Early America (50,000 B.C. to 1850 A.D.)

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

2. What do you already know about Native Americans?

3. 2. How did the inhabitants of the “New World” explain and understand their world? 1. What is oral tradition and what made it so essential to Native culture? 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”?

4. Before the Ships Landed: Native territories prior to European arrival

7. The Truth Beyond the Popular Beliefs: Common Misconceptions

8. Current Misconceptions • Colonization quickly followed exploration • Nearly 100 years passed between1st contact and attempted colonization • By then, the damage was done

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

10. Current Misconceptions • Literature bya 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

11. Current Misconceptions • 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

12. 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.

13. How Real/Accurate are the Following Images?

14. How Real/Accurate are the Following Images?

15. Colonial Views of the Native Peoples Noble and ignoble savage

16. 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

17. 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

18. “Ignoble Savages”

19. Conceptions of Indigenous Peoples in the South • “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 Baptism of Pocahontas, Capital Rotunda, Washington D.C.

20. “Noble Savage”

22. “The Vanishing Indian” • Pre-contact indigenous population of North America • est. 25-50 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

23. A Slow Start but a Rapid Decline: The piecemeal dissection of native lands

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

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

26. “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”

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

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

29. “Indian Territory” (1834) • 1834 Indian Trade and Intercourse Act

30. “Indian Territory” (1854)

31. “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

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

33. Indian Removal Act of 1830 • President Andrew Jackson • Force NativeAmerican removal from East • Guise of protectingand preserving Indian cultures • Move west or give up all tribal rights • Removal as only way to “civilize” the “vanishing Indian”

34. The “Trail of Tears”

35. Reservations Today

36. Nothing Left Untouched: Eradication of language and culture

37. Whitewashing • 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.

38. The Stories Left Behind: Oral tradition of a bygone culture

39. 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.

40. 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

41. Storytelling and Oral Tradition • Stories chanted, spoken, sung and repeated over and overuntil 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 rememberthe stories the elders tell and then pass them on.

44. Common Examples 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

45. Common Themes 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

46. What are Archetypes? • 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

47. Common 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

48. More 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”

49. IMPORTANT NOTE 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.

50. 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