The Image of "Savage" Indians

After searching Google for the definition of savage, I've found that it is most directly seen as an adjective. It would describe someone or something as "fierce, violent and uncontrolled". After reading the archive to find more on the opinions of white settlers about Indians, I searched the archive for the word savage and savagery. Any instance of this word was directly linked to Indians. All Indians were referred to as savages rather than native Americans or more kindly indigenous peoples. If I hadn't had any previous knowledge or opinions on Indians this article it would have given me the idea that Indians were an uncivilized group of people. That they could not be a part of the growing society and american culture because they were unlettered and savage.

The Effects of the Ghost Dance: A Day in the Life

Dear Diary,

                It’s all over the front page of the news! And Papa’s been talkin’ about it all morning since we got the Omaha Daily Bee. And who could blame him! The Indians are terrorizing the whole of the west with their prophecies, new messiah and what have ya. Everyone is calling it the Ghost Dance war but thankfully we haven’t had any run-ins with the Indians ourselves just yet, but we’ve building up our fronts in case of an attack. All the soldiers running around town totin’ around their rifles and such and Johnny’s been sneaking out each night to go talk to ‘em. But ole’ Pa won’t have none of that once he finds out about it. Daddy even said that troops all the way from Texas have started to move towards our state in preparation for the big fight to come. That’s only if they don’t settle it peacefully though… But Ma and Pa have high hopes for the settling of the Indians before it comes to outright attacking. But I overheard Pa talking to Mr. Peters and Captain Finch about the Ghost Dance. They said they’d even seen it and described it as religious. Mr. Peters and Capt. Finch even said that there was “nothing of a warlike nature” about the dance and so they didn’t feel it was overly important.

                Even more scary was the news I heard about Short Bulls sermon, the whole thing that got the war going! He was said to have spoken about the new messiah and how the four tribes were gonna come together and wipe out the population of white folks like us… It makes me scared to hear these things but Pa reassures me that I’ve got nothing to worry my pretty lil’ head about. Johnny came home earlier spouting off about the Indian Short who came to town and talked about the dance with us, “white people”.

                Sadly poor Mrs. Ivans from Fort Dodge Iowa died of diphtheria yesterday and Pa said we’d be leaving for the funeral shortly. But on a happier note I got to attend the annual Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor in Hastings! Ma agreed that I was old enough and I had so much fun! Even Rev. Willard Scott got to speak at the convention with all the famous prophets and other reverends. Other than that the weather is just getting colder and colder with winter well on its way… Ma and I are going out to get new fur linings for our coats this evening at Hellman’s to help prepare for the blizzards coming our way!

                                                                                                -Marriana Smitty

I hope this ends peacefully for the sake of Johnny's life...

Omaha Daily Bee: News on Indians

After scouring through the Omaha Daily Bee it was obvious to me how Indians were a big part of Western settlers lives in Nebraska. Indians were considered a large problem to western civilizations and part of their culture that was foreign or out of place was considered to be a sign for war or rebellion. The Omaha Daily Bee from November 22 talked about the "ghost dance" being preformed by multitudes of Indians that had gathered in certain reservations. All tribes were coming together, in the article Short Bulls Sermon: What the Prophet Said to His People at Rosebud Agency Short Bull, the Chief summarized the gathering of the tribes that was a good representation of the language and translations used during this time period. "We (the Indians) are the ones who are living a sacred life. Our father in heaven has placed a mark on each end of the four winds. A clay pipe lies at the setting of the sun , representing the Sioux; a holy arrow at the north represents the Cheyennes; at the rising of the sun there lies a halo representing the Arapaho tribe; at the south there lies a pipe and feather representing the Crow tribe" The use of direct translations implies that there was also contact between tribe leaders and English journalists and the higher ranking military officials. After reading the whole of the newspaper it was easy to see the bias held by most settlers against the Indians and vice versa.

Deep Thinking

"Our use of social media for news is selective and intentional so that we may tend to remain interested only in things we are already interested in. On the other hand, professional news outlets like newspapers expose readers to information on a broad range of topics, this helps me to see what other people are interested in or think is important."
-Mrs. Lawson

Newspaper History and Analysis

The definition of a newspaper, as said by Business Dictionary is a form of printed media that can be found weekly or daily. It is a folded book of papers that is generally sectioned off in different categories based on subject and content. The most common format will have the top news stories on the front and work into the more minute articles that may be more local.

The first newspaper in America was found in Boston during the 1960's. It was known as Publick Occurrences, but it was quickly shut down. The first successful and long running newspaper was the Boston News-Letter. Among the newspapers today some of the oldest and long running newspapers include the New York Post, New Hampshire Gazette, Hartford Courant, Augusta Chronicle, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I chose The Wall Street Journal to use as a primary resource for my research. The top stories of the newspaper on Oct. 12, 2015 include a story on the turmoil in Turkey after a terrorist attack, the SEC cutting the use of private judges in court cases, the threat of a cyber war creating a new arms race, and continually followed by political and economic news.Newspapers like The Wall Street Journal used to be called "newspapers of record" because they  would report only local events and keep citizens in that jurisdiction up to date on the city's on-goings. Secondly, the newspaper was able to reach high quality and standards of journalism and writing about topics of interest of greater importance. The first "newspaper of record" was The New York Times. Other examples of a "newspaper of record" include The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

In a general comparison and overview of newspapers versus social media (i.e Facebook, Instagram, etc.) it is very easy to spot one major difference  the type of connection varies. Social Media is a more personal way to reach out and find out about news that would only relate to topics you enjoy reading and even keeping up to date with familial on goings. Newspapers like The Wall Street Journal offer information about world news and current events around the globe and continental United States. Another key difference is presentation. Social media like Instagram is all pictures and small captions and even Facebook is similar with the reposting of news articles, where the only visible portion is a picture and the headline. Newspapers usually consist more of words and full length articles with a picture or two scattered about to give you a better idea of whats going on.

Quarter 1 Reflections

This year in history have proven to be more of an eye opener than any other history class I’ve taken. With the curricular not being just text book based it hast to participate and engage my learning. The emphasis on in-class work and group work has made it more fun to learn about the topics at hand. It’s a bonus in my mind that we don’t get a lot of busy work for homework; rather our homework is a more in depth continuation of our class discussions. This in combination has increased my ability to think critically use empathy as a way to help bring the learned topic into focus. One of my favorite activities this year was the sympathy vs. empathy activity. It was a great way to show how history is a multifaceted subject that needs to be seen from every aspect and helps to connect it to current events, thus making it more interesting.

In line with my growth as a thinker, its helped me to understand more about the aspect of slavery and controversy in the union army during the Civil War. When we studied slavery through the analytical use of movies it was interesting to see the actions of the slave masters to the slave, which seemed kind at first. But the underlying motive made it hard to see it as an act of kindness. The movie Glory was a wonderful cinematic recreation of the Civil War. It helped me to understand that even though the Union soldiers were considered the “good guys”, there was actually a lot of racism towards the black union soldiers from the whites. The culmination of this learning in an essay definitely helped to solidify my knowledge and newly learned knowledge. The essay also helped to solidify my use of technology especially hyper linking instead of creating a MLA works cited page. The use of quotations to help prove my point and also helped me to better understand what I was actually writing about.

Native American Research Project: Tribal Dancing and Religion

After spending the class researching on Native American Dance and Religious aspects I learned that there was a large debate of what could be considered religious in the Native American Tribes. Most of their religion consists of tribal and ceremonial dances, each one appeasing a specific need like the Rain dance or Hopi Snake Dances. As strange as it may seem most Tribes did not have a large say in what was deemed as religious and sanctioned as appropriate. The majority of these rulings were made a council known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, most of whom were devout Christians and not Native American themselves.  But this debate would also be the first time a mass of non-Native American conservatives would rally with Tribal leaders to fight for their culture. This became a critical turning point for the states and their policies on Indian Religion. The large mass of support from non-Natives made it hard for states to argue against the tribes and so they had to change their viewpoint on tribal dances to a more rounded view, by encompassing tribal dances as a religious aspect.

Native American Rain Dance