African American and Hispanic offenders and the punishment of males in the criminal justice system; however, there is not much literature on either Native Americans or women offenders in the criminal justice system. Luana Ross attempts to break this trend with her research in Inventing the Savage: The Social Construct of Native American Criminality. In her book, Ross first gives a comprehensive history and perspective on the perception of Native Americans by what she describes as “Euro-Americans.” In the second part of her book, Ross gives us a glimpse on the conditions and treatment of women prisoners (particularly Native American women) in a Montana women’s correctional facility (labeled the WCC by the author).
In the text “Seeing Red: American Indian Women Speaking about their Religious and Cultural Perspectives” by Inés Talamantez, the author discusses the role of ceremonies and ancestral spirituality in various Native American cultures, and elaborates on the injustices native women face because of their oppressors.
Significantly, Welch deconstructs the myth that Plains Indian women were just slaves and beasts of burden and presents them as fully rounded women, women who were crucial to the survival of the tribal community. In fact, it is the women who perform the day-to-day duties and rituals that enable cultural survival for the tribes of...
People know about the conflict between the Indian's cultures and the settler's cultures during the westward expansion. Many people know the fierce battles and melees between the Indians and the settlers that were born from this cultural conflict. In spite of this, many people may not know about the systematic and deliberate means employed by the U.S. government to permanently rid their new land of the Indians who had lived their own lives peacefully for many years. There are many strong and chilling reasons and causes as to why the settlers started all of this perplexity in the first place. There was also a very strong and threatening impact on the Native Americans through the schooling that stained the past and futures of Native Americans not only with blood but also with emotion. It was all a slow and painful plan of the "white man" to hopefully get rid of the Indian culture, forever. The Native American schools were created in an attempt to destroy the Native American way of life, their culture, beliefs and tradi...
In order to understand the lack of morality on the part of the United States, the actions taken by the group in favor of removing the Indians and their opponents needs examining. The seeds of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 are rooted in colonial times and continued to grow during the early years of the American republic. To comprehend this momentous tragedy we must first examine the historical background of the Indian '"'problem'"' and seek rationale for the American government"'"s actions. This includes looking at the men who politically justified the expulsion of the Cherokee nation and those who argued against it.
The history of Indian Child Welfare Act derived from the need to address the problems with the removal of Indian children from their communities. Native American tribes identified the problem of Native American children being raised by non-native families when there were alarming numbers of children being removed from their h...
The Cherokee Indians, the most cooperative and accommodating to the political institutions of the united states, suffered the worst fate of all Native Americans when voluntarily or forcibly moved west. In 1827 the Cherokees attempted to claim themselves as an independent nation within the state of Georgia. When the legislature of the state extended jurisdiction over this ‘nation,’ the Cherokees sought legal actions, not subject to Georgia laws and petitioned the United States Supreme Court. The case became known as Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia in 1831. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall denied their claim as a republic within Georgia, he then deemed the Cherokee as a ‘domestic dependent nation’. One year later through the case of Worcester vs. Georgia, the Cherokee’s were granted federal protection from the molestation by the state of Georgia. Through the Indian Removal act in 1830 President Andrew Jackson appropriated planning and funding for the removal of Native Americans, Marshall’s rulings delayed this for the Cherokee Nation, and infuriated President Jackson. Marshall’s decision had little effect on Jackson and ignoring this action the president was anxious to see him enforce it.
Talking Back to Civilization: Indian Voices from the Progressive Era edited by Frederick E. Hoxie is a book which begins with an introduction into the life of Charles Eastman and a brief overview of the history of Native Americans and their fight for justice and equal rights, it then continues by describing the different ways and avenues of speaking for Indian rights and what the activists did. This leads logically into the primary sources which “talk back” to the society which had overrun their own. The primary sources immerse the reader into another way of thinking and cause them to realize what our societal growth and even foundation has caused to those who were the true natives. The primary sources also expand on the main themes of the book which are outlines in the introduction. They are first and most importantly talking back to the “pale faces”, Indian education, religion, American Indian policy, the image of the Indians presented in America. The other chapters in the book further expanded on these ideas. These themes will be further discussed in the following chapters along with a review of this
Today, Native American women continue to be victimized and remain vulnerable targets within, their communities, reservations, tribal law enforcement agencies, and federal law enforcement agencies. In order to restore peace and justice for Native women we first need to have critical and substantive discussion regarding all aspects of sexual assault on r...
The history regarding the treatment and abuse of the Cherokee people during the 19th century is a well researched topic of discussion. The Trail of Tears is known as the forced movement of the Cherokee people out of their homeland into what is present day Oklahoma. It was named The Trail of Tears due to the disastrous effect it had on the Cherokee people and many died of starvation along the journey. After the Civil War the Cherokee people faced the repercussions of the Dawes Act of 1887, which forced allotment of Indian territory and forced assimilation. Considering the Cherokee Women in Crisis, Carolyn Johnston focuses on the changing gender roles of Cherokee women and how their suffering differed from the men. Johnston limits the areas of
The history of Indian Child Welfare Act derived from the need to address the problems with the removal of Indian children from their communities. Native American tribes identified the problem of Native American children being raised by non-native families when there were alarming numbers of children being removed from their h...
Finally, modern issues show that even till today. insults to the Native Americans are happening because of the power the government holds. Modern issues that the Natives Americans face today, are the poor conditions that the reservations they live. There is lack of easy access supply of water and there is hardly and jobs to make and earn money from. Lack of jobs cause some of the Natives to leave the reservations and seek work in other states to be able to provide enough living for their families. Their houses are really run down and small, many insects infest their
In 1887 the federal government launched boarding schools designed to remove young Indians from their homes and families in reservations and Richard Pratt –the leader of Carlisle Indian School –declared, “citizenize” them. Richard Pratt’s “Kill the Indian… and save the man” was a speech to a group of reformers in 1892 describing the vices of reservations and the virtues of schooling that would bring young Native Americans into the mainstream of American society.
The Indian Boarding School Experience sanctioned by the U.S government decultralized Native Americans through Anglo Conformity which has led to a cultural smudging of the Native American mores generations later, disrupting centuries of cultural constructions and the norms and values of the Native American people.
Linda, in her time away from home has been emotionally and physically abused by the natives of the Savage Reservation. She was physically beaten by the women in her new home, they came into her room and held her down and whipped her repeatedly. Her son John compared