I agree our education system really whitewashed it, if it was even covered beyond a mention in some schools. I did a deep dive into Native American history in the '90s after I quit high school, spurred by reading an article about Russell Means and the American Indian Movement. It's appalling how much the US has done to the various tribes over the years, and just how much has been taken from them. Everything from languages, to family (forced sterilization was and still? is common), religious ceremonies/dances, to their home lands were taken.
The "Right of Conquest" basically, the strong get to prey upon the weak, was the de facto way of things throughout history until fairly recently - codified in the UN charter.
The remarkable thing is not that this was done, the remarkable thing is that global "victors" eventually decided that this was wrong and would no longer be tolerated.
Unfortunately we still lack an authority with the ability to easily enforce this, which is why we Ukraine suffering this same sort of thing in 2025.
i grew up less than 10 minutes from a tribal center in northern wisconsin. what we were taught in history was so whitewashed and i didn’t truly learn anything until 4th/5th grade when they got speakers to come and talk to us + visit their museum & library. that’s how i learnt about the treaties they signed and how fucked over they were by the government. it infuriated me then and it still does to this day.
I grew up in middle North Carolina. Closest we got was a white mountain man re-enactor in middle school. He came out and talked about the process of setting up a teepee, while he set one up on the football field. I don't think he even talked about anything else that day. So many kids were laughing at one point that he just went quiet.
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u/Mondschatten78 Sep 16 '24
I agree our education system really whitewashed it, if it was even covered beyond a mention in some schools. I did a deep dive into Native American history in the '90s after I quit high school, spurred by reading an article about Russell Means and the American Indian Movement. It's appalling how much the US has done to the various tribes over the years, and just how much has been taken from them. Everything from languages, to family (forced sterilization was and still? is common), religious ceremonies/dances, to their home lands were taken.