Sacagawea & The Corps of Discovery
When you open up a book and read about the Lewis and Clark expedition, it is likely that you are going to read about a woman named Sacagawea. But who exactly is Sacagawea? In about 1788, Sacagawea was born in the Lemhi-River Valley in present day Idaho. For the following twelve years, she grew up as a Shoshone child. Although everyone got along with each other, every person in the community had a responsibility. Children were expected to work hard and taught from a very young age to be hospitable. They catered to absolutely everyone, and this was a well-known trait for most of the Shoshones. Most woman grew up and had children by the time they reached the age of twenty- such was the expectation of most Shoshone woman. However, at the age of twelve, Sacagawea, along with her brother, sister and mother were captured by the Hidatsa tribe. This tribe had the opposite reputation as the Shoshones, being known as cold people. The way Sacagawea, as well as many other young girls, does prove the accusation. Sacagawea became isolated in her new tribe, mainly due to her dreams of becoming more than just a mother.
When Sacagawea was about 17 years old, she met and married Toussaint Charbonnueau who was an explorer on the trip. Although the marriage lasted all the way until Sacagawea’s death, it wasn’t too good of a relationship. Some historians say that Charbonnueau constantly abused her. But, because she was traveling on the expedition, there was no possible way for her to divorce him. Some historians say that she could have been too scared to divorce him because by the time she was married to him, she was pregnant with his baby and she was almost at term. On February 11, 2805 (which is about half way through the trip), Sacagawea gave birth to her first child, Jean-Baptise. Jean was quickly nicknamed Pomp, and this is the name he is mainly known as. Whenever there is a portrait or statue of Sacagawea, she is usually carrying Pomp on her back. Unfortunately, in her mid-20’s, Sacagawea passed away. Medical researches consider the cause of death to be an illness she suffered through many years of her adult life. And because this was just a few weeks after giving birth to Lisette, her daughter, some think that the birth could have aggravated the illness.
Sacagawea, also known as Bird Woman, was born to a Shoshone chief in 1788, in Salmon, Idaho. At the age of twelve, she was captured and sold to the French Canadian fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, and was made one of his many wives. Setting forth after the conformation of the purchased land, Lewis and Clark approached the hired interpreter, Charbonneau and his unknown Native American wife. They were to serve as guides for the party. Being only sixteen, her and her husband accompanied Lewis and Clark, graciously directing them on the expedition. She later gave birth to a boy, Jean-Baptiste, nicknamed “Pompey”, at their fort. Since Clark had become deeply attached to the infant he offered to take him, when weaned, to educate him as his own child. Less than two months later, the expedition was to continue and Sacagawea had her infant son strapped on her back sharing the hardships of the journey. Sacagawea posed as a guide, spectator, and translator because she was familiar with the geography, animals, and plants. When traveling through the land, she quieted the fears of other Native American tribes because she served a...
Sacagawea, or also referred to as Sacagawea with a “g” or Sacakawea with a “k”, is known for her history in the Lewis and Clark expedition.(Sacajawea) She was born in Lemhi Mountains, which is now called Idaho, in 1788. She was the daughter of the Chief of the Indian Tribe, Shoshone. When she was 12 years old in 1800, she was kidnapped by the Hidasta Indian Tribe and taken to North Dakota. The Hidasta Indians also took several others along with her, and raided her Tribe from their stuff, killing a few people. A year after her arrival she was bought or gambled by a French-Canadian fur trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, he made her his wife along with all his other “wives”. When she was 16, in 1804, she had gotten pregnant. By that time Lewis and Clark were setting up camp for the winter in Fort Mandan and had hired her husband as a translator. They later learned that Sacagawea spoke Shoshone and Hidasta, so they then asked her to join them, and she gladly accepted. “The soil as you leave the heights of the mountains becomes gradually more fertile. the land through which we passed this evening is of an excellent quality tho very broken, it is a dark grey soil” (quotes Lewis as he travels through Idaho Country.)
Shostak, out of all the women in the tribe had made close connections with a fifty year old woman with the name of Nisa. The woman, Nisa, is what the book is about. The book is written in Nisa’s point of view of her life experiences while growing up in that type of society. Nisa’s willingness to speak in the interviews about her childhood and her life gave Shostak a solid basis on what to write her book on. Nisa’s life was filled with tragedies. She had gone through certain situations where Nisa loses two of her children as infants and two as adults. She had also lost her husband soon after the birth of one of their children. According to Shostak, “None of the women had experiences as much tragedy as Nisa…” (Shostak, 351).
Modern day interpretations of pioneer women are mostly inaccurate and romanticized as easy, and luxurious in a new land however, that is far from the truth. Overall, pioneer women had many jobs that were underappreciated, they weren’t valued as men but without them many people in the West wouldn’t have survived and had to leave so much to go on a trip that took weeks and was no vacation, because women pioneers would have to cook and clean and take care of her children and husband, while on a wagon with having to adapt to the changing weather and climates, they did jobs that were considered as “men’s jobs” and worked as hard as men to survive in the west during the Manifest Destiny. Therefore, women pioneers were overlooked as an insignificant part of the Westward Expansion.
In late October, The Corps of Discovery reached the Mandan Indian Villages in what is now known as North Dakota, where they built a fort and spent the winter. There, Lewis and Clark met a French Canadian trapper named Toussant Charbonneau, who was hired to be an interpreter. His 17 year old Shoshone Indian wife Sacagawea and child, Jean Baptiste, also went along on the trip. The explorers were thrilled at their good fortune. They hoped she could possibly lead them back to her native people. Also, Sacagawea could serve as a translator (Women in World Hi...
American history is accompanied by a long list of explorers who first discovered and who explored the massive continent. All of the explorers had an impact on the development of America. The Lewis and Clark expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, stands prominently at the top part of this list. The Lewis and Clark Expedition has had a significant political, social, and economic effect on America. They were the first to map out the west and set off westward expansion. Without the success of the expedition growth of America would have taken five times as long, as predicted by Thomas Jefferson.
Upon arrival in this new land Europeans were met with kindness and courtesy from the natives. One account states: ?Without the aid of the Powhatans, the British settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English colony in the New World, would not have lasted through it?s first terrible winter of 1607-08. Similarly, the pilgrim colony at Plymouth Massachusetts, might have failed except for help from the Wampanoags.? And the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1874 would not have been successful had it not been for the Shoshone woman Sacagawea. She was their ?token of peace? when they came face-to-face with the Indians.
Suffragette#1 describes Sacajawea as "Madonna of her race. She had led the way to a new time"(Birdwoman 2.68). Mojica contradicts the Sacagawea's myth as a lover to Clack; therefore, Suffragette #2 imagines "the excitement, the romance of trekking across the untamed, untouched, Virgin territory with those two handsome captains!"(Birdwoman 7.76) She claims that Sacagawea must have been terribly in love with one of them: "(I think) it must have been Clark with the red-hair"( Birdwoman 7.76). Mojica asserts the white discourse reflects the idea that the White colonizers, who wanted land, try to lessen their guilt through convincing themselves and the colonized that they only desired to civilize the tamed land with the help and consent of the Native Women. Norman K. in "Sacagawea’s Nickname, or The Sacagawea Problem"(2006) suggests that if "the woman named Sacagawea had not appeared in front of Lewis and Clark in November of 1804, she would have to have been invented"(14). The White discourse has kept imagining and inventing stories about Indian Princesses falling in love with the white men so Mojica attacks this invented stereotyping in her Birdwoman when Suffragettes # 2 reinvents a romance between Sacajawea and Clark, The red haired
Imagine traveling 3,700 miles of mountains and dangerous terrain while confronting the most savage of creatures including 600 pound bears and Native Americans with spears, bows and clubs. Every night you risk almost freezing to death and starvation while having to eat candles and sometimes your own horses just to stay alive. Lewis and Clark had to do just this along with their crew. They had to use three skills to survive through all of this. They had to show courage, commitment and most importantly resourcefulness. Lewis and Clark are some of the Bravest people that ever lived.
This is a clear example of the white narrative creating a negative imagery and fantastic false depiction which Mary’s assimilation with the Indian culture contradicts. Seaver’s preface and introduction clearly contradicts Mary Jemison’s narrative and life story as a Seneca. Seaver’s expectations about the story were different than the one he got from her interview. According to the article: “Seaver attempts to position Jemison as a white woman in need of rescue as opposed to a woman who has chosen to become part of a culture she has come to honor and respect” (Jemison). Mary Jemison’s multicultural background allows her to easily depart from, learn, and accept different cultures as compared to the women in other captivity stories. Jemison even goes as far as marrying an Indian man which goes against the previous traditional print where the captives never assimilate. Likewise, Seaver’s preface and introduction shows how Mary Jemison story was a “slap in the face” to the white culture because she accepted Indian culture and did not return to her
In “Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership”, Tecumseh and the many Indian tribes in west America spent years fighting for their land and trying to keep their culture alive. The story illustrates cultural aspects of the period through elucidating the important figure The Shawnees were a patrilineal tribe meaning they are traced through the males of the family. Although men were a main part of the culture, each village had an informal group of women who governed certain tribal rituals and set dates for many activities. Women were also allowed to save captives and prisoners.
Rowlandson, Mary. A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.In Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives. Ed. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
In the Maasai society, genital cutting is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and both men and women go through the process of circumcision. As society ages, opinions on cultural norms change. This is true for the Maasai society, where the views on female circumcision have and are changing. Female circumcision is classified into three categories, and defined by the World Health Organization, Type I is the removal of the foreskin on the vagina, Type II is the removal of the clitoris, and Type III is the removal of all external genitalia with the stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening (“New Study”). Traditionally in the Maasai society, women underwent Type II or Type III circumcision. Written in 1988, “The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior,” by Tepilit Ole Saitoi, and is an autobiographical story of Saitoti’s circumcision in his initiation to a warrior. Though his story mainly focuses on the male circumcision part of the Maasai society, women’s circumcision and other basic traditions are discussed. Throughout the short story, the topic of circumcision and the rite of passage, both long- standing traditions in the Maasai society, are central themes.
Kugel, Rebecca, and Lucy Eldersveld Murphy. Native women's history in eastern North America before 1900: a guide to research and writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
As Mother’s Day approaches, writer Penny Rudge salutes “Matriarchs [who] come in different guises but are instantly recognizable: forceful women, some well-intentioned, others less so, but all exerting an unstoppable authority over their clan” (Penny Rudge), thereby revealing the immense presence of women in the American family unit. A powerful example of a mother’s influence is illustrated in Native American society whereby women are called upon to confront daily problems associated with reservation life. The instinct for survival occurs almost at birth resulting in the development of women who transcend a culture predicated on gender bias. In Love Medicine, a twentieth century novel about two families who reside on the Indian reservation, Louise Erdrich tells the story of Marie Lazarre and Lulu Lamartine, two female characters quite different in nature, who are connected by their love and lust for Nector Kashpaw, head of the Chippewa tribe. Marie is a member of a family shunned by the residents of the reservation, and copes with the problems that arise as a result of a “childhood, / the antithesis of a Norman Rockwell-style Anglo-American idyll”(Susan Castillo), prompting her to search for stability and adopt a life of piety. Marie marries Nector Kashpaw, a one-time love interest of Lulu Lamartine, who relies on her sexual prowess to persevere, resulting in many liaisons with tribal council members that lead to the birth of her sons. Although each female character possibly hates and resents the other, Erdrich avoids the inevitable storyline by focusing on the different attributes of these characters, who unite and form a force that evidences the significance of survival, and the power of the feminine bond in Native Americ...