1.2.

3 Journal - Perspective in Academic and Oral Histories (Journal)

For this assignment, you will read "Educating America: The Historian's Responsibility to
Native Americans and the Public" by historian Angela Cavender Wilson. You will then write at
least three paragraphs responding to several questions concerning how we think about history.

Directions:
- Write a minimum of three paragraphs addressing the following questions:

1. What does the author think is missing from the history told by academic historians? Why
does that matter? Include at least two points the author makes.
2. Why do academic historians distrust history interpreted by American Indian storytellers
and historians?
3. Which version of history do you think is more accurate — an academic one told by
non-American Indian historians or one from an American Indian perspective? Be sure to
support your choice with your reasoning.

Each paragraph should have at least three sentences, and you should correctly use
the term perspective at least once in your analysis.

Answers:
1. What does the author think is missing from the history told by academic historians? Why
does that matter? Include at least two points the author makes.
Ans: The author Angela Cavender Wilson believes that the perspective of Native
Americans who lived through history is missing from Native American History. It is very
important that the perspective of marginalized groups are heard and studied, in this
case, the perspective of Native Americans need to be heard, if we truly want to
understand the history of the US and these people who have suffered. One point that
the author makes is that academic historians are not reaching out to the American
public. This is causing misinformation among the public about Native Americans and this
could be very detrimental to an already marginalized community. Another point the
author makes is that there is little to no learning about Native American history in
elementary and secondary education. And only in college or university classrooms is
there any meaningful discussion or learning about Native American history.
2. Why do academic historians distrust history interpreted by American Indian storytellers
and historians?
Ans: Academic historians distrust history interpreted by Native American
storytellers and historians because the main medium of history by native Americans is
oral and academic historians believe that if there is no written record of events that are
in the oral interpretation of events then they are unreliable sources.

3. Which version of history do you think is more accurate — an academic one told by
non-American Indian historians or one from an American Indian perspective? Be sure to
support your choice with your reasoning.
Ans: I think that history from Native Americans about Native American history
would be more accurate. The people and the communities that have lived through
history should be the ones the educate and inform people on how it was and what went
on. They would have first hand experience and insights on what happened.