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Sam Tagle

AGS

Reflection

5/22/17

Reservation Life: Its Development Through History

The arrival of Europeans in the Americas changed the lives of Native Americans forever.

While there was both immediate positive and negative effects of European contact, it overall

worsened the lives of the Natives. The AGS Juniors were able to see first-hand what Native

Americans are like, and how they live on reservations, and the way history has led up to the

current situation of Native lives on reservations during the AGS Southwest trip. On this trip, we

were able to visit a reservation area, speak with Native Americans about their culture, and begin

to develop a better understanding of Native American life today. Non-Native interaction with

Native Americans throughout history has led to generally poorer quality of life for Native

Americans, and this is the result of a history of violence, stereotyping and racism, and a lack of

understanding of Native culture.

Relations between Native Americans and non-Natives today have significantly been

influenced by events over the course of history. Upon arrival of the Europeans to the Americas,

different countries developed different relationships with the Native peoples. The English

colonies, who eventually conquered the majority of North America, overall had a violent

relationship with the Native Americans. Disputes over claims to land were the main cause of the

problem, and the USs idea of Manifest Destiny only seemed to make matters worse. Treaties

and promises were made between the US and Native tribes but the US failed to keep these
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promises, leading to the Dakota War. What also lead to the war was the forced assimilation of

Natives into American culture, as well as the rejection of Native religion (Dakota). A group of

other students and I analyzed documents during this war as a part of our Dakota War Project.

What resulted from this war was the moving of Native Americans onto reservations, which is

where lots of Native Americans live today. On reservations then and now, there is an evident

lack of funds, medical supplies, and basic necessities on reservations, and this is because of the

violence and war between Natives and American settlers. My group came to the conclusion that

during the Dakota War, the Native Americans were reasonably violent towards the settlers

because they were trying to defend their culture (Dakota). This history of violence caused a

decrease in the quality of lives of Native Americans. Had Natives never had land conflicts with

the Americans, they could have prospered and lived life the way they traditionally do. Being

placed on reservations caused a decrease in the practice of Native cultures as well, where after

Natives were moved onto reservations they struggled to maintain their traditions. This combined

with the lack of resources, ultimately caused Natives to live a poorer life.

Stereotyping and racism also continue to greatly affect the lives of Natives today. Native

American stereotypes create a lack of understanding for the Native people, their culture, and how

they actually live today. My group and I found in our IBL project that elementary schools fail to

teach much about Native Americans, which leads to a blurred perspective of what Native

Americans actually are and how they live. More specifically, this leads to stereotypes and leads

to a lack of proper knowledge about Natives and why and how they live on reservations (IBL).

This poor understanding causes the situation of poor living on reservations to go almost

unnoticed. This is also a reason why Native Americans have a lower quality of life on
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reservations, because people dont recognize that there is an issue at hand. We also saw how

stereotypes and racism are expressed toward Native Americans in the movie Smoke Signals,

where two Native American characters, Victor and Thomas, are depicted as having long-black,

braided hair and having lots of spiritual connections to nature and everything around them,

especially Thomas. In the movie, the two characters are on a bus, and two white men take their

seats (Eyre). When Victor and Thomas ask for their seat back, the men make a racist remark and

tell them to find another place to sit (Eyre). Natives arent accepted in society due to this racism

and stereotyping, which leads to them not being able to find the same opportunities as

non-Natives. This racism and stereotypical view has been developed throughout history, for

example, through the American Indian Movement, where Natives sought equal human rights but

were instead were rejected and faced with racism. The lack of understanding and acceptance of

Native culture leads to a lower quality of life for Native Americans because they arent given a

fair opportunity to participate in American Society, and therefore cant experience similar

liberties as Americans.

Another reason that Native life is poorer than the average American is because the

average person doesnt know that Natives are living under a low quality of life, and they dont

have a basic understanding of who Native Americans are today. As part of my IBL project, my

group and I took action by going to Oak Hill Elementary School to teach a first grade class about

Native Americans, and change their stereotypical perspectives of them. With our limited time,

we read them a story while they drew pictures of Natives Americans to go along with the story,

and then we briefly explained the lives of Native Americans on reservations today. Hopefully

this act changes their perception of what Native Americans really are and hopefully inspires
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them to continue to educate themselves and others about reservations in the future.The way that

Native Americans have assimilated to American culture now has also caused a decrease in their

quality of life, but more specifically their traditional life. On the New Mexico trip I had the

chance to speak with a Pueblo Native, named Josh, about his culture while on a raft moving

along the Rio Grande river. He explained to my group that his peoples culture is diminishing,

and more specifically, his Native language was getting lost (River Trip). We also got to listen to

a Navajo woman speak to us about her culture and traditional life while we ate dinner at a

restaurant. She explained that the culture and language are fading, and they are going to a

conference with tribe leaders to a conference to discuss how to revive the culture, and Natives

from Australia were invited because they had managed to revive their traditional culture and

language (Dinner Presentation). The average person doesnt understand that this is a current

issue or crisis in the world of Native Americans, so the average person grows ignorant of the

lives of Native Americans. It is because of this that the life of Native Americans are poor,

because people wont help resolve this issue and improve the living of Natives on reservations

because they dont know that it is an issue at all.

Native Americans live in a low quality of life on reservations due to a history of violence,

stereotypes and racism, and because people dont actually know that Natives live in poor

conditions. While the history of violence, revolution, and rebellion can not be amended or

seemingly forgiven, it is up to todays generation to educate themselves about Native Americans,

reservations, and the governments policies toward Natives in order to begin seeking

improvement in the quality of Native American lives.


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Work Cited

Dakota War Project - February 2017, Communicate Ideas.

Dinner Presentation, New Mexico

(no citation, New Mexico trip)

Eyre, Chris, et al. Smoke Signals. Alliance Vivafilm, 1999.

IBL Project - January/February 2017, Take Action

River Trip, New Mexico

(no citation, New Mexico trip)

Smith, Paul Chaat, and Robert Allen Warrior. Like a Hurricane: the Indian Movement from

Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York, New Press, 1997.

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