Native American
by They were here first, long before the white man, those Europeans arrived. The Native people, those folks we call Indians, Native Americans were here for thousands of years before any European ever set foot on this soil. This is their homeland.
NATIVE AMERICAN
History book after history book has told their part in the making of America and most of that telling has at least in part been badly distorted. The early European arrivals to America wrote most of the earliest historical records we have about the Native people and much of that recorded by the colonist after the arrival of the Europeans at Jamestown and in Plymouth and was written from a European view point and not necessarily true but truth as they saw it.
The Native people in most all cases passed on their history and cultural beliefs by oral means, storytelling and most did not have a written language as such but did leave evidence of their history in Petroglyphs and those things from their culture that they left behind. They had and still have their legends and their lore, their religious, social and political beliefs that they passed down through the generations. A lot of it is very different from what the history books tell.
The lives and history of the Native peoples of America have been seriously misrepresented and stereotyped and branded as everything from devil possessed creatures and uncivilized, to ruthless warriors and noble savages but few have ever recognized them as a brave and honorable people protecting their homeland, their families, their rights and their beliefs and customs. There were many and still are many conflicts and adjustments between the aborigines of America and the new European style culture (now American culture) that descended upon America with the arrival of the colonist and a lot of what we have been lead to believe is taught from only the white mans perspective.
The Native people of America are made up of approximately 562 different tribes and speak approximately 60 different native languages according to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. (That would be the tribes the BIA recognizes and there are still others who have not yet received that status but still claim a pre-Columbian heritage.)
At one time there were several million Native peoples living on American land. Today they make up only about 1.5% of the entire American population, this including Alaskan and Hawaii indigenous peoples and most of these Natives are no longer full-blooded Native people and may be as little as 1/8 Native. Many Americans who can only claim to have 1/16 or fewer genes from a Native people still proudly claim that heritage and it is a heritage to be proud of.
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Post Commentpattiann
On April 29, 2012 at 1:32 am
Very informative and great writing
vickylass
On April 29, 2012 at 1:24 pm
This is what some of us say, that is, the real Americans are the popular “red skins”! That’s another good one. Thanks for sharing!
lauralu
On April 30, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Well written great article thanks
DS DUBY
On May 1, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Beautifully written article, and so accurate. It has always saddened me how the white race lays claim to everything as being their own. I try to give credit where credit is do, and the world would be a much better place if “white America” would do the same. It’s my belief that Americas way of bullying their way into everything in this manner is the reason our children are raised to do the same.