Surprising Aspects of Learning about Native People in Michigan - Essay Exampl

The Native people in Michigan mainly comprised three Algonquian-speaking tribal subdivisions which included the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi. The name Michigan is an Algonquian Indian, which means a big lake. One of the surprising aspects of these natives is that they practiced both the patrilineal and matrilineal systems. Under these systems, they disregarded generations in their relationship system (Hull, 2012). Also, these tribes believed that everything had a spirit, including trees, rocks other forms of life. The natives would speak to these spirits in their dreams and do as per their wishes.

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Difficulties in Telling the Story of Native Peoples in North America

The native people of North America had an outstanding characteristic of diversity in the Indian language. The North was the home to over 50 clans, which comprised between three hundred and five hundred languages. Therefore, there are no proper records or consensus to offer demographic information in their original form for all people in this region (Pauls, 2020). Also, the cross-cutting contacts between political organizations and the ethnicity of the natives were quite complicated.

Improving Representation of Native Perspectives in Histories of the United States

One of the best ways to improve the representation of native perspectives in the U.S is by introducing a new schooling program from the American Natives Museum. The new curriculum will create an in-depth and better understanding of the long-misconstrued history of the natives (Diamond, 2019). The museum education will ensure that learners in the U.S get comprehensive and accurate information concerning the history of Native Americans.

How Native Societies Declined So Rapidly After Contact with White Settlers

The Native societies in the U.S shrank rapidly by approximately half after the contact with European settlers. The settlement of the Europeans prompted an upsurge of warfare, slavery, and diseases in the New World (Than, 2011). Such factors had disturbing effects for the native people across America leading to a decline in population.

References

Hull, C. L. (2012). Chippewa Lake: A community in search of an identity. MSU Press.

Than, K. (2011, December 5). Massive population drop found for Native Americans, DNA shows. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/12/111205-native-americans-europeans-population-dna-genetics-science/

Diamond, A. (2019, September 18). Inside a new effort to change what schools teach about Native American history. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/inside-new-effort-change-what-schools-teach-about-native-american-history-180973166/

Pauls, E. P. (2020, June 25). Native American - Native American history. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history