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History of native american art
History of native american art
Native american artwork influenced by europeans
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In the document “Doomed to Perish”: George Catlin’s Depictions of the Mandan by Katheryn S. Hight, she analyzes the work of George Catlin while he traveled to the Mandan colony west of the Missouri River. Hight identifies that Catlin created a false and imaginative depiction of the Mandan Indians based on his social and political ideas which ended up creating an entertainment enterprise rather than reporting history. Catlin’s extravagant depictions of the Indians, which did have an impact on the Indian Policy in America, seemingly motivates Hight to write on this subject. Hight begins this paper by giving a background on Catlin and his work. By giving the reader and overview of some of his work and his influence it sets up for a good transition into his position and the importance of Indian Policy. Her entire argument examines Catlin’s paintings and their influence on the Indian Policy and the Indian Removal. She identifies …show more content…
She identifies that Caitlin saw it as an opportunity to show the audience the entertaining Wild West but also to assure people of the vanishing Indian threat. Some of the main work in the gallery (Portraits of Black Hawk and Osceola) were of leaders that lived east of the Mississippi, not in fact western like the Mandan’s. They were also imprisoned and not the free and wild men that Catlin was expressing. As Hight identifies the portrait of Osceola had a large impact in how his Indian paintings and gallery influenced the Indian Policy. Osceola died shortly after the portrait was drawn and was very sick while it was done. The portrait of him was depicted as a strong and healthy man when in fact he was the opposite. This supported that idea of the Vanishing Race Theory Through this observation Hight identifies that this was seen as entertainment and could make a large
Although the text and painting have different backgrounds, they are both similar a different in many ways. Both the text and the painting challenge the relationship between land uses, background of ancestors, and power. The painting and essay display similar expressions of darkness to light. The mountains represent the downfall of Native Americans fore fathers being forced westward out of their land (Seattle, 55).
In 1893, Simon Pokagon spoke at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. He was a prominent tribal leader who was known for this speech. So much so, it was printed and turned into an informative pamphlet. The speech encompassed American history and it’s push Westward, detailing the destruction of the Native lands and culture forever. He begins by telling the crowd about how he cannot celebrate with them in this great big new city, because it reminds him of all that was lost. Pokagon states, “where stands this “Queen City of the West” once stood the red man’s wigwams;” (Page 32). A bold statement follows about how nature was plentiful, until pale face came with their
When the Europeans first migrated to America, they didn’t know much about the ancestral background of the different types of the Indian tribes that were settled in Virginia and along the East Coast. Many of the Indian tribes became hostile towards the colonist because the colonists were interfering with their way of life. This lead the natives to attempt to destroy the frontier settlements. Many forts in this area were erected to protect the settlers and their families. One the historical land...
We turn back the clock as Welch draws on historical sources and Blackfeet cultural stories in order to explore the past of his ancestors. As a result, he provides a basis for a new understanding of the past and the forces that led to the deciding factor of the Plains Indian tribes. Although Fools Crow reflects the pressure to assimilate inflicted by the white colonizers on the Blackfeet tribes, it also portrays the influence of economic changes during this period. The prosperity created by the hide trade does not ultimately protect the tribe from massacre by the white soldiers. It does, however, effectively change the Blackfeet economy and women's place in their society. Thus, it sets the stage for the continued deterioration of their societal system. Although their economic value is decreased, women still represent an important cog in the economic structure. Indeed, women are central to the survival of the Blackfeet tribal community that Welch creates and in many ways this strength and centrality provide background for the strength of the women depicted in his more contemporary novels. Welch's examination of the past leads to a clearer understanding of the present Blackfeet world presented throughout his work.
In the introduction, Hämäläinen introduces how Plains Indians horse culture is so often romanticized in the image of the “mounted warrior,” and how this romanticized image is frequently juxtaposed with the hardships of disease, death, and destruction brought on by the Europeans. It is also mentioned that many historians depict Plains Indians equestrianism as a typical success story, usually because such a depiction is an appealing story to use in textbooks. However, Plains Indians equestrianism is far from a basic story of success. Plains equestrianism was a double-edged sword: it both helped tribes complete their quotidian tasks more efficiently, but also gave rise to social issues, weakened the customary political system, created problems between other tribes, and was detrimental to the environment.
Smith, Paul Chaat. 2009. Everything You Know about Indian Is Wrong. Minneapolis: Unviersity of Minnesota Press. Print.
Patricia K. Ouranda published a manuscript in 1926 entitled The Menominee Indians: A History. This book covers the innumerable conflicts between the Menominee tribe and the federal government, other tribes, and itself, and invariably references the grandson of the Great Chief, Reginald Oshkosh. While the text refers to Chief Oshkosh the Brave with active language, such as stating he “ascended” to his position, “earned his title”, and “gained prestige within the tribe”, the language used to describe Reginald Oshkosh starkly contrasts the spirited language. The only characterization attributed to Reginald is his “quiet ability to confound those who asked him foolish questions”, and twice more is his “quiet” and “unassuming” nature commented upon.
One of the most famous tragedies in United States history, the battle on the banks of the Greasy Grass River is better known as “Custer’s Last Stand” or the “Battle of the Little Bighorn”. The event has undergone copious scrutinization for many years by historians, but it is seldom that anyone addresses it from the Native American standpoint. Books, essays and journal articles can be found that discuss Custer’s faulty strategies from a military standpoint and his arrogance. There are even songs that have been written about the fear of his soldiers as the followed him into battle. All of this study and documentation is from the United States standpoint, however; studies from the Native American viewpoint are sparse and hard to find.
There are many different portrayals of how the American Indians behaviors, attitudes, and how they interact with other people, changed over time. Many did not like the way the American Indians lived because it was not how they themselves lived, which was a modernized lifestyle compared to the American Indians. Historians once assumed that the American Indians once lived in an unchanging state, which was not true. This view the historians had was far too simplistic because of the fact that history shows that people’s culture is always changing.
Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving
A reader of Sherman Alexie’s novel Reservation Blues enters the text with similar assumptions of Native American life, unless of course, he or she is of that particular community. If he or she is not, however, there is the likelihood that the ‘typical’ reader has images of Native Americans based upon long-held social stereotypes of the Lone Ranger’s Tonto and Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves,” possibly chastened with some positive, homey images of the First Thanksgiving as well. However, Alexie’s prose forces one to apprehend Native American life anew, and to see Native Americans as fully-fledged individual characters, with wants and needs and desires, not as those who are simply stoic and ‘other.’
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
In the article review “ How the West was Lost” the author, William T. Hagan explains that in a brief thirty-eight year period between 1848 and 1886, the Indians of the Western United States lost their fight with the United States to keep their lands. While nothing in the article tells us who Hagan is, or when the article was written, his central theme of the article is to inform us of how the Indians lost their lands to the white settlers. I found three main ideas in the article that I feel that Hagan was trying to get across to us. Hagan put these events geographically and chronologically in order first by Plains Indians, then by the Western Indians.
He argues that modern white men see Native American culture as a novelty that they can steal as easily as they stole the land from the Indians in the first place. Alexie writes that this stolen culture stretches across many mediums, from movies to lectures to fake Indian artifacts. He writes, “The Men’s movement seems designed to appropriate and mutate so many aspects of Native American traditions” (155). The article centers on this point, that the culture of Native Americans is being used in a novelty-type way. The author’s specific use of tone is again apparent when he refers to this commercialization as “Indians “R” Us” (155), the use of this colloquialism is a perfect example of how the authors tone conveys his attitude. However, it is important to be honest and straightforward about the impact of this “men’s movement” on the culture and the feelings of the Indian people, who have already suffered extensively. The author uses certain words to make sure that like in many objective history books the exploitation of his culture is not quickly brushed