Native American spiritualism

Native American spiritualism was a movement that was biased on the ability of profits to have visions. There were also rituals where the living Native Americans would be able to speak to the dead. For the most part, this movement was biased on peace, hope, and acceptance. But it was also about keeping with the Native American ways. On of the profits told that Native Americans to “shun such European ways as schooling, Christianity, and alcohol”. The Native Americans wanted to be able to live peacefully with the white population of America, but they did not want to have to give up their culture and who there were. Native American saw the importance in keeping their history alive, but also changing enough so that they would be able to coexist with the new American culture. Even though the movement was about peace, the American population saw this as a threat, and eliminated it fro the Native American culture.

"Native American spiritualist movement." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

Sequoyah

Sequoyah was a Cherokee Indian, who was able to convert the Cherokee spoken language, into a written alphabet. Originally he tried to take sentences and convert them into a written language but he fought that there were too many phrases and words in the Cherokee language to translate into a usable written language. He found that the best way to communicate was through the 86 sounds in the Cherokee language; making almost an alphabet. Sequoyah thought that “white people's superior power was due in part to their ability to communicate through written language”. Sequoyah wanted to help his community survive in the new world that the whites had created in America. This shows how much the Native Americans had to adapt to the new life forced upon them. It was not enough just to have a spoken language, but to better educate the Cherokee public, the Native Americans needed to change and learn how to write their language.

"Sequoyah." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

Indian removal act

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 allowed President Andrew Jackson to move all of the Naive Americans living east of the Mississippi river, to territory west of the river. Jackson enforced this with the Cherokee Indians living in Georgia. “As the Cherokee made their arduous journey to Oklahoma, starvation, illness, cold, and despair resulted in thousands of deaths, so that the journey is now remembered as the Trail of Tears.” Because Jackson wanted the removal of the Cherokee they were forced to leave their homes and make the long journey to Oklahoma. Many of them were not ready for the journey and lost their lives on the way. Not only did Jackson remove the Indians from their homes, but he also did not follow the law. The law states that “to give them such aid and assistance as may be necessary for their support and subsistence for the first year after their removal.” But this was not complied with, because if this part of the law had been put into effect, so many Native Americans would not have lost their lives on their journey. I think that this event was uncalled for. The reason for the many deaths of theses Native Americas was so that American could expand. It may have been necessary for America to expand, but it was not necessary to take the land from the Native Americans. There were other solutions to Americas need for land that would have spared the lives of many Cherokee Indians.

"Indian Removal Act (1830)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

Native American history

This article talks a lot about the history of Native Americans. When the pilgrims first came to America, the Native Americans helped them learn how to live in their new environment. The Indians were able to teach them how to grow crops in the new weather, so that the pilgrims were able to survive. But through the interaction with the pilgrims, the Indians got some of the illnesses that people were carrying. This causes many of the Native Americans to die, because their immune systems were not able to fight off the diseases. Throughout history things have gotten worse for Native Americans. Indians have been forcibly moved around by the white Americans when they wanted to expand their country, and were used to get supplies for the white portion of the country. But when the Indians fought back against the Americans, they were ultimately defeated. I think that this is sad to know that all Americans did was take from the Indians, who in the beginning were the reason that Americans are here today. Indians helped the pilgrims to survive in their country; with out them, there would not be a white population in America today. Later on things started to improve. Native Americans gained their citizenship in 1924. But just because they gained their citizenship, does not mean that they were treated equally. Just like the African American population, Native Americans had to protest and fight for more equal treatment. Now Native Americans have laws that protect their rights, and try to improve the living conditions on the reservations. But still there are many restrictions on their lives, and when living on a reservation they live in poverty. There is still room for improvement in Native Americans’ lives.
The one thing that really stood out to men in this article was when it said, “Some Native Americans continue to object to the use of Indian images as mascots for sports teams”. This seems strand to me that Native Americans would be offended that these images are mascots. I would understand if they were giving Native Americans a bad image, by doing inappropriate things, or poking fun at the culture. But all a mascot does is representing the school. This is not causing any harm, and I don think that it is changing people’s perception of Native Americans. The article also said that some people did not want Indian bones to be placed in museums; “some Americans believe that such artifacts can contribute to general anthropological and sociological knowledge, others feel that such scrutiny shows a lack of respect for early Native American societies.” I don’t understand how having artifacts placed in a museum would be a bad thing. If anything I would consider it an honor to have my people’s culture in a museum, so that others have the opportunity to learn.

"Native Americans in U.S. history." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

research topics

The topic that I got was Native Americans. The reason that I chose this topic was because I am part Cherokee Indian. I wanted to take this opportunity to learn about my heritage, and to see how Native Americans affected the country’s history.

sate of the union

Tonight President Barack Obama gave his state of the union address. I felt that this speech was encouraging to the public because it reminded them that there is always room for improvement. He reminded us that in America’s history there have been dark times, but somehow we have managed to survive as a country, and even prosper. Obama said that “And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.” Although times may be hard now, we have to remind ourselves that there is always tomorrow to improve our situation, and if America works together to solve our problems, we will succeed again.
In his speech Obama focuses on jobs. He says that although his Recovery Act was not popular it has saved many jobs. He also talks about how the economy is coming back, and how this is allowing people to start small businesses. Obama strongly supports small businesses because this will rebuild the work force in America. The more business that are being created, the more employees that are going to be hired; this means that there will be more work fore more people. Obama also wants people to work in building infrastructures. By building more or better things, you are giving work to those who have none, and you are improving the lives of those that live in the community. Overall I feel that this speech gave our country hope, and reassurance that our president is doing everything that he can to help the people of America.
here is a link to the text of his speach : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28obama.text.html?pagewanted=3

amstuds

Today in class Allie and I were watching some funny videos.
here are some of the videos:
http://must-see-videos.blogspot.com/
P.S- if anyone is intrested in helping the people of Haiti, come to the meeting after school next Monday. :)