First Peoples: A Documentary Survey Of The First People By Colin Calloway

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Recommended: Assumptions, beliefs, and perceptions about Native Americans

The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it. …show more content…

If something didn’t fit this predetermined mold then it was best left out. This is how the history of Indians was transformed into the fantasies displayed today. Their voices were left out because rather than a success, the story of the Native Americans was one filled with decline and suffering. It was difficult for history books to shape that into a format that would fit the master narrative. Therefore, if Native Americans weren’t left out they were depicted as futile and resisting the march of civilization or savages who were hostile towards Euro-American settlers. This kind of treatment is so distorted that Native American are practically robbed of their …show more content…

They speak of their people’s past, of the present, and how they can be a more successful grouping of people in the future despite their oppression. In one song labeled “The Storm” by Doc Battiest, the lyric talk about historical occurrences in his native area of Florida. He speaks of kids dying of suffocation as their mothers shove dirt in their mouth as soldiers walk by. Sacrificing one to protect the camp where many Indians took shelter. But he explains that from this pain comes strength. His people are strengthening and their voices, which were once locked up, are now being heard. They just need a larger stage where everyone can hear what they have to say. Another perspective will open eyes and ultimately a combination of views will mold a true

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