2018 Fall SUNY First Peoples of North America

For my first entry I have decided to blog about the Words & Place website. In our readings and supplemental resources we know that the history and culture of the Native Americans has been passed down through the generations orally through story and song as well as dance. This site is dedicated to the sharing and preservation of the oral history of many groups through video documentation. Throughout the videos you will find that the Native American storytellers and singers are comfortable in their own environment and desire to share the unique histories that are within their Tribes. The Hopi Coyote Stories and Hopi Songs with  Helen  Sekaquaptewa   was the video that stuck with me the most. The joy and delight in which she sang and communicated along with the body language illuminated her desire to share. I believe the common thread between these videos is the desire to be understood and dispel incorrect propagation and message. http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/wo...

“The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth” is a webpage that compiles information from various sources to give an overview of the Haudenosaunee nations in Northeastern North America. It was created by rat haus reality press , a group dedicated to environmental issues and those that affect all humankind.   As rat haus seems to be run by native people, or at least those interested in native issues, this source was likely created to provide an overview of the history of the Six Nations that also can direct readers to dozens of other sources for further exploration. For instance, there are links to United Nations documents, interviews with and speeches by Oren Lyons, and images created by someone associated with the Six Nations Indian Museum in upstate New York. I believe this resource was selected for this course because it provides a great deal of information from a native perspective, offering not only facts about the history of the Six Nation...

Hello everyone, I had an issue registering with the blog and originally posted this as a response to Professor Nesberg's original post.  Hopefully I can get some feedback before the end of the module. Patrick In the American Indian Biographies, there is a post submitted by Historian Bill Petro that addressed the Native American known as Squanto. Squanto was a name that I had long forgotten, but when I saw that there was a brief biography submitted about him, I had memories of my experiences in Elementary school learning about the Thanksgiving feast between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. Most people would probably agree that they have a working knowledge of how the Pilgrims fled England and religious persecution and sailed west to the new world on the Mayflower. Other memories come rushing back about how it was difficult for the Pilgrims, who landed at Plymouth rock, to survive in the new world and that there was a Native American, named Squanto, who ...

I chose the web page “The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth” because I find the idea of studying the organization and philosophical underpinnings of Native American (both in a historical and contemporary setting) government fascinating. I believe that Native American tribes do not get enough credit when discussing the origins and history of democratic traditions, especially at an elementary and secondary level where the focus tends to be solely on Ancient Greece and Enlightenment thought. I was fascinated to learn that some of America’s founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin took inspiration directly from the six nations. Likewise I was not aware that the Iroquois visited the Continental Congress and shared warm relations with the delegates that extended to naming John Hancock “ Karanduawn, or the Great Tree”. I also was previously unaware that women owned all property in the Iroquois confederacy, a responsibility they held in ...

For this post I will be exploring the Web resource parentseyes.arizona.edu/wordsandplace/. The website is titled Words and Place native literature from the American southwest. As many of you know from veiwing some of the videos for the "Native Voices" assignment, they are focused on oral traditions through songs and stories. I think this resource was used for this course for a few reasons. All of the programs were produced "with the permission, cooperation and support of the Indian communities". So we know we are receiving accurate information free of propaganda and sterotypes. Each story demonstrates an American Indian recounting their own oral history in their communities. The videotapes were created at the University of Arizona and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I very much enjoyed the video "By This Song I Walk: Navajo Songs" with Andrew Natonabah. I found it so interesting that "Navajos view the universe as a dan...

ISHI: A Real-Life  The   Last Of The Mohicans September 30, 2018 The Last of The Mohicans written by James Cooper was the book that created the hero Native American who was brave, wise, and faithful to his tradition. I remember that many boys were inspired by fictional Chingachgook who was an inheritor of his people’s legacy. His son was killed, his people vanished, and he was the last one to carry on the culture of his tribe. Many years ago, I had just though that life might bring the suffering and sorrow because that is what people have to deal with – sickness, death and loneliness. Reading the story of Yana tribe who lived in Mount Lassen Foothills of northern California unfortunately, brought other thoughts and considerations about the sense of life and our destiny. How the tribe that its people, Yahu, were described as strong, independent, proud, and who fought to survive became the target of destruction and finally vanished. And what is the real story of a real ...

The source I chose to explore was Native American Biographies A-Z, for the entire list of biographies follow this link: http://www.42explore2.com/native3.htm . I chose Chief Joseph because not only is it an intriguing story, but there were may links to more content regarding his life. However, only half of the links worked, only the information provided by pbs.org displayed after following the links provided. The list of biographies was created by eduscapes.com which is a website dedicated to lifelong learning which began in 1998. PBS.org is a highly credible source compared to most of the other .com weblinks that failed to work anyway, so it is not surprising to think of reasons why someone would choose PBS as a source of educational information. An essential quality of academic resources is understanding sources that are bias compared to unbiased. 360-member stations reach 110 million people through their local stations and 19 million people online (New Research). In our w...

I had at one time watched the Jim Thorpe: All American movie (1951) who was portrayed by the American actor Burt Lancaster. Years ago while visiting friends in the Pocono Mountains, I was taken to Jim Thorpe so that I could experience the Lehigh Gorge scenery on the railway and walk around the town. The biographical knowledge that I have acquired leans toward the adult and child male and female actors of the 1940’s, prominent Big Band musicians and singers, Presidents and dictators and African-American World War II heroes - to name a few.                               Burt Lancaster as Jim Thorpe       Jim Thorpe Athlete of the Century         There it was American Indian Biographies A-Z, it was like being in a candy store trying to decide what candy I wanted to know about. Jim Thorpe? He’s Native American? I thought he was Burt Lancaster and a small town ...

I’ve chosen to blog about The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth because I also live close to these areas. Growing up I knew about the Iroquois Nation as I grew up in a town called Irondequoit, in school our teachers would teach us about how our area once was filled with tribes but only if our other history learning was done. Once a year we would have a field trip in a park in our town and that’s where I learned the most about the Six Nations. To be honest the only real thing I remember is that the built and lived in long houses. Reading through the website I learned that this nation of Native Americas makes up the oldest living democracy on earth , at least three centuries older than most previous estimates . Now I know that is in the title, but these tribes had a huge influence on the founding fathers and congress. I also found that the way Iroquois treated their land to be very important. In todays society we have damaged Earth almost to the point of ...

I choose the website Six Nations-The Oldest Participatory Democracy on Earth because these nations are so close to where I have lived all my life.   I had heard about the Iroquois Tree of Peace, but it was not in school.   It was used in a prayer service about peace I attended.    But as I read the article I wondered if I told people that: ·          This Confederacy had the longest participatory democracy on earth: ·          The leaders of this democracy had met with our Continental Congress and their ideas of democracy influenced our founding fathers; ·          This Confederacy lived under the Great Law of Peace; ·          Their societies are based on peace, equity, justice and the power of good minds; ·          Their woman had equality long before El...

I have used the web resources off PBS regarding Lewis and Clark. I have learned that Lewis & Clark would go to tribe to tribe telling all of the tribes that the land that they have been on for years now belonged to the US. I was shocked to read that they had a slave named "York" that they brought with them; they let the Indians believe that he was a "wild creature that has been tamed" so the Indians believed it had spiritual powers. Lewis and Clark's mission was to make peace of all Western tribes, though some tribes saw them as a direct threat and were hostile in return as they had heard about the White man taking things away from them. Throughout the reading, there was many things that each Tribe would contribute and known for. The Chinook's were canoe builders, fisherman and planters. Hidatsa were farmers of corn, tobacco and beans. When Lewis and Clark would show up they would many times have exchanges so that the Indians thought that they were the...

Hello Class, Start Blogging (enjoy this exercise - more talking than academic).  Some of you may be blogging pros, while I know others are blogging novices. Treat these like discussions - one initial post due Friday week materials are due and 2 peer responses by Sunday. Anytime blogging is due it must meet these requirements.  __________________________________ If you are here, clearly you already read and followed the instructions from Module 1 on blogging. The first assignment states: Remember, the point of journaling is to convey your ideas about what you are learning, but since you are in an academic format, it should be substantiated by the information that you are exposed to in this course. It does not matter if you like or dislike something; what matters is why you feel the way you do and what lead you in the sources you reviewed to feel that way. 1. Write a 250 word minimum piece of writing that can be used in a blog post. Your writing must documen...