¶ … American Indians struggled against the oppression of the White Man for nearly another seventy years but Chief Black Hawk's 1832 surrender speech epitomizes the frustration felt by the various tribes that once dominated the American landscape. From text of this speech, Kent State history professor, Phillip Weeks, drew the title for his book, Farewell, My Nation (Weeks, 2000). To his fellow Sac and Fox tribesmen, Chief Black Hawk stated, in part, "The white men do not scalp the head; but they do worse - they poison the heart....Farewell, my nation!"
Black Hawk's speech occurs fairly early in the process but it characterizes how the White Man broke the spirit of the American Indians as they continuously displaced the Indians from the land that they had occupied for thousands of years. In his book, Weeks chronicles how the United States government progressively enforced its policy of expansion while completely disregarding the concerns and pleas of the American Indians. In the context of his book, Weeks relates how the various Native American tribes attempted to accommodate the intrusions of the White Man while still attempting to maintain their previous ways of life. Against this theme, Weeks explains how the U.S. Government's policies regarding the "Indian Question" developed over the course of time. These policies, which are described by Weeks as separation, concentration, and Americanization, resulted in the eventual near total oppression of the Native American culture and Weeks sympathetically details the process.
The displacement of the Indians occurred naturally and without Government involvement in the early days of America. The Indians, accustomed to the freedom of movement that they had enjoyed for centuries, moved on their own as the American Colonies...
America: A nation of paradoxes America is a nation of paradoxes. On one hand, it is a nation that has symbolized freedom to many immigrants, as poignantly illustrated in Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus," a poem included on the famed Statue of Liberty that greeted so many refugees as they strove to escape from Europe and avoid intolerable situations. The Lazarus poem proclaims the dawning a new America, free of
In a democratic society, however, the responsibility for making governmental decisions is transferred to the citizenry and it is incumbent that the citizenry be provided with at least a rudimentary education so that they are in position to make such decisions. Although the original U.S. Constitution did not initially grant women the right to vote and otherwise participate in the government, women were afforded, on a limited basis, to
The overall oppression of women in American society unfortunately reflected worldwide trends and therefore was not entirely nefarious; in most countries in Europe women were likewise unable to vote until the very end of the nineteenth or early twentieth century. However, the treatment of African-Americans has been deplorable throughout American history and is perhaps the largest stain on American democratic principles. The United States allowed slavery to persist within its
Native Americans- Revisiting the Struggles of 1680 What were the causes of the Pueblo revolt of 1680? In the year 1680, Native Americans known as the Pueblo revolted against their Spanish conquerors in the American South West (Calloway, 2003). The Spaniards had dominated their lives, their souls and their lands for over eighty years. The Spanish colonists conquered and maintained their rule with terror and intimidation from the beginning when their troops
Board of Education of Topeka. This case represented a watershed for Civil Rights and helped to signal an end to segregation because it determined that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" (Warren, 1954). It is essential to note that federal support on this particular issue was only earned after African-Americans decided to use the legislative system to their advantage by taking the segregationist school system of Topeka, Kansas to
connect the African cultural roots and the Black experience in America. What experience would you gain from viewing a traditional African community in modern America that retains strong cultural roots? (South Carolina!) To view a traditional African community, such as exists in South Carolina, within the context of an America environment, is not simply to see a remnant in what is, to many African-Americans, a lost part of their past
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