1.
0 Introduction
This paper is designed to provide a basic introduction to the term of Native Americans
through stereotypes concerning their culture. Most non-Indians see American Indians
through stereotypes, completely uninformed about their way of life. In order to
understand the culture of a nation, one has to deal with its history and progress
throughout the ages, for often the nation is not what it is in the present. Native
Americans have suffered a lot, they were hunted, enslaved, freed, then enslaved once
again, taken away from their everyday life. But, Indians learned how to endure and
preserve their culture, combining the old ways while embracing new technologies of the
twentieth century.
Stereotypes about Native Americans are mostly negative: “red devil,“ “savage,“
“drunken Indian,“ “wagon burner“ and others. On the other hand, there are few positive
stereotypes like “steward of nature,“ or “environmentalist.“ 1
Most common stereotypes in regards with the natives are those related to their
alienation from the white man, them being inferior to the ruling race and their ways
being savage and uncivilized. The colonizers did not approve of NA civilization,
because they were convinced that Native Americans could only be civilized through
Christianity. Stereotypes represent the first barrier to understanding Indian people.
Negative stereotypes have been created to supress America's indigenous peoples.2
This paper will serve to invalidate stereotypes in regards with gender roles and all Native
Americans being presented as warriors . The reader will meet the old ways and the new
ways of the natives, in order to make the distinction. Native Americans haven't been cut
off, they have progressed along with the rest of the civilization.
2.0 Early Period
1
Fixico, Donald. Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, (London: The Greenwood
Press, 2006), 172.
2
Ibid., 172.
2
Conflicts with the French, Dutch and English forced the change of the culture of Native
Americans. Alliances were made and broken, the trade flourished and withered. During
the period of constant conflicts and forceful alliances, Native Americans were in
constant contact with industralization. Therefore, Native Americans encountered guns
centuries ago, and ceased the usage of old-fashined weaponry such as bows and non-
metal knives, what implies them being in constant involvement with the affairs of the
white man.
Since the contact between the European world and the Native American New
World, Christian groups have converted indigenuous people to Christianity. Each
country sent their missionaries to work among the natives in America. The number of
Christian groups included the Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed Church, Baptists,
Methodists, Lutherans, Quakers and Presbyterians. To destroy the Indian but save his
soul was the primary objective of the missioanries. By the nineteenth cenutry
Christianity had spread througout the Native American society. The missionary societies
supported the plan as they agreed with the government officials that this was the only
way the Indians had a chance for survival was to adopt the white ways and eventually
become assimilated into the white society. Some natives decided to leave their hearths,
while some remaind on the reservations to the present day.3
Indians were taken away from their homes and put to reservations at the
beginning of the 19th century caused by a major piece of legislation in 1887, the
General Allotment Act, or Dawes Act caused major changes in Indian lives. The act
stated that the president could allot reservations to Indians even without their consent.
Their igonorance concerning industry and modern farming was abused by the U.S.
goverment throughout the centuries. But, the stereotype following this way of life is
rather profound. Even though Indians were given their lands, the lands were not their
own. The were still not free from the external influences, for there were many attempts
of businessmen from the U.S. to take advantage of the natives because they didn't know
how to deal with the modern farming and didn't understand the economy of the modern
society.4
3
Graymount, Barbara. The Iroquois Indians of North America, (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers,
2005), 47.
4
Fixico, Donald. Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, (London: The Greenwood
Press, 2006), xiv.
3
“The difference is an array of ironies that all of the American continent was once
Indian land, buying real estate and paying propery tax on land that your tribes used to
own. To watch land areas beign exploited , bulldozed, or open-pit mined is having
immense tolerance as an Indian.“ 5
Years after, lives of many NA were ruined because they their land or pieces of
land to the U.S. corporations and businessmen. The life on reservations was completely
different from the life they had lead before. The inability to change their habitat
prevented them from hunting yet made them turn to farming. The problem was that men
were supposed to till the land, what they considered an insult for they had always been
warriors. The life on the reservations brought doom to the Indian society and a complete
breakout from their previous way of life. The new chapter_began.6
3.0 Stereotype one
The main occupation of Native American women is to cultivate the land.
Before clearing the stereotype it is important to emphasize the notion of cultivation. Not
ALL American Indians were farmers, many Native Americans were living a nomadic
way of life, like The Plains Indians such as Cheyenne, Comanche and Lakota Sioux.
These tribes were primarily nomadic, which means they moved from place to place, and
followed the herds of buffalo.7
The life on reservations has been something utterly new to the Indians. However, the
stereotype related to that particular notion of reservations is that all American Indians
live on a reservation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 538,300 American Indians
and Alaska Natives live on reservations or other trust lands. 57% of American Indians
and Alaska Natives live in metropolitan areas. However, it is true that certain states in
the West – Montana, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico – the majority of Native people do
live on or near an Indian reservation.8
The life on reservations for American Indian working women has changed
considerably during the twentieth century. In most cases, the women were actually in
5
Ibid., 227.
6
Ibid., xiv
7
“Tracking Zack the Zipper. ” Great Plains Indians,
[Link]
8
C. Fleming, Walter. Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans, (Phi Delta Kappa, November 2006,
vol.88), 215.
4
charge of gathering materials and then building the homes for everyone. They
maintained their homes’ roof, and created new houses for tribes to live in. The women
were responsible for skinning, cutting, and cooking the animals. They also gathered
firewood, cooked, and repaired clothing and [Link] made tools and weapons out
of animal bone, which were absolutely necessary for everyone’s survival. 9 The working
Indian woman become more noticable after World War II. Many Native American
women had worked in war industries what, in a way, exposed them to the American
mainstream and gave them confidence to work outside of their homes. The new Indian
woman represents a mixture of the past an the present. She has two jobs: her paid
employment, and taking care of her children and husband. Working in mainstream
occupations requires her to communicate, give presentations, and share her expertise.10
By the 1990's a great number of Indian women held final graduate degrees and
law degrees, and a small number were physicians. Also, many Native American women
were writers offering a great treasure of knowledge about native life in general. The
earliest Native American women authors include Humishuma (1888-1936), Ella Deloria
(1888-1971), Pauline Johnson (1861-1913), and Sarah Callahan (1868-1894). They
wrote about the current situation and problems in regards with the Native Americans in
the modern society. These native female writers continue the tradition of using story to
tell about tribal ways and human experiences that they grew up with. Their sucess also
empowerizes the idea of NA women being capable of contributing the society in the
same manner as the white people. 11
This particular stereotype leads to another stereotype regarding gender roles.
Non-Indian population in America has a very mediocre perspective on the tradition of
Native Americans in regards with the gender roles. People consider the Indian society
male dominant, where females are subject to wishes of the male members of the clans.
But, some Native American communities are matrilinear. The grandmother is the
matriarch of a family or more than one family. Such a woman is admired and respected
9
Native American Women, ([Link], 2013)
[Link]
10
Fixico, Donald. Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, (London: The Greenwood
Press, 2006), 10.
11
Ibid., 11.
5
beacuse of her wisdom. The grandmother has a collective wisdom of political
experience and medicine that uses to protect her relatives.12
4.0 Stereotype two
All Native Americans are unscrupulous warriors.
The Indian as warriors is one of the most common Native stereotypes. Even though most
tribes did have warriors they also had traders, farmers, healers, craftspersons and
storytellers. Therefore, describing Indians as warriors is cerainly one of the grossest
misconceptions because many Indians, such as The Hopi, led peaceful lives.13 Indian
people are quite the opposite from the stereotype of the stoic Indian with a stone face —
the cigar stone Indian standing still like a statue. Many people who do not know Indians
think that they are quiter than the mainstream American population. But, NA do laugh.
Indian humor occurs at different places where they gather to share stories that envolve a
place with characters interacting with a humorous outcome, laughing in a group where
one funny story leads to another one.14
Still, many Non-Indian people often consider Native Americans savages. For
example, the Mohawks are thought one of the most savage tribes for their tendency to
canibalism, what is a myth. They were always feared. They called themeselves
Ganiengehaka, “The People of the Place of the Flint.“ But so devastating were they in
battle that their enemies gave them the name by which they have since became known
—Mowak (Mohawk)---“Man Eaters.“15
This stereotype has both its advantages and disadvantages. Many people,
including Indians themselves have used this stereotype to justify their actions. Native
Americans as warriors have no need to deal with building an infrastructure or running a
12
Ibid., 6.
13
A. Yeagley, David. Indians as Warriors, (Grand Forks Herald,2001)
[Link]
14
Fixico, Donald. Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, (London: The Greenwood
Press, 2006), 176.
15
Graymount, Barbara. The Iroquois Indians of North America, (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers,
2005), 30
6
goverment. Native American warriors can act first, and ask questions later. They can act
freely while being considered warriors, obeying no laws.16
The disadvantage of this stereotype regards to another problematic notion that
religions and governments warrior cultures must consist of grunts, war-whoops, and
spear-rattling. Therefore, Native American warriors have no place in a modern, techno-
savvy society. Because they are warriors the U.S. goverment had no other choice but to
put them in reservation camps.17
Along with this particular stereotype of NA as warriors is followed by certain
insulting words such as "dirty," "lazy," "stupid" or “red-skin.’’ Only a few
wounding words carry the pain so severe that they are not dulled by time.
"Redskins" is such a word for most Native people. Manley A. Begay Jr. was
"about seven or eight years" when he was hit with the R-word by a non-Indian in
his own Navajo land in Arizona: “'You dirty redskin, you stinky redskin, you
dirty Indian, go back to your hogan.'18
However, many Native people think that being an Indian does not mean being a
warrior armed with weapons, but being a warrior armed with wits. Anne Thundercloud,
a campaigner for the rights of Native Americans, said, “I am anti-guns, the fewer guns
in this world, the safer I feel. What are guns used for? Defense? Security? Sport?
Ultimately, they are designed to kill. Perhaps these people will feel differently when
guns somehow touch their lives or the lives of someone they love,“ implying that being
a brutal warrior is not a characteristic of their nation.19
5.0 Conclusion
The concequences of long-lasting interaction between Native Americans and the Non-
Indian society have undoubtedly made them stronger. They stand strong against the
storm of the modern society that is constantly promoting urbanization and
deculturalization. Life of NA on the reservations or in the cities remained rigorously
demanding at the turn of the century because they had to adapt to the new way of living.
16
A. Yeagley, David. Indians as Warriors, (Grand Forks Herald,2001)
[Link]
17
Ibid.
18
Shown Harjo, Suzan. Red·skin n. Dated, Offensive, Taboo, (Indian Country Today, 2005)
[Link]
19
A. Yeagley, David. Indians as Warriors, (Grand Forks Herald,2001)
[Link]
7
The strong have survived, which has been nature's way for Indian people who have
spent a long time dealing with hardships.
The lives of Native Americans are more composite than most people would believe.
There is a problem of dual identity of living as Indians and functioning in the
mainstream society, for they have to act acorrding to the ways of the mainstream society
in public and practice their customs at home. The barrier that stereotypes have created
are hard to remove, for they have been deeply incorporated into the minds of the whites,
preventing them to act reasonably towards Native Americans. It is hard to be different,
let alone an Indian.
Glossary
Clan-A group of individuals related by lineage and identified according to an animal or
plant totem.
8
The General Allotment Act (also known as the Dawes Act)-A document made in
1887 that allowed the president to allot parts of the tribal land to individual Indians.
Bibliography
A. Yeagley, David. Indians as Warriors. Grand Forks Herald, 2001,
[Link]
C. Fleming, Walter. Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans. Phi Delta Kappa,
November 2006, vol.88.
Fixico, Donald. Daily Life of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century. London: The
Greenwood Press, 2006.
Graymount, Barbara. The Iroquois Indians of North America. Philadelphia: Chelsea
House Publishers, 2005.
Native American Women, [Link], 2013,
[Link]
Shown Harjo, Suzan. Red·skin n. Dated, Offensive, Taboo, (Indian Country Today,
2005), [Link]
“Tracking Zack the Zipper.” Great Plains Indians,
[Link]