Native American Culture Essay Sample

đź“ŚCategory: Americas, World
đź“ŚWords: 689
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 17 June 2022

After “discovery” and exploring The Americas, European settlers reported and wrote extensively about Native Americans and other indigneous peoples. Thomas Morton commented that most Native Americans were not literate and therefore could not adequately report their own history in the written recorded way European readers and citizens were accustomed to receiving information.1 Native Americans likely relied on oral traditions whereas Europeans relied on traditional, written records. While there is a clear benefit to recording this history due to the small amount of recorded history penned by Native American authors, I believe the falsehoods and inaccuracies outweigh the benefits due to perpetuations of stereotypes and myths about indigenous cultures.

Each author, even those who attempt to remain objective, introduce bias into reporting on each and every issue. It is difficult not to compare yourself or your own situation while detailing the experiences of others, but it is crucial to good journalism and historical accuracy to document properly and objectively.  It is clear from my recent investigation of European writings on Native American cultures that many prejudices and preconceived notions permeated their writings. I suspect many of these early reports have led to our current misinterpretations of Native American culture and modern depictions of a warlike, aggressive, and primitive people- and not just a separate culture of humans with different habits, customs and understandings of a complex world.  

In “Thomas Morton Reflects on Indians in New England”, Morton refers to Native Americans as “savages”.2 What I found most interesting in the document was that he was not just disparaging them as “savages,” he seems to mention it in passing as if it is an irrefutable truth. It is likely that calling them savages makes it easier for Europeans to continue colonization as it is undoubtedly more acceptable to exploit “inferior” cultures. Despite calling them savages, he has supportive things to say about both their generosity and hospitality. He does unfortunately perpetuate other myths like the intentional discoloration of their children's skin. In Thomas Morton's eyes, “their infants are born with hair on their heads, and are of a complexion white as our nation; but their mothers in their infancy make a bath of walnut leaves, husks of walnuts, and such things as will stain their skin forever, wherein they dip and wash them to make them tawny…” (Morton, 1637). Additionally he reports the indigenous people have “some correspondence” “with the Devil” and he attributes one of their medical cures to “the help of the Devil” (Morton 1637)- a European construct of good and evil with Judeo-Christian themes. This also fails to consider the religious and spiritual ideas of Native Americans and shows a narrow interpretation of this newly discovered society through traditional Western ideals and values.

Not surprisingly, Morton is not the only author with biased reporting. Bartolomé de Las Casas, while admittedly much more complimentary to Native Americans, speaks in extremely general tones and fails to acknowledge any individuality among the indigenous society. He describes them as “innocently simple”, “obedient and loyal”, and “subservient” before he describes the “Massacre of the Wretches” (Casas, 1542). While I can see the societal upside to noting these positive personality traits in his descriptions to his European audiences, as well as the reporting of an enhanced sense of vision and ability to offer medical cures in Morton’s reports, I believe in the end the reporting has contributed to centuries long misinformation and the erroneous legend about Native American populations. I also cannot help but note that even well-intentioned individuals can contribute to perpetuating falsehoods and distorted realities. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca has an extremely glamorous synopsis of his endless curing of ill Native Americans with his Christian healing techniques whilst completely overlooking and failing to give any substantial credits to their ability to live off the land while catching tuna, venison, and providing him and his staff well needed nourishments.  It is clearly a one-sided, subjective and possibly falsely heroic account of these interactions.  

This was a very useful exercise in critically evaluating historical data and information that has been presented to our society. The author and source of information always needs to be considered prior to considering the veracity of the account. From wartime history to recent developments with the Covid-19 pandemic to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the origin of the information is of the utmost importance to determine the truthfulness of the documentation and to be sure the author or editor does not manipulate the truth or control the narrative.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.