Genocide and Cultural Genocide 1

Genocide and Cultural Genocide Among Native Americans in the United States

Alena Nicholson

Context, Transformation, and Global Theology

Dr. Winzenburg and Professor Jones

September 17, 2020

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Genocidal History

The United States has an unfortunately large amount of Native American genocidal

history, ranging from the first settlement to the last American Indian massacre in 1890 at

Wounded Knee. In the words of Standing Buffalo in 1862, “I Loved my lands, it was on them

that I had been raised and fed, it was the land of my father. I, therefore, had reason to love it. In

the meantime, the Americans came demanded my lands…” (Anderson et al., 2008, page 293).

Jamestown, the First War, and Pocahontas

Jamestown’s settlement was chosen because it was surrounded by water on three sides

and was placed far inland, which meant it was easy to defend against the Spanish (SHJ,2020).

Relationships between Powhatan Indians and settlers had already been mixed by completing the

fort since they were living on hunting land. Food started to run low, and Chief Powhatan gave

food to help the settlers. “If not for the Powhatan Indians help in the early years, the settlement

would most likely have failed, as the English would have died from the various diseases or

simply starved” (SHJ NPS,2020).

In about 1609, the English and Powhatan Indians’ relationship began to bitter as the

English started to demand too much food during a drought. During this winter, settlers were

afraid to leave Jamestown in fear of being killed by the Natives. “As a result, they ate anything

they could: various animals, leather from their shoes and belts, and sometimes fellow settlers

who had already died” (SHJ NPS,2020). During this winter, Chief Powhatan attacked Jamestown

and refused to trade food with the settlers, thus starting the Anglo- Powhatan wars. As they

began to abandon the fort, they were met with the new governor, Lord De La Warr, as well as

supply ships. In August, the English retaliated by “…cutting down cornfields, burning houses,

and killing the queen and all her children” (White, 2020).
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Peace between the settlers and Powhatan Indians was due to the conversion and marriage

of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Interestingly, Pocahontas was kidnapped just a year earlier in

1913 by the English to force the return of stolen weapons and English prisoners

While she was in captivity, she was forced to convert to Christianity, change her name to

Rebecca, and learn English. This is where she met John Rolfe, who wanted to marry her. The

Virginia Company paid to send her and her husband, child, and several other Powhatan Indians

to England to gain more interest in Jamestown. Pocahontas died in England, and soon after, the

peace between the Powhatans and English began to fall apart. The Chief died, and

Opechancanough was his successor and brother. He was tired of the expansion of English

settlements and coordinated an attack on the English Settlements. (Stebbins,2012)

Anglo- Powhatan Wars

What followed the Second Anglo-Powhatan War (Opechancanough attacking settlements

along the James River) was a series of wars and broken truces. Some view the attack on March

22, “…as the perfect excuse to wage unrestricted war against the Powhatan Indians” (Rice,

2015). The English withdrew from settlements near the river as a strategy. They focused on

trading and strengthening alliances with other tribes further away while they come up with a

system for revenge that would eventually last the winter.

The English waited “till their corne was ripe” (Rice, 2015) and attacked during the fall

and winter of 1622-1623. In the spring of 1623, they agreed to a truce “in order to let both sides

plant their crops, but they fully intended to resume their ‘feede fights’ after the corn ripened”

(Rice, 2015). Another truce that was violated was during May 1623 when Opechancanough

agreed to meet with an English commission. After the negotiations and meeting, the English

offered poisoned drinks as a toast then fired on the Native Americans (Rice, 2015). “Some of the
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English took scalps, and back in Jamestown, they bragged (mistakenly) of having killed

Opechancanough” (Rice, 2015).

The peak of the war came mid-1624. This is considered “… the only full-scale battle of

the decade-long conflict…” (Rice, 2015). During the battle, a couple of the English took

advantage of the distraction and burned the Natives’ fields. They destroyed enough food to

“…have sustained four thousand men for a twelve-month” (Rice, 2015). When the Powhatan

Indians realized what had been done, they gave up fighting. Virginia’s leaders and the English

purposefully continued the war for another eight years after their “victory” in 1624. The English

staged firing attacks where they would inflict light casualties and took a large amount of grain,

“…always taking care to leave enough survivors to plant another crop the following spring”

(Rice, 2015). They strategically planned truces and treaties to encourage the Native Americans to

plant more grain, which the English unlawfully took when they harvested it. The war and killing

continued into 1632 until new governor signed an agreement (which was unpopular with the

Virginians) to end the war.

The English had acquired farms all along the James River and down to the south of the

York River; their population also grew to eight thousand, which exceeded the Powhatan Indians.

The English began to take land on the north of the York River (East Virginia) and even as far as

modern west Virginia. This war promoted the expansion of English tobacco farms and

settlements. This intrusion led to the third Anglo-Powhatan war, which lasted from 1644 to 1646.

(Rice, 2015).

Dakota War

The US-Dakota War of 1862 remains the most critical event in Minnesota and (parts of)

Nebraska history. The story of the war seems to start on August 17, 1862, where “… a Dakota
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hunting party stole eggs from settlers in Acton Township…” (CLAUMN, 2020). Four men from

Shakopee’s band were hungry and came to a settler’s fence. One of them took eggs from a hen’s

nest there, and another said to not take them because they belong to a white man. The one taking

the eggs said that he was a coward and afraid of the white man. “They all went to the house of

the white man, but he got alarmed and went to another house where there were some other white

men and women. The four Indians followed them and killed three men and two women…” in

order to show that they were not cowards and brave enough to face the white man (Brown,

2014).

Arguably, tensions were high even before the murder of the white men and women.

There were treaties in 1851 and 1858 that “…had contained provisions designed to encourage the

nomadic Sioux to become farmers…” (Carley,2001). This not only takes away their culture and

forces them to “be whiter” but creates tension among themselves. Some remained hunters and

fishers, ignoring the treaties, but others held true to the treaties and became farmers. In turn, they

were called “cut-hairs” and “breeches Indians” creating tensions among the tribes (Carley, 2001).

In 1857, Inkpaduta and a “…band of renegade Lower Sioux murdered over thirty persons

at Lake Okoboji, Iowa in the so-called ‘Spirit Lake massacre’”. After, they went to Jackson

County, Minnesota and killed several more people. The Indian office at Washington told the

Sioux that they would be held responsible for the actions of a few and “…no annuities would be

paid until the culprit was brought in.” This is considered, according to Dr. Thomas Williamson,

the primary cause of the 1862 uprising. Another reason could have been the starvation of the

winter of 1861-62 due to crop failure and the tardiness of the Native’s annuity, which arrives by

the end of June, but did not arrive even into July. (Carley, 2001).
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After the murders at the settlers house in 1862, Little Crow knew that no one’s life would

safe. Traveling Hail said, “It was the white man’s way to punish all Indians for the crimes of one

or a few; the Santees might as well strike first instead of waiting for the soldiers to come and kill

them.” Little Crow rejected this argument, saying the white men were too powerful. “We are

only little herds of buffalo left scattered; the great herds that once covered the prairies are no

more. See! - the white men are like the locusts when they fly so thick that the whole sky is a

snowstorm.” Big Eagle spoke for peace, but everyone was angry and he was shouted down.

Years of abuse, broken treaties, the lost hunting ground, unkept promises, hunger while

warehouses overflowed with food, loss of annuities, and the loss of their people finally rose to

the surface. (Brown, 2014).

While the Natives were starving, on August 15 1862, Andrew Myrick said that if they

were hungry, they could eat grass, as he stood in front of a warehouse full of food. Now, he is

lying on the ground, dead, with grass stuffed in his mouth. “… the Indians were saying

tauntingly: ‘Myrick is eating grass himself.’” (Brown, 2014). Battles continued for six weeks.

Three hundred three Natives were considered convicts, but Lincoln “…approved death sentences

for only 39 of the 303…” (Carley, 2001). These thirty-nine prisoners were separated from

everyone and chained. A few hours after the hanging, “…officials discovered that two of the

men hanged were not on Lincoln’s list…” (Brown, 2014). One of the men who was wrongly

hanged saved a white woman’s life. Another who maintained innocence, even after death, was

Rda-in-yan-ka who tried to stop the entire war from happening. He said “I have not killed,

wounded, or injured a white man, or any white persons. I have not participated in the plunder of

their property; and yet today I am set apart for execution…” (Carley, 2001).

Last Colonial Massacre (Wounded Knee)

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The last massacre between the American army and Native Americans occurs at Wounded

Knee, South Dakota in 1890. In October, Daniel F. Royer arrived at Pine Ridge to join his job as

an agent but he knew absolutely nothing about Native Americans and was fearful of them. Just a

year earlier, “… the Ghost Dance had appeared on the Pine Ridge Reservation… blended the

messianic account of Christianity wit traditional Native beliefs… But in Royer’s paranoid mind

the Ghost dance was a war dance that threatened imminent bloodshed…” He dispatched a

message to Washington that troops should be sent there to “protect citizens from a coming war”.

In mid-November, President Harrison sent troops to the area as a response “to the fears of an

Indian outbreak.” By mid-December, news reports and Ghost Dancing had everyone of edge. A

Ghost Dancing leader, Sitting Bull, was killed at Standing Rock and it was seen, to many, as

their fate. (Carter, 2011).

On December 29, James W. Forsyth commanded that they surrender all their guns and

said that they would be moved to a new camp. While discussions were under way in the Lakota

camp, “… a number of Indians began singing Ghost Dance songs, with some rising to throw

handfuls of dirt in the air. The troops who surrounded them perceived [this] as signal to attack,

and a t this tense moment, the fuse was lit.” A Native named Black Coyote refused to hand over

his rifle to a soldier so they two began to wrestle over it and in the fight, it misfired. In this

accident, troops began firing. Native’s fled the scene, but the military pursued them and killed

them. They buried 146 to 250 Lakota peoples in a mass grave. (Carter, 2011).

History of Cultural Genocide

Cultural genocide starts with the missionary journeys during colonial times but extends to

the boarding school which separated families and seemed to just recently end (1970s).

Cultural Genocide During Colonial Times

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In the mid-1640s, the Powhatan and other Indians peoples in the Virginia area steadily

declined. They were pushed into smaller territory farther west, but those who stayed within

communication distance with the spreading colonists “…would be subject to a process of

relentless cultural genocide through religious conversion and concentration in ‘praying Indian

towns’ or colonial Indian school” (Davidson, 2012, page 25).

The Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 was the elimination of culture by the taking of land.

“The twenty hectares of land were to be taken from the reserve land base, subsequently breaking

up the collective and communitarian land practices of Native peoples and replacing these with

individual parcels of land…” (Hill, 2009, page 46).

Encouraging missionary work and education among the tribes to whiten them was

encouraged in 1876 as a part of a policy. “Earlier in the seventeenth century, Puritan

missionaries had established fourteen ‘praying towns’… [were] some eleven hundred Indians

were instructed in the Christian faith, the ‘habits of industry (farming)’ and the English

language” (Davidson, 2012, page 37). While a lot of the missionaries and the Puritans had a lot

of good intentions, heart, and simply wanted to save their souls, everyone did more harm than

good. They really ended up contributing to cultural genocide which had a lasting effect. The best

way to state this is Richard Twiss’ quote from Tinker “Identifying their actions as well-

intentioned but misguided certainly does not exonerate the missionaries. It was impossible for

any missionary to avoid complicity in the genocide of Native American people” (Twiss, 2015,

page 73).

Boarding Schools

Boarding schools began in 1860 and ended in the late 1970s. The first school was on the

Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington state and was made as part of a plan to make Native
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Americans understand and be part of the American life. “Indian people would be taught the

importance of private property, material wealth and monogamous nuclear families… assumed

that it was necessary to ‘civilize’ Indian people…” (,). This schooling system was the best way

for the white man to press his ideals on the Native and attempt to assimilate them.

In 1879, Col. Richard Henry Pratt established schools to complete his motto “Kill the

Indian, save the man.” He had Natives live with white families in hopes that the Native youth

would not return to reservations but become part of American communities. At the schools, they

were forced to cut off their long braids and hair, given white names, and were forced to wear

uniforms. Natives foods were not served, and they were only allowed to speak in English.

Natives refused to take part in this system suffered consequences. Agents on reservations

“…resorted to withholding rations or sending in agency police to enforce the school policy. In

some cases, police were sent onto the reservations to seize children from their parents, whether

willing or not” (,). They would take children until the schools were filled and often only took

children who looked to be less intelligent, physically impaired, or seemed to not be cared for.

It wasn’t until the last 1970s with the passing of the Indian Child Welfare Act where

Native parents were finally allowed to deny their child’s part in boarding schools. Before they

knew the white man, they knew morality, the knew nature, and knew love. “I knew God. I

perceived what goodness is. I saw and loved what is really beautiful. Civilization has not taught

me anything better. As a child, I understood how to give. I have forgotten that grace since I

became civilized” (Moore, 2006, page 66).

Effects of Genocide and Cultural Genocide

Loss of Identity
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With the erasure of their ancestors, culture, and land, a Native person today would

probably feel a loss of self. The lack of culture that is represented in cities and even on certain

reservations is very little compared to how it used to be. It is probably not unlikely for a Native

today to not know what cultural practices were common in their tribe(s) before their land and

culture was wrongfully taken from them.

On the other side of the that, there are Natives learning about their heritage and practices

and understanding what they mean. “The stage is now being set, with the increasing number of

Indian college students graduating from the universities, for a total assault on the non-human

elements of white society. Ideologically the young Indians are refusing to accept white values as

eternal truths” (Deloria, 1970, page 239). It seems that Native youths are starting to take back

their culture and accept who they are inside and out, taking back their braids and native tongue

that was cut off and shunned during the boarding schools their parents probably were forced to

go to.

Inner Turmoil

Anger and confusion would come from the taking of their land and culture. Natives today

would never experience the true community their ancestors had because it was taken away, but

also understand that it was not anyone’s fault who is alive today. It is human nature to want to

place blame on a person or a community for a wrongful doing, but in this case it is nearly

impossible for someone to stand up and say “I did this and I’m sorry.” The American

government has to do that and they seem to be doing a poor job.

They have been lazy at providing adequate recourses for reservations like water or

electricity (Lee, 2020). Many houses are also overcrowded and there is lack of economic

opportunity (,). This would create of sense of hopelessness and frustration among Natives, both
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young and old alike. Because of this, there would unfortunately be a rise in suicide cases on

reservations as well as the need for mental health care facilities on or near reservations.

Systemic Racism

The result of colonialism and the oppression of Native Americans is systemic racism. The

common white person still uses a Native American white a headdress as a mascot for several

places including high schools’ middle schools, and football team(s). This one of the many forms

of racism Natives face every day. They are reduced to a caricature who is often associated with

savagery and perpetuates negative stereotypes of Native people. Indian mascots can encourage

hate crimes against Native Americans, which already are alarmingly high according to the

Department of Justice (1999).

Racism can have number of tolls on a person, including deteriorating mental health. A

number of mental health issues can arise out of continuous racism against a person and their

people group including depression, anxiety, and anger issues. The continuous effect of stress on

a person can be invasive on a person. It can create a sense of everyday anxiety as well as

decrease health and sleep. Another effect it has is on the economy surrounding the people group.

If the systematic racism is strong enough (which it is for Native Americans) there will be less

economic opportunity for them creating a system of poverty which is another issue in it of itself.

Conclusion

The United States has ugly history of genocide of Native peoples and their culture.

Colonists gave them disease and took their food, the early American government took their land,

broke treaties, cut their hair, and took their native tongue. Today, we continue oppressing them

and it seems like nothing is being done. The Native people of today are strong and steadfast just

like their ancestors.

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References

Anderson, Gary Clayton, and Alan R. Woolworth. Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of

the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008.

Carley, Kenneth. The Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.

Carter, John E. “Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains |

WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE, 2011,

http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.056

“Chapter 2: The Colonization, Evangelization and Assimilation of First Nations People.”

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: a Native American Expression of the Jesus Way,

by Richard Twiss, InterVarsity Press, 2015.

“Chapter 3.” Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West, by Dee

Brown, Ishi Press International, 2014.

Davidson, Lawrence. Cultural Genocide. Rutgers University Press, 2012.

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4410-43e0-9684-84dcdf9b9841%40sessionmgr4007&vid=0&format=EB. Accessed 17

Sept. 2020.

Deloria, Vine. Custer Died for Your Sins. 1970.

Hill, Gord. 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance. PM, 2009.

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Lee, Kurtis. “No Running Water. No Electricity. On Navajo Nation, Coronavirus Creates Worry

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Moore, MariJo. Eating Fire, Tasting Blood : Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian

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Aug. 2020, www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm.

U.S. Department of Justice, and Lawrence A. Greenfeld. American Indians and Crime. Feb.

1999, www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aic.pdf.

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of-powhatan-indian-activity.htm.
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White, W E, et al. “The Anglo-Powhatan War of 1622.” Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of

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