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...A Forum for American Indian Issues...
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Teaching 
Thu Oct 20, 2011 at 20:58:26 PM PDT
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About 650 CE some trends were beginning to emerge in the American Bottom area near the Mississippi River in Illinois which would culminate in the development of a complex culture known today as Mississippian. Setting the stage for the emergence of this complex culture were the use of the bow and arrow and the development of maize agriculture. The largest of the Mississippian settlements was Cahokia, located in southwestern Illinois. From here, Mississippian culture seemed to spread out for a considerable distance.
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 at 21:34:13 PM PDT
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Cobá was a Maya city located in the northern portion of the Maya region on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Most of the city was constructed between 500 and 900-a period corresponding to the Classic Maya Period. Most of the dated inscriptions found in the city date from the seventh century.
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Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 19:58:55 PM PDT
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A treaty is an agreement between two or more sovereign nations. Under the U.S. Constitution, Indian tribes are considered sovereign nations-or as dependent domestic nations, in the words of the Supreme Court-and thus the United States negotiated treaties with the tribes in order to obtain title to Indian land and open Indian lands to non-Indian settlement.
Following the Civil War, Congress authorized the formation of a Peace Commission composed of three generals and four civilians to negotiate a series of treaties with the Indian nations. The Peace Commission sought to have the Indian nations settle on reservations away from the railroads and American settlements. These reservations were to be large enough to allow the Indians to continue to support themselves with hunting, but as they became more proficient as farmers, the size of the reservations was to be reduced. The government was also to provide the Indians with missionary instruction in Christianity. As a Christian nation, the United States felt that it had an obligation to convert Indians to Christianity and to prohibit aboriginal pagan religions.
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Sun Oct 09, 2011 at 11:23:07 AM PDT
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In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States. He entered the White House better acquainted with both the Indian Service (later known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and Indians than any President since William Henry Harrison. While Roosevelt had a background with regard to Indian affairs, this was not one of his major interests. In their annual report, the Indian Rights Association lauded the new President:
"No man in the country has a fuller or more practical sympathy with the Indians than President Roosevelt, nor a better understanding of their conditions and needs."
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Fri Oct 07, 2011 at 08:21:41 AM PDT
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The Yuma-speaking tribes live in the desert and semi-desert area along the Colorado and Gila Rivers in what is now Arizona, California, Sonora, and Baja California Norte. This is an area that is nearly all desert or semi-desert, but the annual flooding along the Colorado River and along the Gila River made agriculture possible. Thus, there are agricultural oases with a fairly dense population.
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Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 08:44:07 AM PDT
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The concept of a generation is often seen as a period of twenty years. With this in mind, let's look back at some of the events which were impacting American Indians in 1991.
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Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 15:19:48 PM PDT
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Mississippian is a cultural complex whose hearth appears to be in the American Bottom area near the Mississippi River in Illinois. The most spectacular characteristic of Mississippian material culture was the construction of earthen pyramids. The pyramids, usually called mounds, have a flat top which provided a space for a ceremonial building or a chiefly residence. Setting the stage for the emergence of this complex culture were the use of the bow and arrow and the development of maize agriculture at about 650 CE. With the development of Mississippian culture, communities became larger and more complex. Mississippian culture spread out into the American southeast and about 1050 Mississippian people established a village at Shiloh, Tennessee. The site was enclosed by a palisade and had a population of 300-400.
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Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 07:28:57 AM PDT
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The debate over marriage in American society and the fears expressed by some conservatives that allowing diversity will somehow destroy the institution of marriage has been interesting (at some times amusing) to watch. While there appear to be some who feel that there is only one kind of marriage, in reality there are many options regarding marriage. In order to provide some additional depth to an understanding of the complexity of human marriage, I would like to discuss traditional Native American marriage.
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Thu Sep 29, 2011 at 21:36:31 PM PDT
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When the Dutch first travelled up New York's Hudson River to establish trading posts with the Indians they encountered one of the largest and most powerful Indian confederations in North America: the League of Five Nations, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois were an agricultural people who lived in permanent villages. They used the symbol of their house-the hodensote or longhouse-as the symbol of their confederacy.
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Wed Sep 21, 2011 at 18:08:05 PM PDT
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Five centuries ago, at the beginning of the European invasion of this continent, a majority of Indian people in what is now the lower 48 states of the United States got a majority of the calories which they consumed from plants which they raised. While the popular stereotype of Indians sees them as big game hunters, meat was actually more of a supplement to their agricultural diet.
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Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 08:24:44 AM PDT
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A common stereotype is that American Indians lived in tipis. In fact, relatively few Indian nations utilized this type of housing: it was a type of housing found primarily in the Great Plains. Among the Indian nations who live along the Missouri River in the Dakotas, the primary form of housing was the earthlodge.
Shown above is a Mandan lodge photographed in 1909 by Edward S. Curtis.
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Sat Sep 17, 2011 at 18:33:54 PM PDT
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United States military forces occupied California during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). In 1850 California was admitted to the Union as a free state, that is, a state in which slavery was supposedly prohibited. However, the concept of free did not apply to the Indians who lived in the state and they soon encountered American deception at both the federal and state levels.
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Fri Sep 16, 2011 at 07:27:36 AM PDT
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By the mid-nineteenth century, the American obsession with private property was guiding policies regarding American Indians. The idea that Indian people held property-that is, land-in common rather than having individuals own it, was repulsive to Americans. In 1850, the policy of "civilizing" Indians was described this way by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:
"When civilization and barbarism are brought into such relation that they cannot coexist together, it is right that the superiority of the former should be asserted and the latter compelled to give away. It is, therefore, no matter of regret or reproach that so large a portion of our territory has been wrested from its aboriginal inhabitants and made the happy abode of an enlightened and Christian people."
The following year, the Secretary of the Interior (that is, the top U.S. official in charge of Indian Affairs) stated:
"You must tie him down to the soil. You must make him understand the value of property and the benefits of its separate ownership. You must appeal to those selfish principles implanted by Divine Providence in the nature of man for the wisest purposes and make them minister to civilization and refinement."
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Thu Sep 15, 2011 at 10:18:11 AM PDT
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It is a long held maxim that American Indians should not be allowed to acquire wealth. Since one of the ways of acquiring wealth is through minerals-such as copper, iron, silver, and gold-when then minerals were discovered on Indian lands, these lands, and the mineral rights, had to be taken from the Indians so that they could be developed by non-Indian interests. One example of this can be seen in the Great Lakes region and the fight to remove that Ojibwa from Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 at 09:33:39 AM PDT
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When the United States acquired what is now New Mexico and Arizona in 1846, a number of Pueblos were brought under American rule according to the Discovery Doctrine. The Pueblos created a few problems for the Americans, however, as they did not conform to the stereotype of nomadic Indians whose lives centered around hunting. There were, in fact, debates about whether or not the Pueblos should actually be considered as Indian tribes. It would take thirty years until the Supreme Court would issue a ruling on this question.
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Mon Sep 12, 2011 at 17:46:45 PM PDT
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Tulum, located on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya. The earliest date found on a stele at Tulum is 564 CE and the city flourished from about 1200 to 1521. It was a major link in the rather extensive trade route of the Maya. Its seaside location made it a transportation hub: both maritime and land trade routes converged here. Its fortifications show that it was an important site, one which had to be defended from raiders and enemies.
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Sun Sep 11, 2011 at 14:27:07 PM PDT
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When the United States acquired what is now New Mexico and Arizona in 1846, a number of Pueblos were brought under American rule according to the Discovery Doctrine. The Pueblos created a few problems for the Americans, however, as they did not conform to the stereotype of nomadic Indians whose lives centered around hunting. Actually, very few Indian nations in the United States resembled this stereotype, but the American government has never let the realities of Indian cultures interfere with imaginary descriptions.
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Fri Sep 09, 2011 at 22:02:07 PM PDT
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As American settlers began moving into Texas-a Spanish colony-in the early nineteenth century, they brought with them an anti-Indian arrogance and attitude than came to define both the Republic of Texas and the State of Texas. They tended to recognize no Indian rights in Texas, and during the Civil War period this anti-Indian attitude was enfolded into racism. Incidents at the end of the Civil War ignited a war with the Kickapoo Indians that would last for decades and would include illegal military expeditions into Mexico.
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Thu Sep 08, 2011 at 12:52:07 PM PDT
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One of the strongly held policies among the Euro-American colonial powers was that aboriginal peoples should not be allowed to develop any mineral resources on their land. This policy is clearly seen in a nineteenth century case involving copper in Ontario, Canada.
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Thu Sep 08, 2011 at 12:47:34 PM PDT
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The Prince of Wales toured Canada in 1860 and during this tour he met with a number of First Nations groups. The Prince arrived in Halifax where he was met by a group of Mi'kmaq men who escorted him ashore in specially decorated birchbark canoes. In other words, the first people to welcome the Prince to Canada were First Peoples.
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| In Memoriam |
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
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Native American
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...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
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