In today’s society Gender roles have always been a popular topic among people, and the debate whether it’s sexist to say that women partake in the household/cooking work while men do the more physical/dangerous work. However, in the indigenous experience they didn’t have the same debate we have now. Women and men both knew that their work was equally vital for the tribe to function properly. Throughout the stories told by Pretty-Shield, we acquire a glance of how women and men’s gender roles worked in cohesion to explain their indigenous experience. Men and women in the Crow tribe were tasked with complete polar opposite responsibilities. On one end of the spectrum, there were the women of the tribe who were responsible for jobs such as; …show more content…
As a result, the American Government created numerous treaties with the Indians, stating that they will not encroach on their land, however the Indians had specific areas of land they cannot reside outside of. (The Treaty of Fort Laramie, April 5th). Ill-advisedly, the White Man continued to move west, ignoring the treaties they signed with the Natives. Consequently, the Natives did not take kindly to the fact that they were downright disregarding the treaties which led to war. As much as the men loved war, it was not always the best option for their families. When a man goes out to war he’s putting his life on the line and sometimes they didn’t come back, causing a vast burden back at the tribe, “We women tried to keep our men from going to war… sometimes many women, mourning for men who had been killed in war. These women had to be taken care of…war made more work for everybody.” (Linderman, 96). This caused additional work for everyone, because it required other men to hunt for the women while she mourned until she remarried, which occasionally never happened. Under the circumstances of Indian policy, gender roles within the tribe were severely stressed. Due to that fact, everyone needed to contribute, some more than others, in order for the tribe to function. They couldn’t afford for people to be lazy, or the function of their …show more content…
A majority of Pretty-Shields stories came about when the buffalo were abundant, according to her that was the time when her people were the happiest. Nevertheless, Linderman made attempts to get stories about her people’s present condition, “When the buffalo went away, the hearts of my people fell to the ground, and they could not lift their hearts again. After this, nothing happened…. You saw what happened to us when the buffalo went away.” (Linderman, 143). The steep decline in buffalo was due to the fact of Indian policy, white men moving into Indian territory skinning and killing all the buffalo they come across. There is a specific reason why Pretty-Shield stirred away from the times after the buffalo, and that is because it was a dark time for her tribe. In other words, the White Men are single-handedly responsible for the downfall of her people. The decline of the buffalo led to countless problems within the Crow, “Sickness came, strange sickness that nobody knew about… we began to stay in one place and to grow lazy and sicker all the time…Our wise man became fools and started to drink the white man’s whisky.” (Linderman 144-145). Along with the problems within the Crow, the start of forced assimilation among their people began. As a result, Indian reservations dissolved and became fenced off and allotted
...y robbing the Indians of their land, the English upset and hurt many of the Native American tribes, which lead to many disputes over ownership of the land.
When Mary Crow Dog joined the American Indian Movement, her outlook on life as an Indian changed because she accepted who she was and she was proud of being and Indian as well. She held on to her old religion and she participated in old Indian traditions such as Ghost dancing. She also went back to using medicine man and peyote roadman. In her point of view ?holding on to her own religion was one way of resisting a slow death of the Indian culture that was being perpetuated by the white man. In addition, she stated that to be an Indian she had to go to the full bloods and listen to what they had to say. This is because the full blood was humble and they had hearts. Another thing that allowed Mary Crow dog to accept who she was, was the fact that AIM brought a lot of different tribes together and they all fought collectively against White America.
Women found the Indians had a more balanced system in which they had indirect social and political power through the underground silos. For example, "men could not undertake war.if women refused to unlock the treasury of cornmeal" (62). Another example of political power for women is how they had the right to policy behavioral boundaries because they were a legitimate authority and an interest group (63). One of the major reasons why the captured women stayed with the Indians is because "women found the gender division of labor and rights.more desirable than those of colonial Haverhill or Deerfield" (44). The labor Indian women had to do was more pleasant than the Chesapeake and New England people because they could use their children for help.
Many tribes resisted this policy. Wars were fought as a result. The Sac and Fox Indians in Wisconsin and Illinois reoccupied their lands after having been forced to move west of the Mississippi. They were defeated. The Seminole Indians refused to sign a treaty to give up their lands. They, too, fought and lost a bitter war to remain on their 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.
As the narrative would describe them, the women of the indian tribes were to carry out labor intensive tasks and did many things around the camps which include cooking, cleaning, but also carrying heavy loads of water ,and if the tribe was nomadic the women were to carry all the belongings including the tent while the males of the tribe stood by and were only put in charge of hunts and battles with others when necessary. This shows that women were very capable and independent just as they are today. Women today are breaking free of the stereotypes of being dependent on men and are excelling at business, science ,and math related fields of work. Single mothers also show their strength by supporting their children without a husband in their lives even though they often lean on their family to gather strength and courage to move on in hardships. Families are often the backbone of todays culture yet divorce is a hand at play when things do not go as planned with the husband and wife and the children of the relationship stay extremely important whether they stay
Gender relations in the Dakota tribe were very specific and there were no crossing of the sexes. To begin, I think it is important to analyze the difference between “sex” and “gender”. Up until researching for this paper, I though that the two terms were interchangeable in meaning, rather, they are separate ideas that are connected. According to Mary K. Whelan, a Doctor of Anthropology focusing on gender studies, sex and gender are different. She states, “Western conflation of sex and gender can lead to the impression that biology, and not culture, is responsible for defining gender roles.
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
They needed to take care of the other group of people sharing the same pieces of land they lived on, the natives, and they needed to do so without causing costs for war. Negotiations between people were made in order to secure safe and guaranteed land for the Natives, which included the promise of “...boundary protection by federal troops against land-seeking settlers.” (Roark 226) In return for this the Creeks made a promise of their own “..to accept the United States alone as its trading partner, shutting out Spain.” (Roark 226) These promises were broken by both parties involved and new approaches had to be made, and America as a young nation continued to struggle with this issue and the correct way in dealing with it. However, American 's did not only have to worry about social and political issues with the Natives who shared their lands but also with other nations, France and Britain, who America wanted to work well with but were always at war it seemed. This issue with the two other countries constantly at War made work with either side very difficult for America and the American people had split opinions on how to deal with the situation, and split opinions on what country they should work with and support over the other. This disagreement among the American people on how to deal with the situation and what sides to take lead to many mistakes in dealing with both sides over
All in all, the treatment of the American Indian during the expansion westward was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more so than the frontier thesis. Additionally, the common beliefs about the old west are founded in lies and deception. The despair that comes with knowing that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is epitomized by Terrell’s statement, “Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the haze of puerile romance with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).
Beginning in the 1860s and lasting until the late 1780s, government policy towards Native Americans was aggressive and expressed zero tolerance for their presence in the West. In the last 1850s, tribal leaders and Americans were briefly able to compromise on living situations and land arrangements. Noncompliance by Americans, however, resumed conflict. The beginning of what would be called the "Indian Wars" started in Minnesota in 1862. Sioux, angered by the loss of much of their land, killed 5 white Americans. What resulted was over 1,000 deaths, of white and Native Americans. From that point on, American policy was to force Indians off of their land. American troops would force Indian tribe leaders to accept treaties taking their land from them. Protests or resistance by the Indians would result in fighting. On occasion, military troops would even lash out against peaceful Indians. Their aggression became out of control.
However, Brown claims on how gender roles and identities shaped the perceptions and interactions of both English settlers and the Native American civilizations. Both Indian and English societies have critical social orders between males and females. In addition, their culture difference reflexes to the English and Indian males and females’ culpabilities as well. However, the Indian people put too much responsibility to their women. Women were in charge as agriculturalists, producers and customers of vital household goods and implements. They were also in control for providing much of the material culture of daily needs such as clothing, domestic gears and furnishings like baskets, bedding and household building. Native American females were expected to do a range of tasks. On the other hand, the Indian men only cleared new planting ground and constantly left the villages to fish and hunt. Clearly, Native Indian women had more tasks than the men did. Therefore, Indian males’ social and work roles became distinctive from females’ at the moment of the huskanaw (a rite of passage by which Virginia Indian boys became men) and reminded so until the men were too old to hunt or go to war. English commentator named George Percy underlines, “The men take their pleasure in hunting and their wares, which they are in continually”. “On the other hand the women were heavily burdened with”, says other commentator, John Smith. Gender is directly referential in an important sense, describing how sexual division was understood in the social order. Consequently, Native American people prescribed the gender social practice that women should be loaded with range of liabilities than the
The story is about Pretty-Shield’s youth which were days when a buffalo disappeared making her people adjust their way of living. They had to move to the reservations which were a sad move though nothing bad happened. Buffalo represented the stable life for the Crow people. When the Americans eliminated the Buffalo, the way of life of Crow was destroyed which crushed their spirits (Linderman, Frank. Pretty-shield 2003).
The Europeans invaded America with every intention of occupying the land, the bountiful natural resources as well as the complete domination of the native people. The Europeans desire for the land created an explosive situation for the native peoples as they witnessed their land and right to freedom being stripped from them. They often found themselves having to choose sides of which to pledge their allegiance to. The Europeans depended upon Indian allies to secure the land and their dominance as well as trade relations with the Indians. The Indians were in competition with one another for European trade causing conflict among the different tribes altering the relationships where friends became enemies and vice versa (Calloway, 2012, p. 163). These relationships often became embittered and broke into bloody brawls where it involved, "Indian warriors fighting on both sides, alongside the European forces as well as against European forces invad...