Native Americans

The Native Americans and Their Quest For Equal ness

The Native Americans were the first people on the land that is

now known as The united States of America. As the colonials came over

from England, the took over the land of the natives and would kill

and rap them. All of those actions would lead to the Trail Of Tears.

There are many things that can be looked at in what the Indians

had to go through. The ones that will be looked at this time are: The

land issues, Chicano Movements, the difference between the Afro-

American demands and the Native American demands and how the Native

Americans stood out during WWII. All of these aspects effect the

Natives in good and bad ways and would lead to the Native civil

rights movement.

When the colonists came to America, they took away so many acres

from the natives. The land would range from California to Florida.

They were treated like savages, and killed and raped. In 1835-42

their was a 2nd Seminole war, the tribe was almost eliminated. This

would lead to many more wars till the end of the 1800's for tribes

all over the country. All of these wars and actions would lead to the

American Indian Movement (AIM). This came about in the 1960's. By

1972 AIM did a march on Washington to get reparations for the

treatment of the natives since 1849. The AIM gave them a list of

claims. The biggest was the restoration of 110 million acres taken by

The United States of America. Some of the land would be given back,

but not all. In the past decades Native Americans have become to have

Casinos to help make money and are still fighting to get some of

their land back. Thought the Afro-American movement is compared to

the Native American movement they are rather different.

The civil rights movement and the Native movement have been

compared for many reasons. In fact they have more differences then

things in common. Unlike the civil rights movement desegregation was

not a goal of the Native's. They wanted to put individual aspects of

the fight in the back and put the preservation of the Natives at the

front. Their goal was to build organizations for the Natives.

Schooling and employment services were some of the groups that would

help the Natives get to were they would like to be in the society. At

the end of the day the civil rights movement was more radical then

the native movement. The Chicano movement is another movement that is

like the other minority movements.

A Chicano is a term used to describe Mexican - Americans. The

Chicano movement was born in the era of 1950-70. The leader was

Reies Lopez Tijerina. By 1960-70 Chicanos grew to be politically

active, and wanted equal employment and voter registration. This was

just the beginning for this group.

By the 1980's the Hispanic population of the United States

increased five times faster than the whole population. Today, many

studies show that by 2020 Hispanics will be the nations largest

minority. The Chicanos have gained some of the respect and equal ness

that they have wanted and have earned, the one thing that is saving

them and keeping these people strong is their strong nationalism.