Question/Prompt:
Demonstrate your developing critical thinking skills by discussing the intersections of race/ethnicity, class and gender during the covered time period (Pre-colonial Americas to mid 1700s). Identify systems and institutions of oppression and their impact on targeted groups. How did these various groups resist, challenge and overcome these varied forms of oppression? How does this approach to history inform your understanding of current social justice issues today/ (Utilize any relevant assigned materials from week 1 to the present) Format:
Typed single-spaced
12 point font
Do not adjust margins
Requirements and Expectations:
Essay must have an Introduction, Body and Conclusion.
Essay must demonstrate your critical thinking skills. Meaning, do not regurgitate lectures or give simple a synopsis of assigned materials. But rather construct your own statements, arguments and conclusions supported with “evidence” in response to the question/prompt.
Essay must include and cite from multiple assigned materials as evidence (examples, quotes, data, analysis etc.). You may include any relevant assigned materials from the beginning of the semester up to the assignment date. Citing should include Last name of author and pg. number in parenthesis. For example, (Davis, pg. 89).
Essay should include and cite additional research as evidence when discussing current issues.
Essay must have a works cited page.
Three-page in length maximum. There is no minimum page requirement, however, be thorough, detailed and give examples (your essay should reflect college level work).
American Colonization
Introduction
Intersectionality entails the nature of social categorization in the form of race, gender, and class, which is regarded to be in an overlapping and codependent system in a discriminatory manner. It conceptualizes an individual, a group of people, or a social issue that affects various discriminations and disadvantages.
Discuss the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, and gender during the covered period (Pre-colonial Americas to mid1700s).
Before European contact, Native Americans lived harmoniously within their lands. Leadership was a unifying factor. They believed that everyone had the power and capacity to rule a clear contrast to today’s world, where everyone is scrambling for power. The first contact, the American Indians voluntarily offered Europeans help to acclimatize to their environment. The Indigenous people were conservative and generally embraced everyone who visited their land, guided them, and even showed them their ways (The University of Chicago). Due to their conservative nature, Europeans perceived them as weak and gained a sense of superiority over them and grew a desire to take over their fertile utilized fertile resources.
It is inconceivable that on the first contact, the Indigenous people were thrilled by the daunting ways of the Europeans while the settlers and Europeans were mesmerized by the fertility and open coastlines (Trigger, Bruce). The Europeans were more appealed by the natural resources that were dormant and immediately loathed the presence of the American Indians. Many scholars can argue that, according to the Europeans, the American Indians were stepping stones to their prosperity. Unknown to the American Indian, this was the beginning of a painstaking revolution of horrendous acts against their beloved land and lives. The Europeans were keen on restructuring the whole American Indian system to match their capitalistic ideals and policies.
The capitalistic system gave rise to race, class, and gender bias. People were profiled according to the value of their properties and profits accumulated from their businesses. Those whose amassed lots of profits were known as the high class followed closely by the middle class who earned average profits whiles the farmers and peasants, were referred to as the lower class (Nicholas). Social class determined who leaders become as most of the high-class citizens were
the only elected in positions of power. As a result, the minority were not allowed to take up leadership roles, thus further solidifying the Institution of racism.
Systems and institutions of oppression and their impact on targeted groups.
European laid horrendous systems and Institutions to limit the powers of the native. They implemented both formal and informal methods to subject the natives to extreme tyrannical experiences and events to make it clear there were in power. They also detached and set up fences restricting the entrance of any American Indian. It humiliated the Native Americans as they became onlookers as their resources were depleted as a resource destroying the natural ecosystem that they treasured for so long. The land grievances led to a grave intractable massacre that saw the killings of many Native Americans.
Right from the pre-colonial era, the Indigenous Americans have set beliefs and cultural practices that they adhered Later on, amidst colonization of that there were forced to renounce their ideas and abide by foreign God. The Europeans attacked the religious and cultural beliefs of the natives and renounced from participating in any cultural or religious practice other than Christianity. Religion is a social-cultural system designated with principles, morals and organization that relates to a superficial power. Therefore misconstruing, judging, harassing and restraining someone who is a believer to practice these principles is an act against humanity and has detrimental effects on his identity and sense of being.
It was during this time in history that religious upheavals were experienced; every believer was in a mission to amass as many followers as possible. People were ultimately confused as they did not know which religion to choose. In retrospect, this can be seen as one of the aims of the Europeans to brainwash them American Americans and indoctrinate them to western culture. The live exposure to diseases rendered the Americans Indians susceptible to defeat as the Europeans were adamant of assimilating the entire native community. It signified the intensity of the European to exterminate the natives from the surface of the Earth. Such act commonly known used during the guerilla warfare we highly practiced in the Second World War II. This technique is geared to eliminate the footprints of the communities for the World .It eradicates the norms, values and practices of a tribe as the death of the elderly means loss of know knowledge and traditions upon which the community of built up while on the other hand a death of a younger generation provided little hopes of reviving the clan. Children were also not spared by viruses , which instilled psychological trauma on their parents and society at large.
Unfamiliar too many is that assimilation of American India continues to date in myriad ways. United States Government intentional attempts tried to exterminate the American Indian. Early 20th century, the US government sent American Indian students to Indian boarding schools where they locked them, denied them food, assigned continuous repetitious tasks to relinquish their intelligence in order to slow down on resistance (Zinn). The Government’s aim were to brainwash them to abandon their cultures and adopt the American culture.
Racism is another enigma that characterized oppression in the Americas. Racism is a solid serving injustice that has stood the test of time to instigate fear and gain supremacy over nations. Scholars argue that racism is the leeway that many social pathologies are planted cultivated and eventually executed. Such as homicide, genocide, massacres, The height of the 1642 was, the Americas experienced an attempted genocide on their lives by a preordained massacre to swipe the entire generation so as to assume lands. Unfortunately this is still is widely practiced in modern day. Greed for power, fame and wealth has been purported to be the captivating force for such atrocities.
How did these various groups resist, challenge, and overcome these varied forms of oppression?
The colonial period brought physical, social, and psychological trauma to the Native Americans. However, they resisted and fought relentlessly to reclaim their freedom and land from the Europeans and colonial settlers.
The natives came up with political strategies and approaches for the survival of the torture and death that they were experiencing. Peace talks and diplomatic negotiations were conducted with the European leaders and colonial settlers while simultaneously; ways were being crafted to pit European nations against each other. Moreover, indigenous Americans rallied to form the Pan India alliance to fight the Europeans and colonizers. As soon as the war began Cherokee commenced the resistance against the war against the Europeans as they raided the backcountry settlements while the Delaware and Shawnee allied with the British colonizers to fight the European powers. The alliance of Shawnee, Delaware, and the British led to the burning of houses, villages, crops, and towns to the ground.
On the other side, the Iroquois six Nations declared joined the of the groups to which Europeans responded with fury by burning forty Iroquois towns. The Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayuga’s, and Seneca’s rallied with British colonies, while the Oneidas and Tuscarora’s later on joined the resistance movement to combat the European. The European forces responded to the alliance with so much wrath and destroyed most of their property. Yet for all the damages , the European Army were persistent , they often returned to their towns and forge on and in 1783 Indians still controlled most of the interior. The unity and solidarity of the American Indians groups is notable something which not evident in today’s societies.
After the painstaking brutalities and violence native American embarked on a healing journey. It involved ceremonies which had a Natural therapeutic and cathartic effect that nourishes the emotional and physical being to cleanse away all the evils. They also gathered and shared their pains and prayed in unison for the good of others as well as their own healing. This was a coping mechanism as well as a survival methods to come to terms with grueling pain they had undergone in their own homeland.
The tribe occasionally conducted specific brief ceremonies to remember the departed, the historical traumas, denial of a future to raise their children in a normal setting , the loss of land and held mourning for the ancestral souvenir they have repatriated. In essence they embraced their pain, grief, shame and pain and made a decision to balance of all the ranging emotions they were experiencing. The American Indians embraced a spirituality that advocates for expression rather shelter your emotions and guided them through the recovery journey (Heart).
Generally, community healing goes hand in hand with individual and family healing. It is not an neither easy nor quick by it is very necessary in order to regain yourself so as you can be able to move forward . Ideally one must to commit to solve the issues within in order to of the commence healing and be ready to prevent continuation of the atrocities in the present. A narrative that today’s society is not familiar with, people are so quick to assume or ignore a bad experience without deconstructing it to identify the root cause and by so doing prevent reoccurring in the future. Despite undergoing the most torturous, inhuman and unforgivable acts the Americans Indians came out stronger than never before and re unite its descendants.
How does this approach to history inform your understanding of current social justice issues today?
Minorities in the society have for so long experienced great Injustices, and it has formed the basis of the modern-day atrocities. The Americans still hold their old-fashioned ways in the current justice systems. Discrimination through race, gender, and class is still embedded in the justice system. Prejudicial injustices towards a particular group of people based on their color, gender, origin have led to discriminatory actions in employment, sentencing in the criminal justice system, among others. Our current social justice system needs pillars based positive and healthy community activism to counter all the social inequities prevailing in the system.
Works Cited
Heart, Brave, Horse, Yelloww, Maria ,DeBruy. “THE AMERICAN INDIAN HOLOCAUST: HEALING HISTORICAL UNRESOLVED GRIEF.” American Indian and Alaska native menta (1998): 81.
Nicholas, Monk. “The Native American Reissance.” Frye, Steven. the Cambridge Companion to Literature of the American West. Cambridge University Press, 2016. 136.
The University of Chicago. “The Idea of Indigenous People.” The University of Chicago Press Journals (1998).
Trigger, Bruce. “Early Native North American Responses to European Contact: Romantic versus Rationlaistic Interpretations.” Journal of American History (1195-1215).
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States 1492-Present. New York: Routledge, 2013.
