Dehumanization Native Americans

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The Native Americans were treated as no more than savages that were inferior to the white world. The dehumanization of the Native Americans starts with the explorer Christopher Columbus who discovered the Americas, and he started an age of exploration and colonization on the lands that belonged to the Native Americans. The Native American population was in a steadily decline after Columbus's arrival in 1492. Their population went from 1-12 million to 250,000 over the course of a few centuries. Their population was affected by different diseases including: measles, smallpox, influenza, and sexually transmitted diseases. They were also affected by wars which include wars between different tribes and colonists, and one of the most known battles…show more content…
Diseases such as: measles, smallpox, and influenza which are mostly associated with livestock became a serious problem in the 16th and 17th century as more and more colonists arrived to the New World. These problems were not the worst of the Native Americans problems as there was an Indian Removal Act enacted in 1830 which called for the relocation of the natives to reservations, and this led to the Trail of Tears in which several thousands of Native Americans were forced to march from their home to the reservations. The trail led to the west were states like Oklahoma had not been established yet; they were led thousands of miles away from their homes due to the United States government’s greed. During the Trail of Tears, 4,000 Cherokee lost their lives due to cold, hunger, and disease. The Indian Removal Act is perhaps the worst atrocity committed against the Native Americans as this allowed the “civilized man” to steal their land and force them onto reservations. Many Native Americans reluctantly accepted the white man’s lifestyle such as Many Horses, Oglala Sioux who said, “I will follow the white man’s…show more content…
Maybe they will outrun the white man in his own shoes.” The Natives Americans were put on exhibit in museums; they were the wax exhibits that thousands of white settlers rushed to see. Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux said, “They made us many promises, more than I can remember. They never kept but one – they promised to take our land, and they took it.” The religions of the different tribes were not allowed as Christians felt it there place to bring the Lord into the red man’s life. The government forced the children to go to bordering schools were they forbidden to speak their native tongue, forced to wear the clothing of “civilized people”, and disciplined harshly by the white man. Michael Wolf of the Ojibwa tribe told of his first test, “A white man was pointing at a tub which was under a pump and he was saying something. I took it for granted that he wanted me to pump water and I nodded my head. He came over and pulled my ears and shook me. I stood there stunned, with my ears burning, wondering what he wanted.” These boarding schools did not allow for students to contact their homes and communities. Census Bureau reports show that the population of the Native Americans in 1850 was 400,000 then decreased to 339,000 in 1860 then to 248,000 in

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