Native American Native American Literature UnitLiterature Unit

• Our American identity as we know it is a product of our past. Our class will focus on literature which reveals how we arrived at our society and culture today.

• We study Native American literature out of a respect for the indigenous cultures who were here before the European explorers as well as a respect for their cultural and literary influence throughout the years.

Historical & Cultural Context Historical & Cultural Context

Native American Tribes

•Thousands of tribes lived in North America.

•Estimated 10 million when Europeans arrived on the East Coast.

•Tribes had different language, culture, beliefs.

•Many shared similar culture because of location/ region.

• Once explorers and settlers decided to stay and start building the natives could do nothing although they usually tried to fight back.

• Natives had a completely different set of values and traditions:

- some wouldn’t fight back until they realized they would lose their land completely.

- they lived off the land and held it in high regard; earth was the mother.

- they never used more than they needed and they never wasted anything.

• The Europeans also brought disease that natives were never exposed to before, which brought actual physical desecration to their people.

• Europeans viewed Native Americans as savages.• Native Americans viewed Europeans as soulless

creatures/ arrogant. • Over time (hundreds of years) land was

progressively taken away from them and they were not only robbed of their sacred land and the traditions it embodied for them, but they were forced into assimilating into the emerging European-American culture.

16th -19th centuries Native American Population declined for the following reasons:

1. Epidemic disease (chicken pox, influenza, etc.)

2. Violence at the hands of European settlers.

3. Internal warfare

4. Enslavement

• Trail of Tears is a name given to the relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

• From there, efforts to “civilize” them so that they could be mainstreamed into society continued.

• Indian children were sent to boarding schools far away from the reservations so that the authority of their parents/elders would be undermined. Language, and consequently, cultural identity was legally confiscated. Children were harshly punished for using their own language and were separated tribally to immerse them in English only.

Native American RitualNative American Ritual--Vision Quests----Vision Quests--

• Hanblecheyapi (vision quest, literally "crying for a vision")

• A vision quest is a rite of passage, similiar to an initiation, which may include fasting; sleep deprivation; being closed in a small room (e.g. igloo).

• Taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction.

Native American LiteratureNative American Literature

• First Delivered Orally

• Passed down from generation to generation.

• Changed over time

• Used stories to teach moral lessons and explain why things are.

• Animals and nature as characters.

Creation/ Origin MythsCreation/ Origin Myths

• Extremely important part of daily life

• Feature animals as the instruments of creation

• Native Americans did not distinguish between the living and non-living.

• Shared at ceremonies with miming and theatrics—roles included sun, moon, water

Fact & FictionFact & Fiction

• Pocahontas was a girl of 11; Smith was a man of 28.

• John Smith was tall and clean shaven. He wore tight pants and some armor.

• Pocahontas was engaged to Kocoum, but she chose John Smith instead.

• Pocahontas and John Smith were both young adults when they met.

• John Smith was short, had a full beard, and wore puffy pants (like everyone else). He did wear the type of armor shown.

• After John Smith went home to England, then Pocahontas was engaged to Kocoum, but she chose John Rolfe instead.

• “