Objectives of the Lesson

• Students will be read and compare the writings of Columbus, Bradford, and de Crevecoeur.

• Students will define what an American is by determining how European colonists defined race by examining the views of European settlers of Native Americans.

• Investigate how these relations are seen in our world.

1. Describe what you see

2. Describe what you see

3.Describe what you see

“… their speech is very fluent, although I do not understand

any of it.”

“They are friendly and well-dispositioned …”

“I want the natives to develop a friendly attitude toward us

because I know that they are a people who can be made free

and converted to our Holy Faith.”(p. 77)

• Inference-- Confronting Columbus:

• 4.What can you infer about Columbus’ attitude toward the Indians from his statements?

• 5. What are the implications of his belief that the Indians are able to be converted to “our Holy Faith”?

• 6. When he says they “can be made free,” whose definition of free he is using?

Christopher Columbus1492

“a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English …

[the colonists] marveled at it.”

“He became profitable to them … which was afterwards

profitable to them . . . ”

“Squanto continued with them … a special instrument

sent of God for their good ….” (p. 94)

• Inference --Confronting the Puritans:

7. Based on these quotes, how do the colonists see the Indians?

8. Who does Bradford see has have power in this situation?

9. Who do you think is control or has power? (Think about language and knowledge and survival.)

10. Why did the Indians steal the tools?

William Bradford1630

“Formerly, they were not numbered in any civil list …

here they rank as citizen.”

“He is either a European or descendant of [one] … that

strange mixture of blood . . . individuals of all nations are melted into a new race . . .”

“Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal

steps the progress of this labor” (p. 224-225)

Determining Importance --Redefining Americans:

11. How does he define Americans racially?

12. How does he define Americans economically?

13. Whom does he exclude from these definitions?

Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur

1780’s

About Blacks vs. Whites: “In memory they are equal to

whites, in reason much inferior . . .

This unfortunate difference of colour, and perhaps of

faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people. . . . When free, [the

black] is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture.”

Connections -- Whose Forefather is Jefferson?

14, How would Jefferson define an American? Who would he exclude and why?

15. What does Jefferson have to say about de Crevecoeur’s idea of America as a melting pot of different ethnicities?

Thomas Jeffersonfrom Notes on the State of Virginia

1785

“Those who don’t know any better come into our

neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They

think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid

people who are lost and got here by mistake.”

Connections and Synthesis:

16. Who do you think wrote this passage?

Dissenting Voices

“Those who don’t know any better come into our

neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They

think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid

people who are lost and got here by mistake.”

Connections and Synthesis:

16. Who do you think wrote this passage?

Sandra Cisneros, from The House on Mango Street

17. Compare this quote to the quotes form the Colonists and immigrants about the Native Americans. How is this quote from a contemporary Latina author related to the other readings? Whose perspective, the colonists or the Indians, do think her point of view most closely mirrors?

Dissenting Voices

“The Indian men, when young, are hunters and warriors, when old, counselors . . . they generally study oratory, the best speaker

having the most influence . . . The Indian women . . . hand down . . . the memory of public transaction. . . . Having few

artificial wants, they have abundance of leisure for improvement by conversation. Our laborious manner of life, compared with

theirs, they esteem slavish and base . . . ”Benjamin Franklin, “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North

America” (1784)

Dissenting Voices

19. a. What is the tone (attitude) of Franklin’s statement?Cite words from the passage to support your answer. b. Do you agree / disagree with him? Why? c. How would Momaday (author of “The Way to Rainy Mountain” and “Confronting Columbus) respond to Franklin’s statement?

Predicting

20. How do you think the view of Native Americans changed 100

years later?

Samuel Mortonfrom Crania Americana 1839

[On White Europeans]The Caucasian Race is characterized by a

naturally fair skin, …; hair fine, long and curling, and of various colors. The skull is large and oval . . . .The face is small in proportion to the head, of an oval form, with well-proportioned features. …This race . . . attains the highest intellectual endowments…

The spontaneous fertility of this tract [the Caucasians] has rendered it the hive of many nations, with extending their migrations in every direction, have peopled the finest portions of the earth, and given birth to its fairest inhabitants. (p.5)

Samuel MortonCrania Americana 1839

[On Native Americans]The American Race is marked by a brown complexion,

long, black, lank hair, and deficient beard. The eyes are black and deep set, the brow low, the cheek-bones high, the nose large . . ., the mouth large, and Americans are averse to cultivation [I.e. learning], and slow in acquiring knowledge; restless, revengeful, and fond of war, and wholly destitute of maritime adventure.

They are crafty, sensual, ungrateful, obstinate and unfeeling . . . their affection for their children may be traced to purely selfish motives. They devour the most disgusting aliments uncooked and uncleaned, … Their mental faculties, from infancy to old age, present a continued childhood….[Indians] are not only averse to the restraints of education, but for the most part are incapable of a continued process of reasoning on abstract subjects. (pp.54 and 81)

[On White Europeans]The Caucasian Race is characterized by a

naturally fair skin, …; hair fine, long and curling, and of various colors. The skull is large and oval . . . .The face is small in proportion to the head, of an

oval form, with well-proportioned features. …This race . . . attains the highest intellectual endowments…

The spontaneous fertility of this tract [the Caucasians] has rendered it the hive of

many nations, with extending their migrations in every direction, have peopled the finest portions of the earth, and given birth to its fairest

inhabitants. (p.5)

[On Native Americans]The American Race is marked by a brown

complexion, long, black, lank hair, and deficient beard. The eyes are black and deep set, the brow low, the cheek-bones high, the nose large . . ., the mouth large, and Americans are averse to cultivation [I.e. learning], and slow in acquiring knowledge; restless, revengeful, and fond of war, and wholly destitute of maritime adventure.

They are crafty, sensual, ungrateful, obstinate and unfeeling . . . their affection for their children may be traced to purely selfish motives. They devour the most disgusting aliments uncooked and uncleaned, … Their mental faculties, from

infancy to old age, present a continued childhood….[Indians] are not only averse to the restraints of education, but for the most part are incapable of a continued process of

reasoning on abstract subjects. (pp.54 and 81)

21. How does his view reflect or contradict Columbus, Bradford, and others before him? Is his view of the Indians more limited than those before him? Does his descriptions surprise or shock you?

Captain Richard Henry Pratt

• Richard Henry Pratt was an army officer who took part in the Indian wars on the Great Plains. After a successful experiment with the"education" of Native American prisoners at Fort Marion in Florida, Pratt received permission to establish an industrial training school for Native American children at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He served as superintendent of the school from 1879 to 1904.

Pratt's philosophy on the indoctrination of Native American youth

• He distinguished his school from reservation schools by pointing out that reservation schools did not separate Native American children from their cultural surroundings, thus dooming the schools' efforts to assimilate them.

• transplanted Native American children to a setting outside of their traditional culture

• "outing system" - that is, they would live with white farm families near the school for part of the year.

• children were forced to take on ‘white’ names and to cut their hair

22a. What do you observe from this picture?

22b. What do you observe from this picture?

22c. How are these two people different? The same?

Tom Torlino Tom Torlino

Sitting Bull (Hunkapatha Sioux)

"If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man

he would have made me so in the first place.

He put in your heart

certain wishes and plans; in my heart he put

other and different desires. Each man is good

in the sight of the Great Spirit.It is not necessary,

that eagles should be crows.”..Sitting Bull (Hunkapatha Sioux)

Final Words

23. What is Sitting Bull’s final line mean?

Choose one of the following:

a. Write a letter to one of the writers we read in class agreeing or disagreeing with her/his arguments. Use examples from our world to support your opinion.

b. Using Sitting Bull’s poem as model, write a poem responding to the ideas and themes in this unit. Your poem should convey insight into your stance towards issues of Americanism, identity, race, myths, and/or cultural values.

Native American Images today

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