ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
Investigate America’s “Century of Dishonor.”
CONTEXT:
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885), born in Massachusetts, was a poet, author, and Native American rights activist. She later moved to Colorado on the advice of her physicians to improve her poor health. In 1879 she was inspired by Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829-1908, a Ponca chief and Native American activist who argued successfully in 1879 for judicial rights in federal court), and she later wrote A Century of Dishonor, an expose of the crimes against Native Americans. It led to the founding of the Indian Rights Association (1930-1994). She died of stomach cancer in 1885.
This excerpt is from A Century of Dishonor.
TEXT: (NOTE: “Indian” is used as it was in the original text)
…There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians [in the United States] one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the Government or of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have been subjected. This is especially true of the bands on the Pacific slopes.
These Indians found themselves of a sudden surrounded by and caught up in the
great influx of gold-seeking settlers, as helpless creatures on a shore are caught
up in a tidal wave. There was not time for the Government to make treaties;
not even time for communities to make laws. The tale of the wrongs, the
oppressions, the murders of the Pacific-slope Indians in the last thirty years
would be a volume by itself, and is too monstrous to be believed.
It makes little difference, however, where one opens the record of the
history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain. The story of
one tribe is the story of all, varied only by differences of time and place; but
neither time nor place makes any difference in the main facts. Colorado is as
greedy and unjust in 1880 as was Georgia in 1830, and Ohio in 1795; and the
United States Government breaks promises now as deftly as then, and with added ingenuity long practice….
The history of the Government connections with the Indians is a
shameful record of broken treaties and unfulfilled promises. The history of the
border, white man’s connection with the Indians is a sickening record of
murder, outrage, robbery, and wrongs committed by the former, as the rule,
and occasional savage outbreaks and unspeakably barbarous deeds of
retaliation by the latter, as the exception….
INQUIRY: (NOTE: the term “Indian” is used in the questions as it was in Jackson’s text)
- What two sources did Jackson list as the source of Indian mistreatment?
- What role did the Gold Rush play in the mistreatment of the Indians?
- According to Jackson, were any tribes exempt from mistreatment? How do you know?
- How did Jackson characterize “the history of the Government connections” with the Indians?
- How did she characterize “the border, white man’s connection” with the Indians?
- Investigate Red Cloud, leader of the Oglala Sioux from 1865 until 1900. Evaluate his relationship with the US Government. Or choose another Native American leader to investigate, such as Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Tecumseh, Black Hawk, or Crazy Horse. Compare their relationships with the US Government during their times.
- The Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota occurred in 1890. Investigate this battle and assess how it characterized the attitude of the US Army at the time.
- The term “Indian” is now usually considered derogatory and offensive. “First Nations”, “Native Americans”, or other terms such as individual tribal names are considered more appropriate. Why does it matter? What value does a name have?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/a-century-of-dishonor-by-helen-hunt-jackson.htm
https://archive.org/details/centuryofdishono00jackrich/page/n7/mode/2up
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50560/50560-h/50560-h.htm
https://aktalakota.stjo.org/american-indian-leaders/red-cloud/
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