Native Story Never Told or Told Wrong

[Scotty]

I was just reading a story about the National Park Services was either neglecting to tell about the Native aspect of history or of telling the wrong story. It's horrible that the government is continuing to fail the Native population. Read the story here.

[carmen]

A friend of mine years ago married a Navajo man from Arizona, sitting down with him I could not believe how many stories were hidden either. I am park Cherokee but not really enough to make a difference, it still bugs me though. The government gets away with so much, no reason for them to have responsibility or anything like the rest of us. It is very sad.

[Sagebrusher]

Some parks main focus is Native American history. Pipestone National Monument, Knife River Villages are good examples. Also, the White River visitor center in Badlands NP is focused on the topic.

"Located on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the visitor center is operated by the Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority (OSPRA) and offers a staffed information desk, exhibits, restrooms, picnic tables, and water. Impromptu talks are offered daily throughout the summer season."

Operating Hours & Seasons - Badlands National Park


Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site - Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Pipestone National Monument - Pipestone National Monument

Edit: Just found this interesting tidbit. I bet she tells the story right! (Notice her uniform patch is not the NPS one)

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...-ranger-130527

Edit: I swear I didn't look at http://www.nativevillage.org/Archive...%20culture.htm before posting this!

[Pathfinder1]

Scotty;
I was just reading a story about the National Park Services was either neglecting to tell about the Native aspect of history or of telling the wrong story. It's horrible that the government is continuing to fail the Native population.




Hi...


I've sometimes seen that evidenced on tombstones and cairn plaques in the west, mid-west, and southwest...denoting the Whites who were killed by Indians. Never the other way around.

[CozInCowtown]

I am kind of with Sagebrusher on this one, lots of parks tell the history of the land before whitey screwed up everything but I also agree not enough is told about the true and complete history of an area.

[tentrus]

My national park tells the history of Indians. Actually now that I think about it the story is of a White woman who was taken by Indians. She thrived though and did many great things for Indians and the White man around. Mary Jemison was her name - anyone ever heard of her?

[wvbreamfisherman]

How about telling the whole story about that the Indians did to each other. Wars of enslavement and extermination were far from uncommon.

There is at least some evidence of cannabalism (possibly ritual in nature).

The biggest myth that we've been sold over the years is that the Indians lived in peace and harmony with nature and each other before the Europeans came along and messed things up. This is far from the truth.

[Sagebrusher]

I found a petroglyph depicting two figures, one was a flute player, the other had a bow and arrow, possibly about to shoot the flute player.
Mesa Verde and other cliff dwellings were built in a defensive position for a reason. They were built at least 300 years before the Spanish arrived.


That reminds me of another couple of historical sites that tell the NA and the Hispanic story, run by the National Park Service.

http://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm San Antonio Missions (Still owned by the Catholic Church!)

http://www.nps.gov/sapu/index.htm Salinas Missions

http://www.nps.gov/peco/index.htm Pecos NHP




These missions helped protect the local, settled natives from raids by the plains tribes.

[wvbreamfisherman]

A good book that details some of the conflict amongst tribes is "That Dark and Bloody River" by Allan W. Eckert. It is a quite detailed history of the Ohio Valley up through about 1800.

Certainly what we think of as Indians today were in a lot of cases relative latecomers that overran and largely subsumed or extinguished earlier cultures such as the Anasazi, Hopewell and Adena.

[BGreen]

Propaganda has always been with us. It can either work for you or against you. Even the best historians get it wrong and inject their own biases. It's sad and wrong, but it's not just the Native Americans.