Dee Brown's book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is an accurate account of how the United States dealt with the Native American problem in the mid to late 1800's. After all the Indians were on OUR land and didn't seem to use it for any economical means, why can't they just be moved somewhere else. Giving them Christian names and putting them in large groups on a small area of land seemed to be the answer. That way the Indians can still live in nature, but they won't interfere with the everyday American lifestyle. The last three sentences are the way I feel most people felt about the Native Americans after the American Civil War. .
History is filled with stories. Many of these stories have been changed or suppressed by the leaders who carried out some of the most pivotal events in human history. As a young country the United States had its ups and downs as far as dealing with key human rights issues is concerned. Probably the most publicized example would be the civil rights struggle for African Americans. They are not the only group to be persecuted throughout U.S. history. There were the Chinese who were kept in camps after they completed the railroads to the west, which helped our country expand and grow. In the early 1900's the Irish Americans coming to New York were constantly harassed and persecuted. And then there is the group of people who probably have more right to the land than we do, Native Americans or as they were incorrectly named, Indians. This group of people thrived on this entire hemisphere until European settlers discovered this "New World". After that began the systematic destruction of all Indian cultures. The Mayans, Incas, Sioux, Apache, Aztecs, and Cherokee are all tribes whose cultures have been removed from the face of the earth. The Central and South American Indians (Aztec, Mayan, and Inca) were the most advanced of all, building great pyramids and developing an understanding of science.
