This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
PERIOD 7 - "In The White Man's Image"
We watched the film, In the White Man's Image - please post your thoughts about the film and make sure to comment on at least one other student's post.
this video was very interesting i didnt know about anything about this until i saw this video i found it very messed up how americans would take children away from there framilies the children suffered alot but it was a good way of teaching them how to do new things and leaqrn about life through another culture
This was a very interesting video. I thought it did a very good job revealing how American's viewed the Native American's as a whole. It seems that the US Government targeted the Native American tribes as a road block in the way of their ever-expanding nation. Just as Hitler did with the young in Nazi Germany, the US took the young Native American's and educated them so they would effectively fall in line with the society in power at the time.
I see your point, but I don’t know if I would be so quick to jump to parallel this to the Hitler youth program. The big problem I find with this is that they essentially rounded up children to be brainwashed and didn’t even succeed at that. Had the program truly just been for the purpose of “educating the savages,” I wouldn’t have such a problem with that. What the (white) Americans created was hardship for the families that sent their children away, and a bunch of angry, lonely, and confused Native American children. p.s.- I do not actually think that the Native Americans were savages, I was referring to the common view of the time.
when i saw this movie i could understand how like everyone elses that the native americans were treated so harshly. in my opinion i think that instead of ruining there way of life i thik the white man shoudeve looked beyond the indians looks and actions and try to see that the indians were equal to them but had there own veiws and that both cultures shoudeve gone and found a way so that they both can live in america without trying to harm each other and to learn and benifit from each other. maybee then the white man woudeve understood that what they did was wrong and they should find a way to right this terible wrong.
I agree with both Jon and Rachel in that it is not quite accurate to compare the treatment that the Native Americans suffered with that of the Jewish population in Nazi Germany. The purpose of the school systems was to essentially destroy the Native American culture, which was devastating to the Native Americans, and indirectly the population, but it was not a system of directly ending the lives of the Native Americans. In regards to Jon's comment about the Hitler Youth, I also don't think that the Carlisle School is comparable in that the Hitler Youth programs appealed to the majority of the population by promoting and glorifying the German culture, as opposed to the intention of destroying it. Also, the conditions by which children were included and maintained in the Hilter Youth programs were much better than the Native American school systems; the most prominent difference is the qualification of the German youth as the majority and the superior culture, whereas the Native merican children were of the race viewed at the time as inferior.
I agree with John and Kelly that even though there are similarities, the nazi youth program was different than the native american white man conflict. I found it very discomforting to discover that the white men thought of the native americans as an experiment. It just goes to show the manipulative, superior, and all powerful feelings that the white community had.
Also, in regards to Rachel's comment, assimilation (in my opinion) can be a degrading and painful task for a culture to undergo. I do not believe by any means assimilation should be undermined.
This video was interesting to me because I had heard a little about the schools before but never new the extent to which they were ran. It surprised me how the Americans just took the native American children from their homes and turned them into "Americans". It also surprised me that they had the place run like a military camp with bells and whistles. I was also surprised that they were granted to live with other American families.
Allison Shea I had also known about these schools before the movie. I thought the movie did a good job of making the schools become more real to the viewer. However, I noticed that the video seemed biased. The people talking were often descendents of people who were at the schools and thus they often talked negatively of the schools. I am not saying that the schools were a good idea or fair, I am just pointing out that the video was not fair. I think that the movie would have been better if the white man’s goals were also considered a little more.
Allison Shea I agree with Rachel that the Nazi program was very different. They did not allow for a chance to assimilate, they simply murdered the Jews and people who were different. In that way I think that what the Americans were trying to do was nicer. It is at least better than the previous thoughts that whites had held, “the only good Indian is a dead one.”
I know some true native Americans and they are very respectful people and we both agree that what the colonists did to them was wrong they were stripped of their identity and all their land they still haven't recovered from what our ancestors did to them many are still living on the reservation in poverty and just barely getting by all because we decided that we will make everyone do what we say or we will kill them and take it and like Allie said assimilation is very hard for people to except our ancestors stripped them of everything that defined the natives and that's not right because it wasn't our land to take in the first place people need to learn to coexist with each other instead of forcing beliefs down their throats the colonists left Europe for this reason yet they turned around and did it to the natives its a viscous circle and until we do something about it its going to happen again and again
I knew about the schools that were set up to teach the Indian children, but I had never seen them in that light or so in depth. It surprised me that the Indians let the white people take their children voluntarily, I was under the impression that they were forced to go into these schools. Even though I feel the schools were wrong and were created with bad intentions, I believe that they did serve something good by keeping the Indian children out of the poverty that most tribes were experiencing. I agree with Rachel and Jon, I don’t believe that what the white man were doing was similar to the Nazis, it was more humane and they were giving the Native Americans a chance to be a part of the society not just exterminate them.
I thought this video was very interesting it showed me a lot of new interesting facts that I didn't know about the history between the Native Americans and the White men.
i did not find this movie surprising in anyway. It has been seen throughout history that anyone different has been forced to into oppression. It is not suprising that the white man tried to change the native american ways.
This film was well made. It was also very informative. I knew about the cruel things that Americans did to Indians back then to a point. However, I don't think I new or fully understood how the Americans put the Indians into boarding schools. This is new knowledge to me that I am glad to have learned.
For me, this movie was rather surprising. I once again find myself feeling ignorant to how the US acted on this matter. I guess I did not realize the extent to which the US went to enforce these laws. I feel embarrassed for my country that we could ever be so short sighted. The more we watch movies and learn about our country it becomes harder and harder for me to watch. Some above talked about history repeating itself and the more I think about that, the more I worry for our nation.
What I saw in that film was the Americans trying to preserve their ancestral heritage. What they did was not right nor was it wrong. The Americans had many resaons as to why they did what they did. One resaon was to preserve the white mans image. That wasn't fully wrong but their methods used to keep preservation was wrong by taking young childeren out of their homes. But doing that is very liitle different to forcing someone to join the army in a draft and that is still something that the Americans have preserved. Whether its forcing someone out of their homes into boarding schools or forcing someone into a branch of the United States military and reserves is morally unsatisfying.
In the White Man's Image was a very compelling video that heightened my knowledge of relations between Native Americans and the white man. In history classes, the concept of manifest destiny is traditionally covered in good detail. We learn how the "god-given duty" to expand westward influenced the way our country went about its growth. We do not see, however, the cultural aspects of manifest destiny, and how certain beliefs and ideals can be interwoven into the task of expansion. The film did a phenomenal job of exposing this aspect of manifest destiny, while simultaneously giving a significant amount of information on Native American history.
the movie shows something that i already had realized for knowing people with a vast cultural values differing from mine. No matter where you go in the world people will believe that their values and traditions are the right ones, therefore they are better than everybody else. People are too afraid of not being good enough in their society, so they over rule the minorities so they feel powerful and better about themselves, it is all about being in control.
I really just want to comment about how even though these schools were supposed to be turning these so called un civilized native Americans into civilized white Americans. But during and after the children went to these schools and completed these programs they still were not accepted by the white community, and were treated like second class citizens. It is hypocritical for people to support a program like this where they are supposed to change people to act more like themselves, and then once they have done that they are still not treated as equals. Its confusing why white Americans even tried this in the first place if they weren't going to accept these people into their society after they stripped them of everything they have and gave them similar values to themselves.
I thought this movie was intersting and as andrew said, showed the hippocritical views of the americans. I agree with the white supplying Native Americans with schools, but they shold not be forced to enter then. If the schools were used to conform the Natives into more American, they should then be treated as equal o the whites. If they arent treated equal they shouldnt be forced to act like they are equal.
i agree with osman and sarah i for one though the indans where so cool and their costums and life styles where way better than any american life style at the time. Its so wrong to change a race
26 comments:
this video was very interesting i didnt know about anything about this until i saw this video i found it very messed up how americans would take children away from there framilies the children suffered alot but it was a good way of teaching them how to do new things and leaqrn about life through another culture
This was a very interesting video. I thought it did a very good job revealing how American's viewed the Native American's as a whole. It seems that the US Government targeted the Native American tribes as a road block in the way of their ever-expanding nation. Just as Hitler did with the young in Nazi Germany, the US took the young Native American's and educated them so they would effectively fall in line with the society in power at the time.
I see your point, but I don’t know if I would be so quick to jump to parallel this to the Hitler youth program. The big problem I find with this is that they essentially rounded up children to be brainwashed and didn’t even succeed at that. Had the program truly just been for the purpose of “educating the savages,” I wouldn’t have such a problem with that. What the (white) Americans created was hardship for the families that sent their children away, and a bunch of angry, lonely, and confused Native American children.
p.s.- I do not actually think that the Native Americans were savages, I was referring to the common view of the time.
when i saw this movie i could understand how like everyone elses that the native americans were treated so harshly. in my opinion i think that instead of ruining there way of life i thik the white man shoudeve looked beyond the indians looks and actions and try to see that the indians were equal to them but had there own veiws and that both cultures shoudeve gone and found a way so that they both can live in america without trying to harm each other and to learn and benifit from each other. maybee then the white man woudeve understood that what they did was wrong and they should find a way to right this terible wrong.
I agree with both Jon and Rachel in that it is not quite accurate to compare the treatment that the Native Americans suffered with that of the Jewish population in Nazi Germany. The purpose of the school systems was to essentially destroy the Native American culture, which was devastating to the Native Americans, and indirectly the population, but it was not a system of directly ending the lives of the Native Americans. In regards to Jon's comment about the Hitler Youth, I also don't think that the Carlisle School is comparable in that the Hitler Youth programs appealed to the majority of the population by promoting and glorifying the German culture, as opposed to the intention of destroying it. Also, the conditions by which children were included and maintained in the Hilter Youth programs were much better than the Native American school systems; the most prominent difference is the qualification of the German youth as the majority and the superior culture, whereas the Native merican children were of the race viewed at the time as inferior.
I agree with John and Kelly that even though there are similarities, the nazi youth program was different than the native american white man conflict. I found it very discomforting to discover that the white men thought of the native americans as an experiment. It just goes to show the manipulative, superior, and all powerful feelings that the white community had.
Also, in regards to Rachel's comment, assimilation (in my opinion) can be a degrading and painful task for a culture to undergo. I do not believe by any means assimilation should be undermined.
This video was interesting to me because I had heard a little about the schools before but never new the extent to which they were ran. It surprised me how the Americans just took the native American children from their homes and turned them into "Americans". It also surprised me that they had the place run like a military camp with bells and whistles. I was also surprised that they were granted to live with other American families.
Allison Shea
I had also known about these schools before the movie. I thought the movie did a good job of making the schools become more real to the viewer. However, I noticed that the video seemed biased. The people talking were often descendents of people who were at the schools and thus they often talked negatively of the schools. I am not saying that the schools were a good idea or fair, I am just pointing out that the video was not fair. I think that the movie would have been better if the white man’s goals were also considered a little more.
Allison Shea
I agree with Rachel that the Nazi program was very different. They did not allow for a chance to assimilate, they simply murdered the Jews and people who were different. In that way I think that what the Americans were trying to do was nicer. It is at least better than the previous thoughts that whites had held, “the only good Indian is a dead one.”
I know some true native Americans and they are very respectful people and we both agree that what the colonists did to them was wrong they were stripped of their identity and all their land they still haven't recovered from what our ancestors did to them many are still living on the reservation in poverty and just barely getting by all because we decided that we will make everyone do what we say or we will kill them and take it and like Allie said assimilation is very hard for people to except our ancestors stripped them of everything that defined the natives and that's not right because it wasn't our land to take in the first place people need to learn to coexist with each other instead of forcing beliefs down their throats the colonists left Europe for this reason yet they turned around and did it to the natives its a viscous circle and until we do something about it its going to happen again and again
I agree with what Ethan said, history repeats itself and until we find a way to coexist, there will always be some kind of turmoil going on.
I knew about the schools that were set up to teach the Indian children, but I had never seen them in that light or so in depth. It surprised me that the Indians let the white people take their children voluntarily, I was under the impression that they were forced to go into these schools. Even though I feel the schools were wrong and were created with bad intentions, I believe that they did serve something good by keeping the Indian children out of the poverty that most tribes were experiencing. I agree with Rachel and Jon, I don’t believe that what the white man were doing was similar to the Nazis, it was more humane and they were giving the Native Americans a chance to be a part of the society not just exterminate them.
I thought this video was very interesting it showed me a lot of new interesting facts that I didn't know about the history between the Native Americans and the White men.
i did not find this movie surprising in anyway. It has been seen throughout history that anyone different has been forced to into oppression. It is not suprising that the white man tried to change the native american ways.
This film was well made. It was also very informative. I knew about the cruel things that Americans did to Indians back then to a point. However, I don't think I new or fully understood how the Americans put the Indians into boarding schools. This is new knowledge to me that I am glad to have learned.
For me, this movie was rather surprising. I once again find myself feeling ignorant to how the US acted on this matter. I guess I did not realize the extent to which the US went to enforce these laws. I feel embarrassed for my country that we could ever be so short sighted. The more we watch movies and learn about our country it becomes harder and harder for me to watch. Some above talked about history repeating itself and the more I think about that, the more I worry for our nation.
What I saw in that film was the Americans trying to preserve their ancestral heritage. What they did was not right nor was it wrong. The Americans had many resaons as to why they did what they did. One resaon was to preserve the white mans image. That wasn't fully wrong but their methods used to keep preservation was wrong by taking young childeren out of their homes. But doing that is very liitle different to forcing someone to join the army in a draft and that is still something that the Americans have preserved. Whether its forcing someone out of their homes into boarding schools or forcing someone into a branch of the United States military and reserves is morally unsatisfying.
In the White Man's Image was a very compelling video that heightened my knowledge of relations between Native Americans and the white man. In history classes, the concept of manifest destiny is traditionally covered in good detail. We learn how the "god-given duty" to expand westward influenced the way our country went about its growth. We do not see, however, the cultural aspects of manifest destiny, and how certain beliefs and ideals can be interwoven into the task of expansion. The film did a phenomenal job of exposing this aspect of manifest destiny, while simultaneously giving a significant amount of information on Native American history.
the movie shows something that i already had realized for knowing people with a vast cultural values differing from mine. No matter where you go in the world people will believe that their values and traditions are the right ones, therefore they are better than everybody else. People are too afraid of not being good enough in their society, so they over rule the minorities so they feel powerful and better about themselves, it is all about being in control.
I really just want to comment about how even though these schools were supposed to be turning these so called un civilized native Americans into civilized white Americans. But during and after the children went to these schools and completed these programs they still were not accepted by the white community, and were treated like second class citizens. It is hypocritical for people to support a program like this where they are supposed to change people to act more like themselves, and then once they have done that they are still not treated as equals. Its confusing why white Americans even tried this in the first place if they weren't going to accept these people into their society after they stripped them of everything they have and gave them similar values to themselves.
I thought this movie was intersting and as andrew said, showed the hippocritical views of the americans. I agree with the white supplying Native Americans with schools, but they shold not be forced to enter then. If the schools were used to conform the Natives into more American, they should then be treated as equal o the whites. If they arent treated equal they shouldnt be forced to act like they are equal.
I was absent the day we watched this video.
i agree with what sara said....its wrong to take children away from their families and try to strip them of their identities.
i agree with osman and sarah i for one though the indans where so cool and their costums and life styles where way better than any american life style at the time. Its so wrong to change a race
Post a Comment