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Native Americans Torn From Their Past: How Indigenous Native American people Faced Forced ResettlementCopyright © 2007-2008 Eagle ValeFor thousands of years, we native american people lived our lives at one with our lands and the animals that occupied our lands. Mother Earth gave us what we needed to survive, thrive and grow as a people, and we returned the favor by taking good care of our Mother Earth. When our first native american ancestors were born, the Great Spirit placed us with our mothers and fathers to live our lives in the lands of our ancestors. We lived this way for generations, unaffected by the events that took place in lands far away on other continents. When the black plague swept Asia, the Middle East, and Europe beginning in the early 1300's, our native american ancestors were immune to its wrath. Two great oceans protected our people from such a pandemic that nearly wiped out the populations were captured in its death march. Our tribes lived happy and free until one day in 1492 when the seeds of change were placed in our soil. When Christopher Columbus sailed to our lands and put his stake in the ground, the lives of our children and grandchildren were fated to be changed forever more. Almost immediately, the European settlers began to try to convert our aboriginal ancestors to their religion. Any who stood against the European's religion stood the chance of being put to death. It was a truly bizarre turn in events, considering that the stated purpose for the European's migration to the American continent was "to escape religious persecution in Europe." The European's came to our land seeking tolerance for their own beliefs, but they did not have the same tolerance to share with our first nations people. Forced Relocations In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the US government forced a large number of native american tribes to migrate from their indigenous lands. The public excuse for this move was the fact that a few of the native tribes stood with the South against the US government. When the South fell to the North at the end of the Civil War, many of our ancestors were forced at gunpoint to vacate the land that had been our homes for thousands of years. Many of the native tribes were forced to migrate west to new lands set aside for us by the US government. Within the same generation, many tribes were forced to move again to a place called Oklahoma, which was known at the time by the Americans as the "Great American Desert." These forced tribal relocations led to the deaths of many of our people on the Trail Of Tears. Many of our elders and young died during the journeys. Settling In At Our New Homes Those tribes who were forced to move experienced another significant loss, once they had reached their new homes. Tribal culture had always been connected to the land and the animals that lived amongst us. And now, we had no lands to call our own. Indian Territory in Oklahoma was a barren landscape void of many of the elements we have come to know and love. As our grandparents and great-grandparents brought up their children, many began to realize that our tribal customs, stories and culture did not have the same connection that it once had. When the tribal elders would tell a story of the black bear, it made perfect sense to the elders, but for the young, it had become an empty story. There were so few black bears in Oklahoma that most youngsters had never seen one to know what their parents and tribal elders were describing. When elders told of a wolf, it too was seen too infrequently to make much sense to the youngest of our tribes. When our people arrived in our forced 'Indian Territory', wolves were few. By the time the 1930's rolled around, there was no such animal living in 'Indian Territory'. The Birth Of Native American Cultural Preservation When our tribal elders realized that the young could no longer appreciate the message behind our ancestral stories, it became crystal clear that steps would need to be taken to ensure the preservation of our culture. The tribal elders were insightful enough to realize that if nothing were done, our traditional culture would disappear from the face of the Mother Earth, to be lost forever to future generations. For thousands of years, our traditions had been passed from generation-to-generation without any consideration to "what if?" It was just assumed that our world would live forever with our people there to tend to it. But all of that ended in just one generation. Suddenly, a crisis faced our people. With the introduction of a new way of living, the traditions of our ancestors began to fade off into a distant memory. The new world offered so much distraction that our young began to see our traditions as a waste of their time. Our people had reached a crossroads. We had to find a way for our culture and traditions to be carried to future generations, or our identity as a people would cease to exist. The time had arrived when our tribal elders would need to actively recruit students to learn of our culture and history. The time had arrived when our tribal elders would need to explore new ways of carrying our identity into future generations. The active and planned preservation of our cultural identity began to take shape. Record Keeping Was Introduced Many of the tribal elders thought it wise to adopt the ways of the white man. Our elders began to find ways to write our history and our language on paper. Fortunately, we were able to retain a bit of our independence through the tribal government system allowed to us by the US, Canadian and Mexican governments. Our tribal governments set up actual systems to help us to retain our history and culture. Many of our tribal leaders have arranged to set up college scholarship funds for those who were willing to learn our tribal history and culture. These are only steps. We still have a long way to go to ensure the preservation of our cultures through generations not yet seen. The way this world is changing now, it will only become more difficult moving forward to keep the native spirit alive. The Native American Internet We are a growing group of native american individuals who appreciate where we have come from and have turned to the newest resources in the preservation of our history and culture. The Internet is a huge storehouse of information that can be shared with a world audience. We now have the ability to stay in close touch with those of our band who have moved away from the reservations. We have an unprecedented opportunity to share our past with those who wish to know it. We are now a growing number of dedicated native people who are channeling the power of using the internet to lead other aboriginal people towards the positive direction of helping us preserve our past. As such, we have put together some very informative resources for those who wish to study our past. Recognizing all that is good in our little portion of the Internet, we realized that it could be helpful to bring all of that information together in one place where it could be protected for eternity. Individual people live and die, but organizations can live forever. In our little corner of the Internet, we are building a set of web sites that will permit anyone who is of First Nations origin to come in and set up a resource that can survive for generations. We hope you will come by and visit us. We hope that you will stay long enough to learn of our culture, history and religions. And we hope that you will like our little corner of the Internet enough that you will come by and visit us often. About The Author:
*** Digital Reprint Rights *** *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Eagle Vale can be reached at: eagle.vale@thephantomwriters.com *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: eagle.vale@thephantomwriters.com
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