Historical Report on Race

Historical Report on Race

Article on Native Americans

More than 12,000 years ago Native Americans hiked over to what is now Alaska and discovered America long before Christopher Columbus’ ship landed there. Native Americans are the original founders of the United States. It became an awkward circumstance when the Europeans came to the Americas to claim the land and settled, especially when the Native Americans believed the land already belonged to them.

When the Native Americans could not come to an agreement with the Europeans over the land they began to migrate because the Europeans began to use violent tactics against them. The tribes began to move to other areas of the United States now known as Alaska, New Mexico, South Dakota and North Carolina, thus creating many different tribes of North America. The tribes are Apache, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Navajo, Nez Perce, Pawnee, Shawnee, Shoshone and Sioux. Each of these tribes are made up of several different groups and each had its own language, religion and customs.

The Native American population of the United States face cultural and social dilemmas that threaten their society. They have issues of poverty and a high rate of alcoholism, also in threat of loosing their cultural identity. There is a high rate of interracial marriages and the younger groups are integrating into American culture. Once rulers of the continent have been forced to live on reservations, this segregation has turned a once dominant American Indian population into an oppressed minority.

Native American political struggles consist of controversies regarding Native American images for sport mascots, equal treatment and respect of differences. The deepest issue is land and group rights.

Native Americans have been targeted with hate crimes before and during the 19th century. They have been raped, beaten and thrown off their own land. In the past the government failed to put in place laws to prevent...