Long, streaming black hair, tan skin, and colorful leather clothing made with fringes and beads are what I think about when I imagine an American Indian. My perception of American Indians has come from a compilation of American history textbooks, movies and television, and, although the majority of what I have learned is probably not true, it does correspond to the stereotype of an American Indian. In general, television programs that featured American Indians depicted them in a stereotypical fashion. It seemed as though the programs purposely chose their guests to fit our cultures' clichéd image of what Native Americans look like. .
A particular observation about American Indians is that they are natural environmentalists. This idea is illustrated in movies such as Dances With Wolves, which depicts American Indians in the outdoors, hunting, fishing and living in harmony with their surroundings. The tribes rely on the land and respect it rather than exploit its resources. When I think of American Indians as great outdoorsmen I also think of them as excellent trackers and guides. This, in part, comes from many stories of the government using Indians for these purposes during early 1800's to the mid 1900's. .
Another age-old perception, is that of cowboys and Indians, where American Indians are savages and the cowboys are civilized. Movies have helped create this perception, for example, it is because of these movies that we see cowboys battling Indians who seem to be attacking for no reason at all, as in Dances With Wolves, where the Pawnee seem to be attacking without motive. .
One last misconception is that all Indians dislike white people. I believe this also comes from movies such as the Disney production Pocahontas, which shows white men as the enemy. Though maybe at that time Native Americans were afraid of or did not understand the settlers, I do not think they all hated white men.