By recognizing National Native American Heritage Month this November, we are acknowledging and celebrating the rich history and culture of Native Americans and the role that they have played in American history. Since the day settlers landed in Jamestown in 1607, we have pushed Native Americans out of their native lands, causing sickness, loss of family and cultural practices, and worst of all, extinction. Today, the culture has been oversimplified, and the distinctions between groups have vanished. For 400 years, their culture has been chipped away or ignored. So, this month, we are taking steps to elevate once again the influence and importance of their role in American society and culture.
The first step to learning about their history is to recognize the assimilation and cultural genocide that they have experienced. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, intending to solve the “Indian Problem” that white Americans wanted and nearly felt they deserved the land that generations of Native Americans had cultivated and enjoyed. The act required that the tribes and bands be removed fairly, voluntarily and peacefully. However, at the threat of the U.S. Army, the Choctaw were forcefully removed from their land in Alabama and Mississippi during the winter of 1831. They traveled on foot without food, supplies or outside help, thousands dying from the cold, sickness and heartbreak. The Trail of Tears, as coined by a Choctaw leader, sent the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Shawnee and other tribes and bands through Fayetteville, Ft. Smith and even Siloam Springs.
Once they arrived in their new designated land, they were told to cultivate and farm the land. Farming was considered work for women, so when the men were told to farm along with western tradition, this was dehumanizing and emasculating. Mandatory boarding schools for Native American children forbade native languages to be spoken and the forced separation of families and children prohibited traditions and heritage from being passed down.
The loss of tradition and memory within tribes is also reflected in many other Americans. Most Americans have a simplistic and stereotypical view of Native Americans as a mascot of a sports team or as someone living on a reservation. Some Americans might know a few names of the remaining tribes and think about them one day a year during Thanksgiving.
As the Atlanta Braves have been competing in the World Series, the fan gesture “Tomahawk chop” has caused controversy as it prolongs the stereotype of the “native savage.” A statement from the National Congress of American Indians says, “Native people are not mascots and degrading rituals like the ‘tomahawk chop’ that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society.”
Meanwhile, other sports teams have recognized the degrading nature of stereotyping and have changed their mascots, such as the Washington Redskins changing their name to the Washington Football Team in 2020. The great irony of this is we are once again erasing Native Americans from society.
Throughout the 400 years that Native Americans have been pushed aside, ignored and simplified, they have learned resilience, loyalty and they have recently begun to be more vocal and represented in politics and government. In 1978, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act ensured that Native Americans can freely practice their traditional religious beliefs.
They are regaining confidence and attempting to salvage and revive the fragments of history that they still have through cultural educational movements. They are partnering with the federal government to manage their own communities. They are voicing their concerns such as the increased likelihood of American Native women experiencing violence. In response, the Government Accountability Office released on Oct. 28, research and potential steps that the Department of Justice could take to prevent more harm. We have to change the conversation from taking symbolism and tradition for our own gain and enjoyment to education, honor and recognition. American history has not been kind to Native Americans. As we make American history every day through conversations, legislation and education, we call you to ensure that the future is one where Native Americans have a prominent place in our culture.
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