resettle on reservations.
Readings By and About Native Americans
"Some say that upwards of 45 million Indians lived in what is now the United States on the eve of contact, 1492. Government records put our numbers at 450,000 in the 1970 census. "
"Some health workers say that over 25 percent of Indian women and 10 percent of Indian men in the United States have been sterilized without their knowledge or consent."
Paula Allen Gunn, Off the Reservation, p38
(Map of Native American lands prior to European contact)
Native American's Historical Viewpoints
Chief Black Hawk (1767�1838) of the
Sauk, or Sac, (to learn a little more about the Sauk people link to this site.
http://www.sauk-suiattle.com/)was an
opponent of United States expansion into his nation's territory. His opposition,
was of no avail, and his nation, like others, was forced to
resettle on reservations.
Some idea of pre-reservation life survives because Chief Black Hawk left an autobiography, dictated to a government interpreter in the region, and edited by John B. Patterson, an Illinois journalist, who published it in 1833.
As a transcribed and edited oral source, its authenticity has been
questioned, but even though some of the language seems to be Patterson's, there
is much to suggest it does represent the views of Chief Black Hawk.
The great chief at St. Louis having sent word for us to go down and confirm the treaty of peace, we did not hesitate, but started immediately, that we might smoke the peace�pipe with him. On our arrival, we met the great chiefs in council. They explained to us the words of our Great Father at Washington, accusing us of heinous crimes and divers misdemeanors, particularly in not coming down when first invited. We knew very well that our Great Father had deceived us, and thereby forced us to join the British [Note: The Sauk supported the British in the War of 1812], and could not believe that he had put this speech into the mouths of these chiefs to deliver to us. I was not a civil chief, and consequently made no reply: but our chiefs told the commissioners that "what they had said was a lie!-that our Great Father had sent no such speech, he knowing the situation in which we had been placed had been caused by him! " The white chiefs appeared very angry at this reply, and said they "would break off the treaty with us, and go to war, as they would not be insulted."
Our chiefs had no intention of insulting them, and told them so-"that they merely wished to explain to them that they had told a lie, without making them angry; in the same manner that the whites do, when they do not believe what is told them!" The council then proceeded, and the pipe of peace was smoked.
Here, for the first time, I touched the goose quill to the treaty-not knowing, however, that, by that act, I consented to give away my village. Had that been explained to me, I should have opposed it, and never would have signed their treaty, as my recent conduct will clearly prove.
What do we know of the manner of the laws and customs of the white people? They might buy our bodies for dissection, and we would touch the goose quill to confirm it, without knowing what we are doing. This was the case with myself and people in touching the goose quill the first time.
We can only judge of what is proper and right by our standard of right and wrong, which differs widely from the whites, if I have been correctly informed. The whites may do bad all their lives, and then, if they are sorry for it when about to die, all Is well! But with us it is different: we must continue throughout our lives to do what we conceive to be good. If we have corn and meat, and know of a family that have none, we divide with them. If we have more blankets than sufficient, and others have not enough, we must give to them that want. But I will presently explain our customs, and the manner we live.
. . .
Our village was situate on the north side of Rock river, at the foot of its rapids, and on the point of land between Rock river and the Mississippi. In its front, a prairie extended to the bank of the Mississippi; and in our rear, a continued bluff, gently ascending from the prairie. [ In the 1882 edition the following sentence appears here: "On its highest peak our Watch Tower was situated, from which we had a fine view for many miles up and down Rock River, and in every direction."] On the side of this bluff we had our cornfields, extending about two miles up, running parallel with the Mississippi; where we joined those of the Foxes whose village was on the bank of the Mississippi, opposite the lower end of Rock island, and three miles distant from ours. We have about eight hundred acres in cultivation, including what we had on the islands of Rock river. The land around our village, uncultivated, was covered with bluegrass, which made excellent pasture for our horses. Several fine springs broke out of the bluff, near by, from which we were supplied with good water. The rapids of Rock river furnished us with an abundance of excellent fish, and the land, being good, never failed to produce good crops of corn, beans, pumpkins, and squashes. We always had plenty-our children never cried with hunger, nor our people were never in want. Here our village had stood for more than a hundred years, during all which time we were the undisputed possessors of the valley of the Mississippi, from the Ouisconsin to the Portage des Sioux, near the mouth of the Missouri, being about seven hundred miles in length.
At this time we had very little intercourse with the whites, except our traders. Our village was healthy, and there was no place in the country possessing such advantages, nor no hunting grounds better than those we had in possession.
If another prophet had come to our village in those days, and told us what has since taken place, none of our people would have believed him. What! to be driven from our village and hunting grounds, and not even permitted to visit the graves of our forefathers, our relations, and friends?
This hardship is not known to the whites. With us it is a custom to visit the graves of our friends, and keep them in repair for many years. The mother will go alone to weep over the grave of her child! The brave, with pleasure, visits the grave of his father, after he has been successful in war, and re�paints the post that shows where he lives! There is no place like that where the bones of our forefathers lie, to go to when in grief. Here the Great Spirit will take pity on us!
But, how different is our situation now, from what it was in those days! Then we were as happy as the buffalo on the plains-but now, we are as miserable as the hungry, howling wolf in the prairie! But I am digressing from my story. Bitter reflection crowds upon my mind, and must find utterance.
When we returned to our village in the spring, from our wintering grounds, we would finish trading with our traders, who always followed us to our village. We purposely kept some of our fine furs for this trade; and, as there was great opposition among them, who should get these skins, we always got our goods cheap. After this trade was over, the traders would give us a few kegs of rum, which was generally promised in the fall, to encourage us to make a good hunt, and not go to war. They would then start with their furs and peltries for their homes. Our old men would take a frolic (at this time our young men never drank). When this was ended, the next thing to be done was to bury our dead (such as had died during the year). This is a great medicine feast. The relations of those who have died, give all the goods they have purchased, as presents to their friends-thereby reducing themselves to poverty, to show the Great Spirit that they are humble, so that he will take pity on them. We would next open the cashes [sic], and take out corn and other provisions, which had been put up in the fall,-and then commence repairing our lodges. As soon as this is accomplished, we repair the fences around our fields, and clean them off, ready for planting corn. This work is done by our women. The men, during this time, are feasting on dried venison, bear's meat, wild fowl, and corn, prepared in different ways; and recounting to each other what took place during the winter.
Our women plant the corn, and as soon as they get done, we make a feast, and dance the crane dance, in which they join us, dressed in their best, and decorated with feathers. At this feast our young braves select the young woman they wish to have for a wife. He then informs his mother, who calls on the mother of the girl, when the arrangement is made, and the time appointed for him to come. He goes to the lodge when all are asleep (or pretend to be), lights his matches, which have been provided for the purpose, and soon finds where his intended sleeps. He then awakens her, and holds the light to his face that she may know him-after which he places the light close to her. If she blows it out, the ceremony is ended, and he appears in the lodge the next morning, as one of the family. If she does not blow out the light, but leaves it to burn out, he retires from the lodge. The next day he places himself in full view of it, and plays his flute. The young women go out, one by one, to see who he is playing for. The tune changes, to let them know that he is not playing for them. When his intended makes her appearance at the door, he continues his courtingtune, until she returns to the lodge. He then gives over playing, and makes another trial at night, which generally turns out favorable. During the first year they ascertain whether they can agree with each other, and can be happy-if not, they part, and each looks out again. If we were to live together and disagree, we should be as foolish as the whites. No indiscretion can banish a woman from her parental lodge-no difference how many children she may bring home, she is always welcome-the kettle is over the fire to feed them.
The crane dance often lasts two or three days. When this is over, we feast again, and have our national dance. The large square in the village is swept and prepared for the purpose. The chiefs and old warriors, take seats on mats which have been spread at the upper end of the square-the drummers and singers come next, and the braves and women form the sides, leaving a large space in the middle. The drums beat, and the singers commence. A warrior enters the square, keeping time with the music. He shows the manner he started on a war party- how he approached the enemy-he strikes, and describes the way he killed him. All join in applause. He then leaves the square, and another enters and takes his place. Such of our young men as have not been out in war parties, and killed an enemy, stand back ashamed-not being able to enter the square. I remember that I was ashamed to look where our young women stood, before I could take my stand in the square as a warrior.
What pleasure it is to an old warrior, to see his son come forward and relate his exploits-it makes him feel young, and induces him to enter the square, and "fight his battles o'er again."
This national dance makes our warriors. When I was travelling last summer, on � steam boat, on a large river, going from New York to Albany, I was shown the place where the Americans dance their national dance [West Point]; where the old warriors recount to their young men, what they have done, to stimulate them to go and do likewise. This surprised me, as I did not think the whites understood our way of making braves.
When our national dance is over-our cornfields hoed, and every weed dug up, and our corn about knee-high, all our young men would start in a direction towards sundown, to hunt deer and buffalo-being prepared, also, to kill Sioux, if any are found on our hunting grounds-a part of our old men and women to the lead mines to make lead-and the remainder of our people start to fish, and get mat stuff. Every one leaves the village, and remains about forty days. They then return: the hunting party bringing in dried buffalo and deer meat, and sometimes Sioux scalps, when they are found trespassing on our hunting grounds. At other times they are met by a party of Sioux too strong for them, and are driven in. If the Sioux have killed the Sacs last, they expect to be retaliated upon, and will fly before them, and vice versa. Each party knows that the other has a right to retaliate, which induces those who have killed last, to give way before their enemy-as neither wish to strike, except to avenge the death of their relatives. All our wars are predicated by the relatives of those killed; or by aggressions upon our hunting grounds.
The party from the lead mines bring lead, and the others dried fish, and mats for our winter lodges. Presents are now made by each party; the first, giving to the others dried buffalo and deer, and they, in exchange, presenting them with lead, dried fish, and mats.
This is a happy season of the year-having plenty of provisions, such as beans, squashes, and other produce, with our dried meat and fish, we continue to make feasts and visit each other, until our corn is ripe. Some lodge in the village makes a feast daily, to the Great Spirit. I cannot explain this so that the white people would comprehend me, as we have no regular standard among us. Every one makes his feast as he thinks best, to please the Great Spirit, who has the care of all beings created. Others believe in two Spirits one good and one bad, and make feasts for the Bad Spirit, to keep him quiet! If they can make peace with him, the Good Spirit will not hurt them! For my part, I am of opinion, that so far as we have reason, we have a right to use it, in determining what is right or wrong; and should pursue that path which we believe to be right- believing, that "whatever is, is right." If the Great and Good Spirit wished us to believe and do as the whites, he could easily change our opinions, so that we would see, and think, and act as they do. We are nothing compared to His power, and we feel and know it. We have men among us, like the whites, who pretend to know the right path, but will not consent to show it without pay! I have no faith in their paths-but believe that every man must make his own path!
When our corn is getting ripe, our young people watch with anxiety for the
signal to pull roasting�ears-as none dare touch them until the proper time. When
the corn is fit to use, another great ceremony takes place, with feasting, and
returning thanks to the Great Spirit for giving us corn.
Chief Black Hawk, Black Hawk, An Autobiography, ed. Donald Jackson
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964), pp. 86�91.
Answers the question of whether
Smallpox was really spread
intentionally by blankets to American Indians
This reference [for the story of American Indians and deliberate smallpox spreading ]is from American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492, by Russell Thornton, 1987 (Norman: U. of Oklahoma Pr.) pp.78-79
It is also during the eighteenth century that we find written reports of American Indians being intentionally exposed to smallpox by Europeans. In 1763 in Pennsylvania, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander of the British forces....wrote in the postscript of a letter to Bouquet the suggestion that smallpox be sent among the disaffected tribes. Bouquet replied, also in a postscript,
"I will try to innoculate the[m]...with some blankets that may fall into their hands, and take care not get the disease myself."
....To Bouquet's postscript, Amherst replied,
"You will do well as to try to innoculate the Indians by means of blankets as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this exorable race."
On June 24, Captain Ecuyer, of the Royal Americans, noted in his journal:
"Out of our regard for them (i.e. two Indian chiefs) we gave them two blankets and a handkerchief out of the smallpox hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect."
(quoted from Stearn, E. and Stearn, A. "Smallpox Immunization of the
Amerindian.", Bulletin of the History of Medicine 13:601-13.)
Thornton goes on to report that smallpox spread to the tribes along the Ohio
river.
This text is part of the
Internet Modern
History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World
history. Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is
copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print
form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the
document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of
the Sourcebook. (c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997
[email protected]
To the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation
I take you by the hand of friendship hearty welcome to the seat of the
government of the United States. The journey which you have taken to visit your
fathers on this side of our island is a long one, and your having undertaken it
is a proof that you desired to become acquainted with us. I thank the Great
Spirit that he has protected you through the journey and brought you safely to
the residence of your friends, and I hope He will have you constantly in his
safe keeping, and restore you in good health to your nations and families.
My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations which live
beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers have been so long here that
we seem like you to have grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer
of the old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family with our
red brethren here. The French, the English, the Spaniards, have now agreed with
us to retire from all the country which you and we hold between Canada and
Mexico, and never more to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to
you, my children, they are never to return again. We are now your fathers; and
you shall not lose by the change. As soon as Spain had agreed to withdraw from
all the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi, I felt the desire of becoming
acquainted with all my red children beyond the Mississippi, and of uniting them
with us as we have those on this side of that river, in the bonds of peace and
friendship. I wished to learn what we could do to benefit them by furnishing
them the necessaries they want in exchange for their furs and peltries. I
therefore sent our beloved man,
My friends and children, I have now an important advice to give you. I have already told you that you and all the red men are my children, and I wish you to live in peace and friendship with one another as brethren of the same family ought to do. How much better is it for neighbors to help than to hurt one another; how much happier must it make them. If you will cease to make war on one another, if you will live in friendship with all mankind, you can employ all your time in providing food and clothing for yourselves and your families. Your men will not be destroyed in war, and your women and children will lie down to sleep in their cabins without fear of being surprised by their enemies and killed or carried away. Your numbers will be increased instead of diminishing, and you will live in plenty and in quiet. My children, I have given this advice to all your red brethren on this side of the Mississippi; they are following it, they are increasing in their numbers, are learning to clothe and provide for their families as we do. Remember then my advice, my children, carry it home to your people, and tell them that from the day that they have become all of the same family, from the day that we became father to them all, we wish, as a true father should do, that we may all live together as one household, and that before they strike one another, they should go to their father and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel.
My children, you are come from the other side of our great island, from where the sun sets, to see your new friends at the sun rising. You have now arrived where the waters are constantly rising and falling every day, but you are still distant from the sea. I very much desire that you should not stop here, but go and see your brethren as far as the edge of the great water. I am persuaded you have so far seen that every man by the way has received you as his brothers, and has been ready to do you all the kindness in his power. You will see the same thing quite to the sea shore; and I wish you, therefore, to go and visit our great cities in that quarter, and see how many friends and brothers you have here. You will then have travelled a long line from west to east, and if you had time to go from north to south, from Canada to Florida, you would find it as long in that direction, and all the people as sincerely your friends. I wish you, my children, to see all you can, and to tell your people all you see; because I am sure the more they know of us, the more they will be our hearty friends. I invite you, therefore, to pay a visit to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and the cities still beyond that, if you are willing to go further. We will provide carriages to convey you and a person to go with you to see that you want for nothing. By the time you come back the snows will be melted on the mountains, the ice in the rivers broken up, and you will be wishing to set out on your return home.
My children, I have long desired to see you; I have now opened my heart to you, let my words sink into your hearts and never be forgotten. If ever lying people or bad spirits should raise up clouds between us, call to mind what I have said, and what you have seen yourselves. Be sure there are some lying spirits between us; let us come together as friends and explain to each other what is misrepresented or misunderstood, the clouds will fly away like morning fog, and the sun of friendship appear and shine forever bright and clear between us.
My children, it may happen that while you are here occasion may arise to talk
about many things which I do not now particularly mention. The Secretary at War
will always be ready to talk with you, and you are to consider whatever he says
as said by myself. He will also take care of you and see that you are furnished
with all comforts here.
� 1996 The Avalon Project.
The Avalon Project : Jefferson's Indian Addresses was last modified on:
04/22/2003 12:17:30
President Jackson asked,
What good man would prefer a forested country ranged with savages to our extensive republic studded with cities With all the improvements art can devise or industry execute?
Information on Modern Day Native Life and Re-Generation
"Indian Suicide Rates"
by Dick Lourie
for Sherman
scholars could spend years debating this one:
if the Indians had won all the wars
after say 1800 would they have stuck me on a reservation would some
smart-assed Indian have provided me with a buffalo robe full of smallpox
would the Indians now excel in pro-
fessional sports and be calling their teams
the Cleveland Polacks the California
Wops the New York Micks the Dakota Jews
would it then be me the experts were looking
at and my sisters and brothers there on the reservation or in the shit-hole
end of the city with all the other
losers watching TV Westerns until
that new movie comes out what was it called---
"Dances with White Folks?"
and if it was us the experts watched survive
or fall apart would that bring them any
closer then to asking some of the real
questions like: in whose interest is it
that all these deaths have come to be called suicide?
Taken from Ghost Radio by Dick Lourie � 1998, Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, NY.
Excerpts from Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loss Canons by Paula Gunn Allen. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1998.
This re/collection of contemporary coyote Pueblo American thought is titled Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing Loss Canons. I chose the name because if anything defines the American Indian peoples' post-Columbian situation, it is the freedom to leave and return to the reservation or local communities. Off the reservation we are indeed a motley crew: carrying every variety of blood that has found its way to our ancient continent, faced with not only duality--that would be easy!--but with a multitude of complexities that are perhaps aptly summed up by our mixed blood, mixed-culture status. Yet however mixed in ancestry, heritage, and culture, we are all, all of us Indians, and have been "off the reservation" at all times.
"Off the reservation is an expression current in military and political circles. It designates someone who doesn't conform to the limits and boundaries of officialdom, who is unpredictable and thus uncontrollable. Such individuals are seen as threats to the power structure. They are anomalies: mavericks, renegades, queers. Seen in its historical context, designating someone "off the reservation" is particularly apt. Originally the term meant a particular kind of "outlaw" a Native person who crossed the territorial border, called a reserve or reservation signified a limited space, a camp, th which Native people of various nations were confined. Those who crossed the set borders were deemed renegades. They were usually hunted down, and most often, summarily shot.
One of the major issues facing twenty-first century Native Americans is how we, multicultural by definition---either as Native American or American Indian--will retain our "indianness" while participating in global society. It is the subtext of this volume. That we do not fit easily into pre-existing officially recognized categories is the correlative of our culture of origin. As Native Americans of the Five Hundred Nations never have fit the descriptions other Americans imposed and impose, neither does our thought fit the categories that have been devised to organize Western intellectual enterprise. . . .
It becomes clear that boundaries between Indian Country/Herland and Western Civilization/hisland (Gunn sees the western world's relationship to women as mirroring that of Natives. As she says they are both seen as "close to nature, irrational, intuitive, mystical, culturally focused, domestic, dependent entities, at one with flora and fauna, and best kept silent, dependent, and enclosed--for their own protection." Earth is also often seen as feminine in Native cultures. Hence the dualism of Indian Country/Herland.) are more a spiritual site than a geopolitical or gendered one. The profound knowledge of the true nature of earth, the land, and all that exists upon and within it, which once characterized gynosophic (gyne=woman; sophia=wisdom) societies as it now characterizes American Indian societies, is the true site of conflict. The differing definitions of reality and the accompanying values those definitions imply are what is at stake. . . .
Three dimensions of the stance toward reality that characterizes Western civilization are: proprietorship (ownership as a concept), literacy (reading/writing as the power and glory of man), and separatism (the great and only heresy; splintering the biota). A true revolution, a lasting turn and transformation in human institutions and relationships, must begin with a reorganization of these basic values that have characterized Western civilization since the days of the ancient Egyptian pharaonic empire. We must abandon faith in the myth of property, the superstition of literacy, and the heresy of separatism. We must abandon the essential paradigm of Domination/Submission in all its forms. . .
The Great American Cowboy is cheered for his self-reliance; the most American is the one who accepts society's help through a welfare allotment. . . Indians are called primitive and savage not because they commit atrocities; everyone commits atrocities one way or another. Indians are designated primitive because they place the good of the group and the good of the earth before that of the self. The community is the greatest threat to the American Individual Ethic; and it is the community that must be punished and destroyed. Not because Americans take much conscious notice of community, but because community is what a human being must have to be human in any sense, and community is what Americans deny themselves--in the name of progress, in the name of growth. In the name of Freedom. In the name of the Hero.
A person can't cherish glorious loneliness within a community. So, most women, as keepers of community, are also despised. . .
Links:
Wind River Historical Center, Dubois Wyoming
National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.