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I spoke with an archaeologist and interpreter recently at an archaeological park with mounds from the Mississippian people period. They said that the archaeolog

I spoke with an archaeologist and interpreter recently at an archaeological park with mounds from the Mississippian people period. They said that the archaeological park might have easily been dozed over if events had turned out differently. I suspect that North American pre-columbian construction is often obscured by a century of modern development and centuries of farming now. Much of what might have been is now crushed under our tractors or buried under our malls, highways, and houses. I wonder what people living here before us were like and what lessons they might teach us.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
Native Americans aren't gone, they're just quite a bit less populous post-colonization. You can still find nations like the Natchez and the Choctaw whose ancestors built mounds and ask them. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_people
- cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  Indeed speaking in the past tense about indigenous Americans is a long standing artifact of colonial ideology which has the effect of diminishing the present day reality of natives on this land. I was fairly recently shocked upon a trip to the Museum of Natural History in NY where plaque upon plaque in the section about pacific NW peoples spoke about the Haida and related people in the past tense and proudly displayed what were in all likelihood stolen artifacts. My son was sent home with homework a couple years ago that spoke about the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe etc) all in past tense grammar. Meanwhile we have close family friends who are Ojibwe. In Canada at least there has been a bit of a reversal in this trend, with more recognition of the present day nations. And in fact there's actually demographic growth among many first nations here, while the broader European settler derived society is in a demographic decline (solved only by immigration).
  - gen220 4y ago
    Situations like these, with the right teacher, are great eye-opening moments for children. I still remember a unit in US history, in which we were asked to write an essay expounding on the evolving nature of woman's role in American society from the antebellum period through reconstruction (1820s-1890s). I think just about everybody in the class interpreted the question as being one about "white" women, and wrote their essays accordingly. The next lecture opened with this meta-fact, and rather than shame us about it, she used it as a wedge to open a discussion on how the overwhelming majority of writing on American history is authored from a male, generally Western European lens. Most of our essays told of monotonically expanding rights and freedom (Seneca Falls was in 1848, the various feminist movements were gaining steam at the state level around property rights and suffrage). But this time period saw Indigenous women undergo the Trail of Tears and the institutionalization of reservations and forced relocation. It also saw enslaved women experience Emancipation only to be followed with the failure of reconstruction and the installment of Jim Crow. --- This was over 10 years ago, and I still remember the lesson in so much detail! And find it useful when reading history today. Every time we uncover a blind spot and cure some ignorance, we're making progress.
  - lflfldksb 4y ago
    > And in fact there's actually demographic growth among many first nations here, while the broader European settler derived society is in a demographic decline (solved only by immigration). That's what really would be best, you know, if those whites would get off that stolen land and give it back to the Natives, you know? I mean, there's just a connection between the historical homeland of a certain People and their blood that just shouldn't be violated, right? Demographically justice will be done when America is inhabited primarily by those who are Indigenous and have a right to the land. Descendents of Colonials should be removed and sent back to their historical homeland to make room for the Natives.
    - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
      Seems you're new here. But your tone looks more appropriate for Reddit or Twitter. You'll probably find better strawmen to beat up on over there, while you pound your chest for upvotes.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    > what were in all likelihood stolen artifacts. Or... purchased? Is there reason to believe in one vs. the other?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

AlotOfReading 4y ago

Native Americans aren't gone, they're just quite a bit less populous post-colonization. You can still find nations like the Natchez and the Choctaw whose ancestors built mounds and ask them. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_people

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
Indeed speaking in the past tense about indigenous Americans is a long standing artifact of colonial ideology which has the effect of diminishing the present day reality of natives on this land. I was fairly recently shocked upon a trip to the Museum of Natural History in NY where plaque upon plaque in the section about pacific NW peoples spoke about the Haida and related people in the past tense and proudly displayed what were in all likelihood stolen artifacts. My son was sent home with homework a couple years ago that spoke about the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe etc) all in past tense grammar. Meanwhile we have close family friends who are Ojibwe. In Canada at least there has been a bit of a reversal in this trend, with more recognition of the present day nations. And in fact there's actually demographic growth among many first nations here, while the broader European settler derived society is in a demographic decline (solved only by immigration).
- gen220 4y ago
  Situations like these, with the right teacher, are great eye-opening moments for children. I still remember a unit in US history, in which we were asked to write an essay expounding on the evolving nature of woman's role in American society from the antebellum period through reconstruction (1820s-1890s). I think just about everybody in the class interpreted the question as being one about "white" women, and wrote their essays accordingly. The next lecture opened with this meta-fact, and rather than shame us about it, she used it as a wedge to open a discussion on how the overwhelming majority of writing on American history is authored from a male, generally Western European lens. Most of our essays told of monotonically expanding rights and freedom (Seneca Falls was in 1848, the various feminist movements were gaining steam at the state level around property rights and suffrage). But this time period saw Indigenous women undergo the Trail of Tears and the institutionalization of reservations and forced relocation. It also saw enslaved women experience Emancipation only to be followed with the failure of reconstruction and the installment of Jim Crow. --- This was over 10 years ago, and I still remember the lesson in so much detail! And find it useful when reading history today. Every time we uncover a blind spot and cure some ignorance, we're making progress.
- lflfldksb 4y ago
  > And in fact there's actually demographic growth among many first nations here, while the broader European settler derived society is in a demographic decline (solved only by immigration). That's what really would be best, you know, if those whites would get off that stolen land and give it back to the Natives, you know? I mean, there's just a connection between the historical homeland of a certain People and their blood that just shouldn't be violated, right? Demographically justice will be done when America is inhabited primarily by those who are Indigenous and have a right to the land. Descendents of Colonials should be removed and sent back to their historical homeland to make room for the Natives.
  - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
    Seems you're new here. But your tone looks more appropriate for Reddit or Twitter. You'll probably find better strawmen to beat up on over there, while you pound your chest for upvotes.
- tomcam 4y ago
  > what were in all likelihood stolen artifacts. Or... purchased? Is there reason to believe in one vs. the other?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]