History UsefulNotes / NativeAmericans

* These are the groups that lived around the Great Lakes and the eastern side of the Appalachians. One of the Aboriginal groups that usually farmed, they were more semi-nomadic than their wandering neighbors and often had more complicated clan style family structures. They tended to live in more permanent structures like longhouses and wigwams, usually made of bark moss and smaller branches. They are the group that grew maize, squash, and beans (the "three sisters") and usually hunted and fished as well. The Cree are one of the largest groups of Indian people in North America, ranging all across Canada and into the Great Plains. Anglos have probably heard of Robbie Robertson of Music/TheBand: he is a Mohawk (one of the six nations within the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois). Another member of these peoples whom Anglos are likely to have heard of is [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeagueNamesToKnow Jim Thorpe]] (Sac and Fox), an Olympic champion, major-league baseball player, and pioneer of American football. Shawnee artist Link Wray is acknowledged to have ''[[https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kickass-native-american-rock-bands-music-history-forgot invented the power chord]]''. The Cree you are most likely to have heard of is folk rocker Buffy Sainte-Marie; actress Irene Bedard has both Cree and Inupiat heritage. Another famous Eastern Indian is Handsome Lake (Seneca, another one of the Haudenosaunee nations) who was inspired by visions to found a new religion. [[https://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/iro/parker/index.htm The Code of Handsome Lake]] promotes kindness and forbids alcohol, cruelty and greed.

* 1973 — Wounded Knee II: Among the many civil rights groups that sprang up in the [[TheSixties sixties]] and [[TheSeventies seventies]] was AIM, the American Indian Movement. Founded in 1968, AIM led and participated in numerous acts of protest, the most famous of which was Wounded Knee II. On February 27, 1973, a group of AIM members and Oglala Lakota supporters (led by, among others, Creator/JohnTrudell (Jimmy Looks Twice in ''Film/{{Thunderheart}}'') and Creator/RussellMeans whom you might know as the voice of [[{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}} Pocahontas's]] dad and Chingachgook in ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'') seized control of the town of Wounded Knee (chosen for its obvious historical and symbolic value) and held it for 71 days. This was done to protest the failed impeachment of corrupt Oglala tribal president Dick Wilson and more generally the US government's long history of broken treaties. After numerous shoot-outs between the protesters and the FBI/US Marshals/law enforcement, the affair ended with AIM relinquishing control of the town to the US gov't. However, the protest drew considerable media attention, spotlighted the plight of modern-day Native Americans, inspired many native people and non-native allies across the country to travel to Wounded Knee and join the protest, and overall marked the start of a period of slight improvement for Native American people.

** This ugly chapter is particularly little known in US schools and media, even today. Most fiction set in this period still focuses mainly on conflicts between the ex-Mexican residents and the new US settlers. Meanwhile, both sides were busy killing and driving off the Natives in droves.

The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy as(Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

\\The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy as(Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

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The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy as(Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

\\ The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy (Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

* Similar in culture to the North Eastern group, often speaking similar languages to the North Eastern peoples and with some tribes seeing some North Eastern ones distant kin; one Iroquoian-speaking South Eastern tribe, the Tuscarora, actually moved to the North East and joined their cousins in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, becoming the sixth of the aforementioned Six Nations, after being forced out of their original homeland in the Carolinas by the English colonists in the early 18th century. The South Eastern peoples were also essentially agricultural, and also grew the "three sisters." However, they had much bigger emphasis on the sun and fire gods.

The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy (Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

* Similar in culture to the North Eastern group, often speaking similar languages to the North Eastern peoples and with some tribes seeing some North Eastern ones distant kin, they also grew the "three sisters." However, they had much bigger emphasis on the sun and fire gods. The tribes of the southeast built many mounds and other structures to worship and honor the sun and other gods, some of which are still honored today. Many of the South Eastern tribes, most notoriously the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee [or Creek], Chickasaw, and some of the Seminole tribes), were relocated to modern-day Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of the Trail of Tears. The tribes that didn't (primarily the Okahumpka and Miccosukee Seminole tribes) remain today as the only tribes to have never surrendered to the United States. Famous Southeasterners: Sequoyah (created the Cherokee writing system), Albert Billy (Choctaw, one of the first Code Talkers), Bud Adams and his daughter Amy Adams Strunk (Cherokee; founding and current owners of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).

* Many within the Aboriginal community feel that there is a cultural component necessary to be considered truly Aboriginal, begging again the question of what Native American culture truly is. Not to mention the fact a cultural definition tends to lend itself to people who adopt Native American spirituality and attempt to [[GoingNative Go Native]] which most Native Americans find dubious at best.[[note]]Russell Means said that being an Indian wasn't a matter of skin color, blood quantum or tribal membership, but the way one lived. So it's not bad to try to Go Native, but one must go all the way, completely immerse -- not take little "pieces of the pie" as Russ said.[[/note]]Reactions to Creator/JohnnyDepp (part Cherokee, recently adopted by the Comanche) exemplify the many varying attitudes towards this issue: to many, he fits a decent definition of a cultural Native American. To others, he's a fraud cashing in on the image of the MagicalNativeAmerican. Some extremely conservative Plains traditionals refer to full-blooded Indians who share sacred traditions with non-Indians as "fraud", "twinkie" and "apple". Most Native Americans have their own definition and most don't agree.

Native Americans, or American Indians[[note]]This name may be considered incorrect, but some natives prefer it. It should not be confused with “Indian Americans”, which means Americans who are from or have ancestry from UsefulNotes/{{India}}[[/note]], are the people and their descendants who inhabited UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica, prior to the arrival of UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}ans. UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} uses different terms; you can read about First Nations/Inuit/Métis in their article. Generally "Native Americans" refers only to groups living in the continental ("lower 48") U.S., with Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians normally viewed as separate groups with unique histories and cultures (plus they have very different relationships with the federal government). Because of this, Native Alaskans and Hawaiians will be grouped in their own state pages. Note, however, that the US Census Bureau defines "Native Americans" to include Alaska Natives, but ''not'' Native Hawaiians.[[labelnote:Further note]]The latter are included in the Census' "Pacific Islanders" group, their ancestry and culture being emphatically Polynesian.[[/labelnote]] Like most useful notes pages, this article is meant to inform and enlighten and hopefully be less boring than more traditional encyclopedias.

Native Americans, or American Indians[[note]]This name may be considered incorrect, but some natives prefer it. It should not be confused with “Indian Americans”, which means Americans who are from or have ancestry from UsefulNotes/{{India}}[[/note]], are the people and their descendants who inhabited the land of the United States, prior to the arrival of Europeans. Canada uses different terms; you can read about First Nations/Inuit/Métis in their article. Generally "Native Americans" refers only to groups living in the continental ("lower 48") U.S., with Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians normally viewed as separate groups with unique histories and cultures (plus they have very different relationships with the federal government). Because of this, Native Alaskans and Hawaiians will be grouped in their own state pages. Note, however, that the US Census Bureau defines "Native Americans" to include Alaska Natives, but ''not'' Native Hawaiians.[[labelnote:Further note]]The latter are included in the Census' "Pacific Islanders" group, their ancestry and culture being emphatically Polynesian.[[/labelnote]] Like most useful notes pages, this article is meant to inform and enlighten and hopefully be less boring than more traditional encyclopedias.

* The group you're mostly likely to see in media, due to their association with the romanticized Wild West. They originated many of the tropes common in Westerns. Anglos are most likely to have heard of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and Black Elk. The only American to have won Olympic gold in the men's 10,000 meters, Billy Mills (1964; tribal name Tamakoce Te'Hila) is an Oglala Lakota. Nomads who followed the buffalo ("American bison" for you pedants and tropers not from the Americas); they did actually live in tipis, although there were also several Plains tribes, including the Omaha, that farmed as well. It should be noted that horses were extinct in the Americas until the Spanish arrived, so many of the tropes associated with natives and horses are actually [[NewerThanTheyThink relatively recent]].

* 1890 — Wounded Knee Massacre: In the late 1800s, the Plains tribes were getting [[DespairEventHorizon increasingly demoralized]] by the near-extinction of the buffalo, the subsequent starvation of their people, the grim quality of life on reservations, and the continued loss of their land to the US. Out of this atmosphere of desperation sprang the Ghost Dance: a messianic religious movement that espoused a return to traditional values and promised that soon the buffalo would return, the people's ancestors would [[BackFromTheDead rise from the dead]], and the whites would disappear from the land. White settlers grew increasingly nervous about the pan-tribal nature of the Ghost Dance and misinterpreted the "whites disappearing" part to mean "we're going to kill you all", and US officials tried arresting some of the chiefs associated with the movement, leading to the killing of Sitting Bull, who was perceived as a Ghost Dance leader (he was not, but had given it the go-ahead). This tension finally boiled over in the winter of 1890, when 350 Lakota, mostly women and children, many sick and starving, gathered under a flag of truce at Wounded Knee. Their camp was surrounded by the 7th Cavalry, numbering 500, who ordered the Lakota to surrender their weapons. A [[PoorCommunicationKills miscommunication]] led both sides to start firing, and by the end, 150 Lakota and 25 US soldiers were dead (though it's believed that many of the latter deaths were from friendly fire).

* The group that lived in the driest part of the United States. There is a definite emphasis on water and especially rain in these cultures. There is also a noticeable cultural influence from the Mexican cultures farther south; with the Southeastern Moundbuilders, they're on the list for the "most likely to build an urban civilization by 2000 if the Europeans hadn't gotten in the way" award. They also were an agrarian society with very strong family groups. The best known of these peoples is probably the Navajo, who also happen to be the most numerous of any remaining Native group. The others are Apache, Hopi, Pueblo and Zuni. Anglos are most likely to hear of the Navajo Code Talkers, although code talkers really came from many tribes; Geronimo (Bedonkohe Apache), a holy man as well as a leader; possibly rock artist Robert Mirabal (Hopi).

* Mostly speakers of the Numic Languages, this group lived in the desert and moved around seasonally following sources of food and water. One of the last groups to encounter European influence, and therefore have maintained stronger cultural and linguistic ties to their heritage. Anglos may have heard of the Paiute holy man Wovoka (Jack Wilson), whose visions gave birth to the Ghost Dance ceremonies that swept the Plains in the 1890s and led to the Wounded Knee massacre (see below). The rock band Redbone was made up of Shoshone and Yaqui musicians. Music/MartyRobbins was a Paiute.