I’m often disconsolate about the gaps in my knowledge. One area that’s dogged me is my knowledge of Native American history. It’s a raged wisp of what it should be.
When I attended elementary school, I was taught that we bought Manhattan from Native Americans for a few buttons and thereby eventually everything, the Pilgrims and Lewis and Clark were rescued by Native Americans, that they were "noble savages" who lived in harmony with the land and we broke a lot of treaties with them, but they shot a lot of arrows, so it all kind of muddled along and worked out sort of in the end. It was all very general, shallow and imprecise, leaving me with a caricature.
While, I’ve done better since then in learning their traditions and history, I still know so very little. But I’m going to tackle it.
Why should I or you care? History, like the roots of trees, nourish and shape our present. We cannot be free from it. It’s not just a matter of learning from history so as not to repeat it. It’s of great and indispensable importance for understanding who we are as a people and how the currents of our yesterdays reverberate in the oceans of our present and will fill the seas of our tomorrows.
It’s also important that we know our history with all of its disappointments, that we understand the wrongs as well as the triumphs of our fathers. Not necessarily so we can atone for our sins, wallow in our mistakes or bring in a brighter future, but because to be ignorant of the wrongs of slavery, the errors of our adventurism, and the depredation of our Native Americans, is to again demean their existence, to pass them off as unimportant, and to continue to be smug about our assumed importance.
To honor our friends and loved ones, we would think ourselves uncaring and insensitive to shirk taking the time to learn about their lives, and their histories. If we truly believe in honoring and loving all men and extending good will to all cultures, we should strive to learn their histories with as much zeal as pursuing a lover.
As for me, I’ve finally started down the Native American path to gain a greater understanding of their culture and history. I challenge you pick just one area of knowledge the universe has been urging you to discover until the day when we truly do extend peace on earth and good will to all. Yes, it will be a life long journey of learning.
Comment 1: Garrett Hanson - I've always wanted to learn more about their culture, deities, and way of life. It's fun to see someone who's actually delving. Human history can be so fascinating. I love learning about the different things Genghis Khan did and his rise to power.
I love Greek mythology and it's lessons. It's how they interpreted the world, and to read about the native Americans and how they interpreted it in detail. I think it would fulfill something in me. I think you may have jump started my knowledge seeking.
Comment 2: Jen Ottens - AWESOME! I began to study and try to learn the truth about what happened and what we have left of the culture when I learned that my grandmother concealed the fact that her mother was full blooded Lakota Sioux until after her death. I ended up with very mixed results but an overall view that government corruption has been a part of our history from the very beginning. Record keeping was worse than abysmal as allotments to crooked officials in and out of the tribes were based on unverified numbers so they cooked the books. Hoping I could fill in my family tree, I ran into unacceptance from Native Americans who expressed their anger at many people claiming kinship as a fad, or to get tribal scholarships ect. So I ended up with a name, from South Dakota, and a marriage certificate but no other info. and sadness that my skin color blocked any further progress down that road. I understand why all these people did what they did, and felt the way they feel. So I have had to try and learn from books what I had hoped to learn from newly reunited family. Some stuff is just so screwed up that God will have to straighten it out Himself. Maybe my hopes and expectations were too high. Black Elk Speaks is a book I read with interesting information I have been told is legitimate. I hope your study brings you more joy than pain. I'm certain that your heart will be changed by the knowledge in any case. All the best!
Loren M. Lambert © July 14, 2014
