Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, circa 2009 (Photo: Matthew Williams)
Native Americans (by -13,000), also called American Indians or just Indians, are those people who are native to the Americas, who were living there before Columbus arrived in 1492. Examples: Navajos, Aztecs and Comanches.
About 1% of the people in the US are Native. This post is about them.
Culture: mostly Anglo American. That comes partly from the Indian Boarding Schools of the late 1800s and early 1900s, where Whites separated Native children from their parents and forced them to take on White American ways. For years Natives had no freedom of religion. Some of their languages are dead, others are barely hanging on.
Land: Now known as the US. For hundreds of years Whites have been separating Natives from their land – by massacre, war, ethnic cleansing (Long Walks, Trails of Tears), genocide, broken treaty, and so on.
Reservations: Even the bits of land Natives still have left, called reservations, are controlled by the US government, which often favours, say, mining companies over Natives.
Sovereignty: control of their own government, laws, land, schools, etc. On paper the Indian nations that are left are on an equal footing with the US. But in practice the US government and its courts have done little to uphold treaty rights.
Both the Black model of civil rights and the White model of “a nation of immigrants” sidestep the issue of sovereignty. Blacks can also be viewed as a nation within a nation that lacks sovereignty.
Blacks and Natives face many of same issues: racial profiling, police brutality, high rates of imprisonment, unemployment and poverty, lack of good schools, shortened lives, internalized racism, cultural destruction, cultural appropriation, stereotypes, racial slurs, media misrepresentation, etc. Unlike Blacks, they have high rates of suicide.
Counter-frame: Natives counter the White racial frame in many of the same ways as Blacks – stereotypes are untrue, Whites are hypocritical, etc – but add to it:
- Treaty rights;
- Whites as despiritualizing the universe just as they dehumanize people of colour;
- UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Stereotypes: The main stereotypes about Natives are the Noble Savage and the Merciless Savage. The one too good to be true, the other too evil to be true.
The two most damaging parts of the savage stereotype:
- Natives are naturally more violent than Whites.
- Natives are seen through a deficiency model where their lack of Westernization is viewed as being “backwards”.
The lies taught at US high schools (as of 2007):
- North America was mostly empty.
- Natives were backwards, too backwards to learn how to farm.
- Natives are incapable of change.
- The tragedy was unavoidable.
These are galling and self-serving. In 1491, for example, what would become the US was no emptier than it was in the pre-industrial 1840s. Most Natives were farmers. To this day White Americans get most of their food, in one form or other, from maize, a plant that Natives taught them how to plant! It was Natives who got it to grow well in what is now the US.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- Americans – this post rewritten with only words Shakespeare knew.
- also in this series
- National Museum of the American Indian
- counter-frames
- American Indians – Legal Recognition
- UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
- full English text (PDF, 18 pages)
- Wikipedia article
- The three pillars of American white supremacy
- stereotypes
- Western views
- unholidays
- Fourth of July
- Columbus Day
- Thanksgiving
- terms
- tribes
- Real Indians
- growing up Native American
- Pocahontas
- John Trudell
- Sacheen Littlefeather
- Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall
- Wamsutta James
- John Mohawk
- Sherman Alexie
- Fake Indians
- history
- -1500: Olmec heads
- +300: Teotihuacan
- 1050: Cahokia
- 1311: Abubakari II ??
- 1492: Columbus
- 1492: The Taino genocide
- 1499: Amerigo Vespucci
- 1500s: Basque whalers
- 1531: Our Lady of Guadalupe
- 1545: Potosi
- 1551: The Valladolid Debate
- 1613: Juan Rodriguez
- 1626: “Manhattan was sold for $24”
- 1637: Mystic massacre
- 1700s: Notes towards a Native American history of George Washington
- 1749: Junipero Serra
- 1800s: Manifest Destiny
- 1838: The Cherokee Trail of Tears
- 1864: Sand Creek Massacre
- 1880s: Racializing Native Montana
- 1930: Mount Rushmore
- 1947: Chief Wahoo
- 1969: The Occupation of Alcatraz
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Abagond 
Is it appropriate to include the link (since this post mentions sovereignty)?
(https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/american-indians-legal-recognition/)
Also, do you have a good external link to the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
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“Too backwards to know how to farm”?? WP are incredible. The Natives taught THEM how to farm. The settlers knew nothing of the land and would have certainly died off had they not shown them. The settlers were literally eating their own until the Natives helped.(eyeroll)
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“It was Natives who got [maize] to grow well in what is now the US.”
This might be a bit of an understatement. I remember one of my college professors saying that of all the major grains in pre-industrialized agriculture, maize was the most radically different from its wild cultivar and showed the most signs of intentional genetic modification.
I don’t know for sure if his statement is absolutely true, but the Wiki article on maize would seem to support it:
“Before they were domesticated, maize plants only grew small, 25 millimetres (1 in) long corn cobs, and only one per plant. Many centuries of artificial selection by the indigenous people of the Americas resulted in the development of maize plants capable of growing several cobs per plant that were usually several centimetres/inches long each.”
That suggests the wild cultivar of maize looks more like wheat or rice.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize
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Interesting post as usual. Tons more that could be said on this topic but 500 words and all. See the movie “Smoke Signals” if you’re interested in contemporary native culture. The plot itself isn’t particularly deep, but the film offers an unfiltered glimpse of life on the modern “Res”. Among other tidbits: two girls, friends, who are seen from time to time driving around in a beat-up old car, in every case driving backwards. This is shown deadpan, without comedy or irony. They drive backwards because reverse is the only gear on the transmission that still works. Of course the film makers use that as a metaphor of sorts, but the literal truth underscores the abject economic circumstances on the Res.
Yet at the same time there are tiny examples of the opposite — native bands that own lucrative casino operations. In those cases each member of the band might earn a lucrative six-figure base salary simply for being born into the band. My kids attended school with some of these kids. For them, the “Res” is a gated community on a championship golf course where children routinely receive a McMansion-style home and a fancy car for their 16th birthday.
By the way there is a direct line between Native displacement and the prevalence of diabetes in the native community. The US put natives on land that generally was not fertile and would not support farming. Then they supplied them with bags of (wheat) flour, sugar, and tins of lard. The Natives began using this to make fry-bread, which became a dietary staple: processed carbohydrate and fat. Very unhealthy.
When I was a boy in Boy Scouts, my scout leader lived on a Res with his Native wife, who would accompany us on camping trips and sit by the fire making fry bread all day. We would be romping through the woods, swamps, etc., swooping back to camp from time to time for a piece of fresh fry bread and some water. It was a grand way to spend a childhood.
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@ Jefe
Added the links. Thanks.
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Re police brutality:
“From 1999 to 2013, Native Americans were killed by law enforcement at nearly identical rates as black Americans.”
https://m.mic.com/articles/109894/the-police-are-killing-one-group-at-a-staggering-rate-and-nobody-is-talking-about-it#.0HgpPYpCz
Just one of the cases described in the article:
“Christina Tahhahwah was arrested during a bipolar episode on Nov. 13 and died after she went into cardiac arrest in a Lawton, Oklahoma, police holding cell. The details surrounding Tahhahwah’s death are dubious, to say the least. Native News Online reports she’d been handcuffed to her cell door ‘for unknown reasons,’ and that the 37-year-old’s parents weren’t notified of her transfer to the hospital — where she was pronounced dead — until many hours after the fact. Meanwhile, her fellow inmates claim she’d been ‘tased repeatedly’ for refusing to stop singing Comanche hymns.”
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@Solitaire
Thanks for sharing that information. Native Americans are subject to high rates of police caused homicide, but since many are based in rural communities, other Americans are unaware of the frequency and brutality of the incidents.
The site, Business Insider, covered another source of pain for Native Americans: suicide. According to writer, Frederik Deboer,
An 89% rise in suicide rate for Native women. That is outrageous!
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Another scandal is the high rate of Native children snatched from families and farmed out to the foster care system. The infamous boarding school strategy updated?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/02/foster-care-native-american-reservation-law-grandmother
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Since they are the real natives to America then they should be called Americans. Everyone else is a hyphenated American.
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I must have overlooked the Abagond post about Native Americans who held Africans in SLAVERY in America. But, just in case…..
It’s of interest to note that Native Americans got a special exemption from the US government to take “THEIR” African slaves (property?) with them when they were forced to relocate from the Southern States east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma. African Slave labor was used throughout the American South by whites AND Native Americans to cultivate crops.
So much for Native Americans not having agricultural skills……
We should also remember that African slaves died on the “Trail of Tears” along with their Native American MASTERS. Native Americans were also known to be some of the best SLAVE CATCHERS in the American South.
And, many of those same “relocated” tribes fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War to protect their right to hold African slaves in Oklahoma.
African Chattel Slavery, as practiced by either the Dahomey tribe and others in West Africa or the Cherokee and the other 4 members of the so-called “5 Civilized Indian Tribes” or Euro-Americans, still stinks and should never be forgotten or minimized.
I’m sorry but I just can’t work up a lot of sympathy for SLAVERS, foreign or domestic.
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@ Afrofem
“since many are based in rural communities, other Americans are unaware of the frequency and brutality of the incidents.”
National indigenous media such as Indian Country Today (which has been around for a long time) have been covering it. There have been a number of public protests. Specific incidents and the overall problem have also been publicized on Native social media, blogs, etc. With the internet being what it is today, this news is readily available. It’s just not being picked up by the mainstream press.
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@ Black Sci-Fi
“many of those same “relocated” tribes fought with the Confederacy”
many = 6 out of 567 tribes
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
That is a sanitized, Whitewashed way of looking at it.
Immigration is where you willingly move to another place and join the society there.
Native Americans were migrants, but not immigrants. They became part of the US through conquest, not through “immigration”.
Most Black Americans were slaves, not “immigrants”.
English Americans were invaders, not immigrants.
Cuban Americans were immigrants, but had Cuba taken over Florida, they too would be invaders. Calling them “immigrants” would be a whitewash.
More:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/nation-of-immigrants/
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@Black SciFi & Solitaire
The term, If you can’t beat em join em is a perfect example of this scenario.
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@ Solitaire
Good point.
Unfortunately, over 80% of Americans get their news from corporate controlled television news shows. These shows present decontextualized infotainment as “news”. It is mediocre information at best and dumbed down propaganda at worst.
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@Black Sci-Fi
I’m glad you brought up the slave holding that some tribes participated in during pre-Civil War times. That behavior was most prevalent among the so-called “Five Civilized Tribes” which included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole nations.
From what I’ve read, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek (Muscogee) were the most hostile to African captives. The Seminole were a different story altogether. They intermarried freely with African escapees and fought the US army over the course of decades. They won the first war and fought the army to a draw in the second and third wars. They never stopped resisting and never fully surrendered. There are still Seminole in Florida today.
https://www.seminolenationmuseum.org/history/seminole-nation/the-seminole-wars/
The other tribes are still hostile to Free Black descendants to the slaves they kept (and with whom they intermingled). However, as TeddyBearDaddy mentioned on another thread, the tribe members are now more White than Native. So there are two levels of hostility that Black Freedmen and women have to endure with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek (Muscogee) in their fight for justice and inclusion.
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@Afrofem
I’ve been doing research on the subject of American Indian Tribes that enslaved Africans. Every book I read only motivates me more to educate our people about the “living hell” of the pre and post Civil War American south for African slaves.
Someone (Solitaire?) responded to my first post by stating that ONLY “6 out of 567 Native American tribes joined with the CSA” to fight against the Federal (Union) Government and Emancipation.
I would offer the respondent that saw “only” a minority of tribes advocating for our continued bondage in chattel slavery this analogy:
If we look at Native American tribes inhabiting America as “individual” nation states like the individual nation states that inhabit Europe, then the Fascist (Nazi) Germans and Italians of WWII, like the “5 Civilized Tribes” of Native Americans are equally complicit of the same political alliance in EVIL and full participants in equivalent State Sponsored Terrorism toward Africans held as slaves by BOTH Euro-Americans and Native Americans.
When confronting EVIL there can be no equivocation.
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@ Black Sci-Fi
I never disagreed with your condemnation of those specific tribes. But your original comment seemed to be saying you had no sympathy for the plight of any Native American tribes due to the actions of six. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t see where you made any distinctions.
The 200+ tribes in what is now Alaska didn’t even know the Civil War was happening.
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Also, I never used the word “only.” I was putting your word “many” into context.
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@Solitaire
I wrote:
“We should also remember that African slaves died on the “Trail of Tears” along with their Native American MASTERS. Native Americans were also known to be some of the best SLAVE CATCHERS in the American South.
And, many of those same “relocated” tribes fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War to protect their right to hold African slaves in Oklahoma.”
Perhaps, “in context” my above point is “self limiting”. It should also be noted, again, that the 5 so-called Civilized Tribes inhabited the North American land mass later to be known as the CSA. At the time, that land mass was almost 1/2 of the Euro-occupied Indian tribal territories of the so called USA.
My SPECIFIC Point..??
The 5-Civilized Tribes were the majority Native American population as well as the dominant political/military/cultural group(s) that inhabited the North American land mass, later to be known as the CSA, in the pre Civil War USA. And, with the rare exception of SOME tribal sub-groups among the Seminoles, the 5-Civilized Tribes fully embraced African chattel slavery, period.
In addition, my further statement: “I’m sorry but I just can’t work up a lot of sympathy for SLAVERS, foreign or domestic.” certainly should remove any doubt about “context” or “specifics”.
Lastly, least we dabble further into diversionary semantics:
“When confronting EVIL there can be no equivocation.”
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@Black Sci Fi
To me, the height of irony is that when Andrew Jackson and his contemporaries decided that they wanted ALL of the land in the Southeast, they had no problem pushing the so-called “Five Civilized Tribes” out at gunpoint.
Their adoption of European culture, embrace of African slavery and intermarriage with European immigrants didn’t count for anything when greed and land lust rose to the top of the agenda. They were still forced marched to Oklahoma, slaves and all. Trail of Tears, indeed. Most historical accounts never mention the Africans who suffered and died along the way.
Another bit of irony, the only group to work with African captives was also the group that fought hardest and never surrendered—–the Seminoles.
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Have you had a chance to read, Red, White and Black by Gary B. Nash? It deals specifically with the interplay of the three groups during the period prior to the American Revolution.
I have only had an opportunity to scan it, but it is on my “to read” shelf. If, you’ve read it, let me know what you think of it.
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@ Afrofem,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I’ve been doing a lot of research about African-Americans during the Civil War era. I stumbled upon the Indian Slavery information while researching “Black Cowboys. Naturally, I was shocked by the depth of participation in African Chattel Slavery by members of the so-called “5 Civilized Tribes”.
That said, I’ve been drawn into deeper research on the subject. I saw the book “Red, White and Black” by Gary B. Nash listed on Kindle but instead chose “Black Indian Slave Narratives” by Patrick Minges”. So far, so good.
I have a rather meager book budget and prefer Kindle to softback books.The “highlight /notes” feature in Kindle are unmatched for my purposes.
If you haven’t read it, I would offer “Two Thousand Seasons” by Ayi Kwei Armah” as excellent prose on the topic of Ancient African Morality for a modern Panafrican Culture. Sadly, this book was only available in paperback.
In addition, “I Dreampt I was in Heaven / The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang” by Leonce Gaiter is an expose about a gang of teenage outlaws (Black, Black-Indians and Indians) whose crime wave in the Oklahoma (Indian?) Territory post Civil War was unique because of the racial composition and relative youth (immaturity?) of the Rufus Buck Gang.
Along with the above list, I would also like to give a shout-out to a couple of Black female authors:
1) “Homecoming” by Yaa Gyasi (Afrocentric Historical Fiction)
2) “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin (Afrocentric Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
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@Black Sci Fi
Thanks for the great book suggestions. I will definitely check them out.
It’s fascinating that you would mention I Dreamt I was in Heaven / The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang” by Leonce Gaiter. Last year, I heard a conversation with him on the Chauncey DeVega podcast. Mr. Gaiter went deep into details about his life, work and the historical events he covers in the book. Leonce Gaiter is a singularly gifted individual.
The podcast and DeVega’s written intro can be found here:
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2015/05/a-conversation-with-leonce-gaiter-about.html
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My favorite Black SF author was trailblazer, Octavia Butler. Her level of detail and ability to follow current trends into the future were amazing. I’ve read many of her books, including Kindred, Pattern Master, Clay’s Ark, Wild Seed and her Xenogenesis series: Dawn, Imago and Adulthood Rites. I read Parable of the Sower, but got stuck with Parable of the Talents because it so closely resembled the path the US is currently on now. Too much reality!
I also read many stories by other African Diaspora authors in the speculative fiction anthology, Dark Matter, edited by Sheree R. Thomas. Some of those short stories really pointed out how one dimensional SF is when only one ethnic group writes the stories. No wonder White Supremacists have been attempting to highjack the Hugo and Nebula Awards. There is so much talent out there…so many visions waiting to be shared.
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http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/
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@Herneith
I forgot that you were also a fellow SF traveler. Thanks for the link.
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@ Afrofem,
“Kindred” spirits indeed…!!
Chauncey’s podcast interview with Leonce Gaiter was my link to his novel(s).
As an aspiring novelist I’ve gotten so many story ideas from a variety of sources that have humbled me and inspired me all at once.
I was humbled by the fact that many of my “unique” (Ha, Ha) story ideas had been covered and were already in print.
Wait….WHAT…!!!
I was inspired by the reality that “most” authors will drink from the same source information. The difference is in the telling of the story that makes you, as an author, UNIQUE.
“Rinse and Repeat”
A good example would be Paul Louise-Julie the creator of “The Pack”, an Afrocentric fantasy graphic novel series. To me, the stories themselves, Egyptian Werewolves, are secondary to the masterful graphic artwork.
Who Knew..??
I recently finished reading the “Dark Universe” sci-fi anthology. One of the contributors to “Dark Universe”, Milton Davis, is a self-publishing publishing dynamo whose contributions to Afrocentric Sci-Fi/Fantasy have been inspiring.
http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/?page_id=2
I have a feeling that we have or will be reading the same authors.
So, I’ll risk being redundant by offering:
http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com/a-crash-course-in-the-history-of-black-science-fiction/
@ Herneith,
Thanks for the link…….
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@Black Sci Fi
Loved the link to Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. It was good to read the brief bios and see head shots of the authors.
I have been immersed in learning how to create and maintaining websites over the past few years, so I haven’t read for pleasure as much as I would like. Most of my reading has been technical and instructive. Perhaps with this list as a starting point I can slip into reading more science and speculative fiction again down the road.
Good luck with your upcoming novel!
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@ Kiwi
In English, Native Americans were the unhyphenated Americans till 1747. Only then did “American Indians” start becoming a common term. White Americans did not become clearly unhyphenated till the 1770s. That was when the US hijacked the name, creating the state of affairs you are talking about.
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Just heard a speech on the Project Censored podcast about Native American slavery from 1493 to the 1920’s. University of California-Davis professor and historian, Andres Resendez, explored the shrouded history of enslaved Native Americans in the Caribbean, Mexico and the USA.
Professor Resendez discussed three crucial differences between enslaved Native Americans and enslaved Africans:
☼ Slave owners preferred Native women and children over men. The women were used as sex slaves, nannies, miners and laborers. The children were used extensively in the silver mines of Northern Mexico and as livestock tenders.
☼ The Native American slave trade involved fewer people than the African slave trade. However, Native enslavement lasted longer——well into the early 20th century.
☼ Native American slavery was not generally an inherited condition. A Native American slave could work her or himself out of slavery and their children were often born free.
Professor Resendez minced no words in describing the role certain Native American tribes played in raiding, enslaving and trading Native Americans. He goes into some detail about the role of the Comanches and Utes in expanding the Native slave trade in the Western plains and deserts.
In an LA Times review of Professor Resendez’ book, “The Other Slavery”, reviewer David Treuer, touches on the “horse empires”:
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-native-american-slavery-20160505-snap-story.html
The nearly hour long podcast can be heard here:
http://prn.fm/project-censored-08-02-17/
The full title of Professor Resendez’ book is:
“The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America”
by Andrés Reséndez.
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