Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, written by Dee Alexander Brown, is a great novel that shows the attempted genocide of Indian nations. Many of the young Indian children were stolen and forced into slavery. Most of the children died along their journey. At the battle of Wounded Knee almost four-fifths of Native lands were taken and most of the native people slaughtered or thrown into slavery.
Natives that were put in to slavery were counted everyday to make sure no one had escaped or rebelled. If this were to occur the Natives would be savagely beaten. During the bloody battles and harsh time periods the savage atrocities were blamed on the Indians, when in truth it was the white man that was causing and doing all of these brutal things. .
A white man paid up to twenty-five dollars for an Indians scalp. They hung and honor the scalps as trophies. The whites were also responsible for the first mutilation of corpses. The Natives soon followed for interrogation purposes. The natives were greatly influenced by these new teachings, they saw the harsh consequences on the battlefield and in slavery of how they would be treated if they weren't to obey and go along with the new ways of life. This lead to the Natives killing Natives so they could have scalps as trophies. This was all brought on by the white man and helped lead to the abolishing of the native people.
The Natives experienced a lot of racism for many reasons. One the Indians race was easily noticed because of their skin color. Two they were prohibited from many jobs and professions. For example a well- educated Indian man by the name of El Parker was unable to join the union army to fight in the Civil War until he gained aid from U.S. Grant. During these periods most of the Indian rights were revoked, and since many were forced into slavery they had no right at all.
This book shows all of the harsh reality of the Indians lives and how badly corrupted the Indians were by the new settlers and harsh and brutal wars.