Early America (50,000 B.C. to 1850 A.D.) Native American Literature AND Euro-American Perspectives of the Indigenous Peoples

What do you already know about Native Americans?

1. What is oral tradition and what made it so essential to Native culture? 2. How did the inhabitants of the “New World” explain and understand their world? 3. How did the culture(s) of the Natives make them appear vulnerable? How does the American Dream motivate those who live in this country or the world at large? How important is it to become “truly American”?

NATIVE TERRITORIES PRIOR TO EUROPEAN ARRIVAL Before the Ships Landed:

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS The Truth Beyond the Popular Beliefs:

Current Misconceptions Colonization quickly followed exploration –Nearly 100 years passed between 1 st contact and attempted colonization –By then, the damage was done

Current Misconceptions Native American Literature is a Post- Colonial Literature –It was only really examined AFTER Natives had been nearly eradicated (97% gone)

Current Misconceptions Literature by a COLONIZING culture (e.g. people of European descent) –usually distorts the experience/realities of colonized people –creates a picture of innate inferiority Literature by the COLONIZED culture (e.g. Native Americans) –attempts to regain the power to speak for themselves –rather than be spoken ABOUT by the colonizers

This literature articulates group identity, reclaims the past, writes their version of history—but also recognizes the influence of the colonizer Colonizing countries often appropriate the languages, images, scenes, traditions, etc. of the colonized land—and vice versa Current Misconceptions

In essence, it is IMPOSSIBLE to know exactly what Native culture was truly like before the European influence was present. The true and pure history of the indigenous people is a shadow of what once was. Current Misconceptions

How Real/Accurate are the Following Images?

NOBLE AND IGNOBLE SAVAGE Colonial Views of the Native Peoples

Conceptions of Indigenous Peoples in New England “IGNOBLE Savage” Ignoble: immoral, base, dastardly, contemptible “Savage” meaning “uncivilized” The Puritans and colonies in the north typically viewed the Natives as evil, lost, violent creatures with little redeeming quality The Death of Jane McCrea, 1804

Conceptions of Indigenous Peoples in New England View 1: –Native Americans lost tribes of Israel, waiting for conversion View 2: –Native Americans as children of Satan – descendents of fallen angels Either way, justification to eradicate people and culture that was first here The Death of Jane McCrea, 1804

“Ignoble Savages”

“NOBLE Savage” “Savage” meaning “uncivilized” “Noble” meaning: –innocent, pure, wise, childlike, connected to NATURE, spiritual—but uncultured Merely inferior rather than the intrinsically evil, “ignoble savage” of New England Open to European guidance and deliverance Totally romanticized view Conceptions of Indigenous Peoples in the South Baptism of Pocahontas, Capital Rotunda, Washington D.C.

“Noble Savage”

“The Vanishing Indian” Pre-contact indigenous population of North America –est million (North America) –Est. 100 million in Western Hemisphere –about 500,000–2 million today Disease and warfare From 1840s : –Native Americans are “vanishing race” Vanishing in face of “superior” Euro-American advance Justifies advance of non-Native population and eradication of Native cultures

THE PIECEMEAL DISSECTION OF NATIVE LANDS A Slow Start but a Rapid Decline:

“Civilization” of the Frontier: A “Manifest Destiny” American Progress, John Gast, 1872

“Indian Territory” (1700) yellow = Spanish; green = French; blue = English British actively displaced natives with settlements Everything other than blue generally considered "Indian Territory”

“Indian Territory” (1763) In 1763, after their lose in the French and Indian War France cedes land east Mississippi River to England King George III issues “Indian Proclamation Line,” creating first official “Indian Country”

“Indian Territory” (1783) 1783 Treaty of Paris revokes “Indian Proclamation Line” Line redrawn to reflect actual encroachment across Appalachians and Ohio River Valley

“Indian Territory” (1803) 1803 Louisiana Purchase Made Mississippi River natural barrier between “Indian Country” to west and “civilization” to east

“Indian Territory” (1834) 1834 Indian Trade and Intercourse Act

“Indian Territory” (1854)

“Indian Territory” (1876) After Civil War, Five Nations of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole forced to cede additional lands Great Plains tribes relocated from Kansas and Nebraska in 1876

“Indian Territory” (1889) 1889 General Allotment Act and creation of Oklahoma Territory “Indian Territory” shrunk to final form

Indian Removal Act of 1830 President Andrew Jackson Force Native American removal from East Guise of protecting and preserving Indian cultures Move west or give up all tribal rights Removal as only way to “civilize” the “vanishing Indian”

The “Trail of Tears”

Reservations Today

ERADICATION OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Nothing Left Untouched:

Indian children sent to boarding schools away from reservations –The authority of their parents/elders undermined –Language and cultural identity was legally confiscated –Children harshly punished for using their own language –Separated tribally to immerse them in English Native Americans continue to struggle because of the events of the past. Whitewashing

ORAL TRADITION OF A BYGONE CULTURE The Stories Left Behind:

Storytelling and Oral Tradition Long before European explorers came to North America, Native Americans had a rich literary tradition of their own. Their stories, histories, and legends were shared and preserved through oral tradition (verbal passing down stories from generation to generation). The storyteller is one whose spirit is indispensable to the people.

Native Americans spoke hundreds of languages and lived in incredibly diverse societies with varied mythological beliefs. Despite their differences, literary traditions had common elements: –lack of a written language –believed in power of words and relied on memory –stories not defined by boundaries of written language; no ending not limited or concrete Storytelling and Oral Tradition

Stories chanted, spoken, sung and repeated over and over until embedded into the memories of the next generations. The Native American oral tradition was the only way to pass on tribal history, heritage, and cultural practices. In order to continue hundreds of years of a tribe’s history, the young must listen and remember the stories the elders tell and then pass them on. Storytelling and Oral Tradition

Types of Stories: creation stories/myths How something came into being origins of societies beliefs about the nature the world/how it began cultural information beliefs about social order and appropriate behavior historical accounts including migrations how people got to where they are lessons to explain how and why things are the way they are Common Examples

Repeated Plot Cycles: legends which include exploits of their heroes traditions, religious beliefs, ceremonies, dream-songs, shamanic chants cultural information trickster tales instructions from spirit mentors descriptions of natural processes oral maps for travel magical tales of transformation adventures in love, romance, and marriage Common Themes

universally understood symbol/term/pattern of behavior –SUPER SYMBOLS a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated –Images: Water = source of life; cleansing and purification Green = fertility, growth –Situations: Journey = quest; seeking of identity; maturation –Characters: Villain = evil in the world What are Archetypes?

Fire –Gathering /community –Human knowledge Celestial Bodies –Sun: giver/destroyer of life –Moon: passage of time; controls course of events The Outcast –Separated from society; matures; hidden strengths Yin and Yang –Opposites that complete each other; balance from chaos Mother goddess –Earth; regeneration; birth Common Archetypes

Water –Life; purity and renewal Trickster –Wise-fool; rascal; selfish but inventive; can benefit society Circle –Continuation; certainty of life and death; “Circle of Life” More Common Archetypes

While oral stories are meant to be passed down through generations verbally, it is important to remember that written transcripts are not exactly representative of the oral performance. A translation/ of the stories is the closest we can come to sharing the Native American culture and tradition. IMPORTANT NOTE

Dominant Motifs: (Reoccurring Subject or Theme) relationships between humans and animals respect and reverence for mother earth and nature land as the strength of the people village/community/tribe as sovereign cyclical patterns: renewal and continuance importance of tribal traditions and history

Native Americans Today

For Further Reading and Study: The Way to Rainy Mountain and House Made of Dawn, by N. Scott Momaday The Surrounded, by D’Arcy McNickle Reservation Blues and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie Storyteller and Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko Neither Wolf Nor Dog, by Kent Nerburn Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, HBO film Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya