The Plight of The North American Indians.
The history and culture of the American Indian is sadly misrepresented because of .
culture biases and inaccurate reports. In order to give a more accurate report of the .
American Indian one must look at period before the Europeans, the invasion of the .
Europeans and finally present time.
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Before we can set out on the road to success, we have to know .
where we are going, and before we can know that we must .
determine where we are have been in the past. It seems a basic .
requirement to study the history of our Indian people. America has .
much to learn about the heritage of our American Indians. Only .
through this study can we as a nation do what must be done if out .
treatment of the American Indian is not to be marked down for all .
time as a national disgrace. (Pres. John F. Kennedy) .
When the Europeans first arrived on the shores of America they found hundreds of .
different tribes of people that they named "Indians". The Europeans immediately .
recognized the immense wealth of natural resources that this vast and diverse land had.
Unfortunately they failed to recognize a non-materialistic wealth i.e. spiritual, cultural .
and intellectual the Indians had achieved over centuries. .
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Archeological evidence indicates early Indian cultures existed 10,000 BC. But the .
questions that still remains, how did early Indians arrive on the North America continent. .
One theory is during the Pleistocene ice age during "a two million year period, the floor .
of the Bering Strait stood high and dry, linking Siberia and Alaska." (National .
Geographic Society 1974) As the Ice Age ended and extreme changes in the climate .
occurred causing change in animal and plant life so did the lifestyle of the Paleo-Indian. .
During the Archaic Period, lifestyles of the Paleo-Indians became more stable and they .
began settling in the Northeast region.
