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Susie McCartt

Cooper (p.3) and Whipple (p.7)

AP Lang and Comp and APUSH

5/24/17

The Impact of European-American Culture on Traditional Native Cultures

Credit is never given to those who were truly the first inhabitants of America. We always

talk about the important role Europeans had in discovering America, but hardly credit is given to

the Native Americans for being its first inhabitants. Because of the Europeans, Native Americans

have been forced to assimilate into Anglo culture and this in part caused some of their culture

and traditions to diminish. To fully understand how indigenous lifestyles have been affected by

the introduction of European cultures and ideas, it is necessary to discuss the different views of

Native Americans throughout history, understand their fundamental beliefs through stories, and

experience how they have adapted to European-American society in the wake of many years of

social change and separation from indigenous cultures. Overall, indigenous life has been

negatively impacted by the introduction of European cultures into the New World.

Throughout U.S. history Native Americans have been treated horribly and lied too by the

government. This is was most apparent in the Dakota Sioux Uprising research and analysis

project we did as part of AP US History this year. Through research, we concluded that the

government was the savage because they disrespected the life and culture of the Natives. The

U.S. Government encouraged westward expansion in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These

actions attracted many different types of people who were looking for social and economic

advancement, but at the cost of the Native American population that had inhabited the land for
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many years. The Natives encountered adversity from the white settlers, and the government.

Their land was being taken away for the benefit of expansion. Native Americans faced hostility,

hunger, loss of trade, and oppression. Increased tensions over land ownership led to the Dakota

Sioux Uprising of 1862. Furthermore, the Dawes Act of 1887 was a tool used by the government

to assimilate Native Americans into white society while riding them of their land. The U.S.

government swindled the Native Americans out of land that was rightfully theirs. This is one of

many examples of how the U.S. Government negatively impacted the indigenous life of Native

Americans. We were able to see the impact of this change in various examples on the Southwest

trip from our tours around pueblos to taking with Natives about their life and their culture. One

example of this is when we visited the Nuclear Science Museum in New Mexico, and learned

about how the land that was controlled by Native Americans was used as a part of the test site for

nuclear bombs. In addition, many Natives were exploited as miners because they were in need of

work and would do it for low wages.

Many of the first settlers were confused about what to think of Native Americans. Most

Europeans thought they were inhuman and only good for labor. Their dark skin, dark hair,

traditional customs and native clothing were foreign to those first settlers and perpetuated fear. A

small minority of these settlers, however, respected the Native Americans for who they were.

When comparing excerpts from Bartolom de las Casas and Juan Gins de Seplveda in AP U.S.

History this year, De las Casas describes a gory rampage in response to Native Americans. The

natives were thought to be less than human and unable to perform to the superiority of the

Spanish. Yet, Seplveda describes the Spanish as intelligent and willing to help the indigenous

people. While their accounts vary, De las Casas and Seplveda shared a similar goal for settling

in the new world; they both wanted to convert the natives to Christianity. Today we are able to
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see the success of their goal through the many missions that remain standing. The proliferation

of Christian faith did not come without cost. In Acoma Pueblo, the residents are Christian but

they told stories of the brutality that went with setting up the missions. For example when

carrying the four logs that would stand at the altar, the Spanish demanded that they not touch the

ground. If they were to touch, the Native Americans would be forced to cut down another log.

Many Natives were killed in this process because they had to sleep with the logs resting on their

chest, this caused many fatal injuries such as cracked ribs, collapsed lungs, and suffocation. The

introduction of Christianity in itself was not terrible, but it was the removal of native practices

and the brutality in which they did so that was cause for a negative Anglo influence.

Native American cultures differ across the United States, but there are commonalities in

the hardships each group encountered. Using popplet, an online graphic organizer, we were able

to study, understand, and communicate cultural similarities and differences. The Tribes not only

differed in their hunting methods, living structures, and hierarchical arrangements, but also their

spiritual customs and traditions. As tribes who settled in the east were being kicked out of their

land, continuing and maintaining native traditions became a challenge. This challenge continues

today. On the float trip during the Southwest trip, our Native guide described to us the struggle of

keeping their culture intact in the midst of social change. Because of this cultural discontinuity,

increasing amounts of people have rejected their native culture and practices. Our guide talked

about the upcoming corn dance, a celebration of the harvest, and how it at one time helped unite

the tribe. The proliferation of technology has allowed us to become more interested and curious

about our heritage; answers to questions about where we come from are literally at our fingertips.

Our guide believes that continuing traditions like the corn dance help evoke a love for traditional

culture, and will continue to unite the tribe, especially as Natives become more curious about
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their heritage. However, as we have learned in our studies, the destruction of willingness to

participate in native cultures historically ties back to the suppression of native cultures by

colonists.

Stories allow us to preserve the past. Creation stories are one of the most important

aspects in the understanding of the roots of a culture and society. A lot of the time, Native

Americans are all categorized under one umbrella and are stripped of their tribal individuality. To

combat this generalization, in English class we completed a project where we researched how

creation stories played a role in native cultures. We found that pre-Columbian Native Americans

had really strong beliefs, rituals, and spiritual meanings. The creation stories of the Navajo,

Iroquois, and Apache vary greatly. For example, while one of the Iroquois creation myth centers

around sky people, the Apaches saw the buffalo as sacred and very beneficial to the community

in that they brought food, clothing, shelter, and food. After the introduction of settlers the

extremity of the Native beliefs had to be hindered because they were persecuted for not being

Christian. Our Native American guide on the float trip explained that nowadays the Native

religions are only practiced during ceremonious situations and that it is very common for Natives

to be Catholic. A culture once rich with tradition and symbolism is undermined by being fused

with Catholicism.

Native Americans have adapted to the European-American society in the wake of many

years of social change and separation from indigenous cultures. We continued to learn about

these adaptations and stereotypes through reading the article Superman and Me by Sherman

Alexie. Alexie discusses how hard it was to break free from the social norms within his own

Native society. He writes to demonstrate that Native American kids don't have to act dumb in the

classroom because that is what society has told them to do. During the Southwest trip we were
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able to visit the To'hajiilee Native American reservation. Here we completed service and were

able to experience for ourselves how people live on a reservation. I was able to work with a

kindergarten class and we helped them pronounce the Q sound and helped them pronounce 3-4

letter words. It was a lot of fun to help because so many of them were very dedicated students. It

was interesting to draw comparisons between their lives and my life. For example, on the

reservation land there was one paved road with only one store. In my life, almost every road I

drive on is paved and I have many stores just a few blocks from my house. What struck me

though, is that the kids at school were learning some of the same things I learned in kindergarten.

As Alexie notes, Native American kids are just as smart as others and deserve the same

opportunities to learn and thrive. The differences in the way that we live come from years of

abuse towards the Native American tribes. Natives were pushed west and away from their sacred

lands. Life on the reservation today is unlike life in the city. Some people on reservations do not

have access to jobs, resources, utilities, and proper schooling. Yet, our lives are similar in many

ways, the pets we love, the movies we like, and the dreams we have. The influence of Anglo

culture has isolated Native Americans and removed them from the influence of European-

American society.

I began my junior year with an essential questions, how has indigenous lifestyle been

affected by outside influences and people? Throughout this year we have done research,

presentations, readings, and many assignments that encompass the central theme of

understanding the role that Native Americans have played in shaping our life and how we have

changed theirs. The reality of the impact of the European-American society on Native Americans

was most apparent during our trip the to the Southwest. My eyes were open to the realities of the

life that Natives live. There is a Native American prayer that my great-grandmother hung in her
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kitchen, Great Spirit grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his

moccasins. Indigenous life has been negatively impacted by the introduction of European

cultures into the New World, but maybe as we become a more socially conscious society, we will

understand the rich heritage of the Native Americans and the profound impact it has had on our

culture.
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Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. Superman and Me.

www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/SupermanandMebyAlexie.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2017.