Oppression of Native Americans

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Two-hundred years ago, there was a scientific study on the brains of Native Americans called the craniology and phrenology. The Europeans examined only indigenous people’s heads and were forbidden to use any European’s brains. The Europeans did three experiments, such as decapitating the tops of the heads and filling them with sand to see if their brains were smaller than blacks. The Europeans also looked at the bones and said that if the bones were in a certain way (such as natives cheek bones being up higher) the person was thought to be stupid. The last experiment the Europeans did to American Indians was that they had a small devise that they would put on the head and it would slice the brain open. There would be an award for retrieving a male’s brain that was five cents. By retrieving a woman’s brain the price would be three cents, and lastly a child’s brain which would be two cents. This is when the term redskin was invented (Poupart, 2014). Although we often remember First Nation communities by their history of oppression by the Europeans, as established above, present day communities are defined much differently. The Anishinabeg are an independent, non-interference sovereign nation and they follow their own rules by oral traditions. They are also a nation who were oppressed, exploited, and also misunderstood by non-Native Americans. When asked about the definition of a sovereign nation, Selma Buckwheat (September 25, 2013), elder member of the Anishinabeg tribe, explains by stating, “We govern ourselves and have our own laws” (personal communication). They have a lot of meetings that help understand most of the sovereign nations. In other words, a sovereign nation is power or a territory existing as an independent s... ... middle of paper ... ...government’s policies. The changes of the 1900’s influenced many people such as historians, writers, film-makers, and other non-Native-Americans, causing them to view Indians in an increasingly sympathetic way. The non-Native Americans perceived Indians as a historically-oppressed minority who were victimized by imperial conquests and were dignified as peace-loving people in a sovereign nation. Works Cited Poupart, L. (2014, October 16). First Nations Studies: Social Justice. University of Wisconsin Green-Bay. Loew, P. (2001). Indian Nations of Wisconsin: histories of endurance and renewal. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Mihesuah, D. (1996). American Indians stereotypes and realities. Atlanta: Clarity Press. Poupart, L. (2000). Ojibwe Women of the Western Great Lakes. Retrieved from D2L. https://uwgb.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/

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