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Kristi Mercado

Ms. whipple/ Ms. cooper

Apush/ AP-lang

5/23/17

More Doesn't Mean Stronger: The Downfall of Native Culture

Throughout my junior year of high school, our main focus consisted of studying the

livelihood and culture of Native Americans. We studied the two conflicting sides: the Europeans

that had newly arrived in the Americans looking for more opportunities, and the Native

Americans who owned and controlled their land for hundreds of years as a source of survival and

alliance. The question I chose to focus on based on the studies we conducted throughout the year

was, how did the Native American culture shift from the Pre-Columbian period to the modern

reservation era in North America? This question is can be considered broad and can be answered

in many different ways based on further research or statistics, or specific studies on a single tribe.

I am going to answer this question based on the many pieces of evidence we gathered during my

English and History classes. The shift of the Native American culture was devastating, and the

consistency of mistreatment the non- natives express is still a problem even to today. Their land

was taken, their religions were forced to end, their sources of food and water were jeopardized

for the European use of them, and labor was forced upon them. The high amount of negative

effects caused after the arrival of European negates many of the positive effects of their arrival;

the bringing of medicine, textile goods, and horses. Overall, European arrival caused a major

downfall in Native culture which declined from many hundreds of years to what is today.
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My first reason for why there was a downfall of Native culture, is that there are common

misconceptions or untruthful teaching learned in American Schools. Many people, both students

and adults, have this image of Natives as being dressed in feathers and body paint, and the sleep

in teepees. This shows a very unclear understanding of what Natives are like in modern times

and how their culture greatly differs from their ancestors. In English we watched "The Mission"

and discussed idealism within the film, the characters in the film, and completed an outline that

focused on key points on the movie. This film fits in the pillar of investigate the world because

we explored worldviews and responses to Native Americans in the past. A scene from the movie

showed natives working to build the mission and the school the Europeans forced upon them. On

the AGS Southwest trip to New Mexico, we visited a tribe named the Acoma. While there it was

explained to us that the Natives did all the work to build the structures and the priest did nothing

but be cruel. The Natives were forced to carry these logs that were not allowed to touch the floor,

so many natives were suffocated when they tried to sleep with the logs placed on their chests.

Also Im English we were assigned to read The Education of Little Tree and then we split up into

groups and analyzed certain sections of the book to gather a further understanding of the Native

American culture described in the book. This activity fits within the pillar of investigating the

world because we had to research how this book relates to Native American culture in the real

world, which differed greatly from those described in the book. We achieve a sense of realization

that many stereotypes on Native American culture are untrue in modern day. Furthermore, both

The Education of Little Tree and The Mission helped students investigate the culture and reality

of Native Americans while also helping to develop an understanding between true facts and

misconceptions.
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Another major issue caused by the arrival of Europeans was the start of new conflicts of

war, which changed the Native culture from here on out. In History class we studied The Pueblo

Revolt and completed a set of notes and an organizer that helped us understand relationships

between European Powers and American Indian Nation. This set of notes fits within the pillar of

investigate the world, because we had to conduct detailed research on the pueblo revolt. We

identified how this event affects different groups of people around the world. Furthermore, the

notes supported the concept of this pillar in that it displayed the different actions people took in

supporting or rejecting the revolt, the causes this created. Also In history we created a project

called "The Dakota Uprising" and studied multiple perspectives to come to a conclusion on who

was the victim of the Dakota Sioux War. We analyzed the perspective of the settlers, natives, and

government to see who the biggest victim of the uprising was. Furthermore, the project

supported the concept of getting the students to view the perspective of their own US

government and the Natives as well. From these to piece of evidence I created a extent

understanding of what caused the war and how it affected the different populations. A shift to

using war tactics against Europeans proved the inference that the Natives were very dangerous,

but Natives did not want to use this method but had no other options to defend their land and

their beliefs.

The modern day Natives greatly differ from any ancestral natives in culture, land

ownership, and family roles. In English we watched the film "Smoke Signals" and analyzed the

characters of Thomas and Victor. The life Natives live in modern eras are described to not as

fulfilled. Also Thomas uses oral storytelling throughout the movie. This method was used to

continue the tradition of passing stories down orally. Also in English we read the "Trickster

Tales" and explored the Native stories of the Sioux. These stories fit within the communicate
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ideas pillars because these stories were created and passed down orally. For years these stories

were being written down and recorded, communicating their history and culture through stories.

Furthermore, the stories supported the concept of this pillar in that it shares values and ideas

through the characters and plot of the stories, passing down morals to the younger generation

with the telling of the tales.

Overall my junior year helped me gather a further understanding of Native American

culture and how it was affected by the arrival of Europeans. The devastating effects caused by

the European powers created a strong use of mistreatment from non- natives that are still

expressed till today. Their land was taken from them, they were forced to withdraw from their

religious practices, their sources of food and water were jeopardized, and labor was forced upon

them. The high amount of negative effects caused after the arrival of European negates many of

the positive effects of their arrival.

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Works Cited

Carter, Forrest, and Rennard Strickland. The education of Little Tree. Albuquerque,

University of New Mexico Press, 2008.

Eyre, Chris Eyre, director. Smoke signals, 1998.

Fraser, James W. Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution E, 18311854. By the

People: A History of the United States, Pearson, Boston, 2016, pp. 360362, Accessed 12

Feb. 2017.