Ashcraft 1

Lily Ashcraft

APUSH/AP Lang

Cooper/Whipple

5/24/17

Junior Portfolio Reflection

Native Americans have been oppressed and marginalized ever since Europeans first

came to the Americas. Theyve been greatly mistreated throughout the years and that

has greatly affected their culture and way of life. They have been forced to conform to

European religions and leave their own spiritual beliefs behind, theyve been

misrepresented in the media through stereotypes, and finally theyve also been forced

from their lands and have had to adapt to living on reservations.

Natives have been forced, mostly by Spanish settlers, to convert to Catholicism.

When the Spanish first landed their goal was to force Natives into missions where they

were converted and taught the ways of Christianity. The movie The Mission shows how

Natives were forced from their lands into missions where priests taught them and

converted them. The Natives in the mission obeyed for the most part as long as they

could still keep some of their old traditions, but most of the Natives there were killed off

by the end of the movie, which is true to what actually happened in history. The

worksheet we completed in APUSH over the Pueblo Revolt accurately gives insight to

Native Americans instead rejecting being converted and actually planning a rebellion

against the Spanish. Because many of them wanted to keep to their old traditions and

also wanted their land and freedom back they revolted, but if they refused to convert
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they were jailed or killed. The Pueblo Revolt led to many Native American Pueblos

being executed or jailed.

Natives way of life was changed, and now a days many people of Native

American descent are Catholic or some other form of Christian. However, being

converted to Catholicism wasnt the only way being marginalized affected Natives.

Because of many stereotypes that surround Native Americans there are many movies

and films that misrepresent Natives. For example, Pewewardy describes in his article

how Pocahontas, although an attempt by Disney to correctly portray Natives and their

relations with European settlers, is in fact just a use of stereotypical Native American

characters and a failed attempt to correctly introduce young children to the issue of

Europeans clashing with Native Americans. He describes in his article how Pocahontas

talking to a tree, being one with nature and animals, and being the symbol of peace,

was not an accurate representation of Native Americans. He also advises that parents

and teachers steer clear of the movie instead of using it to teach kids about Native

Americans. The movie Smoke Signals, which we watched in English class is the exact

opposite of Pocahontas and instead is a good movie that focuses on two Native

American boys growing up with completely different perspectives of the world.

Throughout the movie the main characters make fun of certain stereotypes and it also

shows the racism many Natives have to face on a daily basis.

Besides the stereotypes and misrepresentation in the media, Natives have also

been forced from their lands many times, and treaties made have almost always been

broken. Natives being forced from their lands causes them to have to adapt to the new

landscapes and change their eating habits, where and how they get their water etc. As
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shown in my Lightside/Darkside project Manifest Destiny caused many Native Tribes in

the west to have to move from their lands and were many times forced to live on

reservations. Nowadays many reservations live in poverty in areas with very little job

opportunities. This causes many of the people living on reservations to have to work

multiple jobs which is something we learned from visiting the ToHajiilee in New Mexico.

Also many treaties made with those on reservations are broken by the US Government.

If we look at the failed NoDAPL protests made in the attempt to stop the building of a

pipeline on Native American land, we can see a clear example of the US Government

going against written treaties and intruding on Native American territory. This in turn

harms many people living on reservations, people who already struggle to make ends

meet. As the TED TALK by Aaron Huey Honnor The Treaties shows, this is not the first

time treaties have been broken, and this is not the first time the US Government has

completely ignored the struggles of Natives living on reservations and most likely it will

not be the last.

Through forcing another religion on them, to stereotyping them and

misrepresenting them in the media, and finally being forced from their lands and into

reservations, Native Americans have been marginalized for years. This all greatly

affected them, and caused a shift in how they live and what they believe in. While some

tribes still try to teach the younger generation their native language and traditions, many

of the people within the younger generations arent as interested to learn. And lastly,

even still to this day, many Natives are stripped of their rights, experience racism, and

are oppressed. Some things definitely need to start changing around here.
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Work Cited

Huey, Aaron. America's Native Prisoners of War, TEDxDU, September 2010, (no

venue given). Guest Lecture/Speech.

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History.com Staff. "Manifest Destiny." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010.

Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Cornel Pewewardy, Ph.D. , The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for

Educators., hanksville.org/storytellers/pewe/writing/Pocahontas.html, accessed Feb. 7,

2017

The Mission. Directed by Roland Joff, performances by Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson,

Jeremy Irons, and Aidan Quinn, Goldcrest Films, Warner Bros., 1986.

Smoke Signals. Directed by Chris Eyre, performances by Adam Beach, Evan Adams,

Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, and Tantoo Cardinal, Miramax, 1998.