Must-read links for the evening.

[nenena]

sanguinity has been posting an anvilicious series of lists of Things that American Indians have Contributed to the World: here, here, and with more presumably to come.

But seriously, read those posts. Just do it. Read them. Especially that second one.

And here, have a free whack upside the head with the Clue Bat - in musical form.

Comments

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Are people complaining that Native Americans contributed nothing to the world? I think most intelligent people know this is not the case.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised.

And seriously, were you ever taught that the Greeks "invented" democracy and public schooling? Because I sure was. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was. But I was also taught that the Native Americans invented it themselves as well, or at least that individual tribes did, and that elements of the Iroquois confederation influenced the Founding Fathers with the Constitution.

Then again I did get my earliest education in DoD schools, which are surprisingly good.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Good for the DoD schools, then. That's encouraging to hear. ^__^

But for much of the rest of us schmucks, our schools are still busily erasing First Nations from the history books. I remember back when I was teaching at Roosevelt, and using the AP American History textbook (I think from Houghton Mifflin, but don't quote me on that), and it was just... awful. Just awful. There was barely any mention of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or anything that didn't involve white people. And this was an approved AP history textbook.

And yeah, I also like... I'm the product of some extremely excellent Iowa public schooling, and even *I* didn't know jack shit about the real history of the BIA, not until I went off to college and got my head smacked in with the clue bat.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got nothing from American schools. The AP history I took was European, American wasn't offered.

I think mostly we were taught about treaties, and the schools where they tried to erase their cultural identity. A lot of emphasis was made on Cherokee Indians, due to their being local to NC, and the Trial of Tears.