Native Americans
The first Americans have the distinction of being a people of
diversity. They consisted of more than
500 tribes ranging from the Arctic Circle across the Great Plains to the
Eastern Seaboard and known as the Lakota, Cherokee, Navajo, Haida, and other
groups. In the Northeast alone, there
were dozens of tribes originating from three main mother groups – Algonquian,
Iroquoian, or Siouan. Around 12,000 to
20,000 years ago Indians came to the Western Hemisphere after having crossed
the Bering Strait ice bridge that linked Asia to the Americas. So, Native Americans are indigenous to the
Americas.
The Indians displayed vibrant languages, cultural forms, and
their political empowerment varied between tribes. Some tribes boasted a sophisticated clan
system with unique spiritual traditions, music, songs and chants. Not all adopted to the horse as a primary
tool of hunting, but they fished - catching salmon, trout, and sturgeon; farmed
- raising indigenous plants, roots, berries, and nuts; hunted – catching deer,
elk, bison, antelope, moose, and even caribou; inventing agricultural methods
with flourishing crops of corn (maize), beans, and squash.
Tribal architecture flourished. They made ceramics from clay tempered with
sand, potted ceremonial objects, rugs, jewelry, bead works, and baskets of all
sorts. Their trading networks were
spread across the whole American continent, and their sovereign authority was
invested in cultural and linguistic patterns.
The American Dream
In their own way the Native Americans were living the
American dream. Marco Rubio (b. 1971), a
senator from Florida said, “The American Dream is a term that is often used but
also often misunderstood. It isn’t
really about becoming rich and famous.
It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that.” Early Indian tribes exemplified what the
American dream was all about by having a diverse culture blessed with
simplicity. Billy Graham (1918–2018), an evangelical
Christian evangelist wrote, “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s
children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in
one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” Our first Americans exemplified this legacy
and faith while living off the land.
Joe Baca (b. 1947), a U.S. representative in California said,
“Native Americans are the original inhabitants of the land that now constitutes
the United States. They have helped
developed the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and separation of
powers that form the foundation of the United States government.” These first Americans were instrumental in
proposing fundamental ways of governing by how they were living.
A Legacy Impacted
European diseases – small pox, measles and influenza
devastated many Native American communities.
These natives became victims of brutal massacres, murder, and rape that
dampened the American spirit. Native
Indians though continued to have rights, and the American government had no
authority on Indian land without an act of Congress. The 19th century witnessed the
impounding of Indians to reservations.
Philipp Meyer (b. 1974), an American fiction writer wrote, “When you
start to look at the native American history, you realize that very far from
being peaceful, morally superior people, Native Americans were not that
different from the Europeans.” Meyer
must have been thinking about the atrocities and broken promises committed by
America on the American Indians. Alberto
Gonzales (b. 1955), an attorney general of the United States wrote, “I will be
the first to admit I am not perfect and I make mistakes.” The Europeans who settled America were
imperfect men and women, and although some critics felt their actions against
the American Indians were motivated by power, greed, and religious zeal they surely
committed big mistakes. Despite these atrocities
the American Indian culture still exists, and adds to the spiritual richness of
the nation.
