This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
PERIOD 4 - WHITE MAN'S IMAGE
Over the past two days, we watched and discussed the documentary, In the White Man's Image. Please post your thoughts about the film.
33 comments:
Jill Gardner
said...
The documentary, “The White Man’s Image”, showed how the Native Americans were poorly treated. Their land was taken away from them, and they were assimilated into the primary culture. Their buffalo were killed, and they had to wear United States military uniforms and cut their hair. Schools were built for them to learn industrial tasks to help them survive in their new lives. I thought this film did a good job describing how badly the Native Americans were treated.
I believe the documentary on native Americans that was shown today was surprisingly sad. Not sad in the teary eye kind of way;however, I felt like my country let me down for being so cruel. Although we've all learned about Native Americans and their hardships in History class. This documentary put it to life and really put a face to the native cruelties we always learned about. To sum it up i'm quite disappointed in America for being such assholes.
“The White Man’s Image” showed how the country wanted to “civilize” people by making the Native Americans lose their true identities. It showed exactly how all of their rights were taken away as if it was not a big deal for the Americans. It was as if there could not be multiple cultures and traditions. I think it even parallels to the Holocaust, because in the same way, Hitler wanted one major culture under only his specific requirements. In the same way, unfortunately Americans acted similarly, by destroying the Native American’s culture and way of life and forcing extreme, unwanted changes to the Native Americans.
I agree with Brendan when he said it was surprisingly sad and disappointing to see how the Americans acted towards the Native Americans. It is surprising because we are lucky enough to currently live in a country that has greatly developed and has become increasingly more diverse and accepting. It shows how much the cultural identity has changed over years and we should be thankful our country has changed for the better.
I think that what our country did by trying to civilize the Native Americans was wrong, but at the time we believed it was right. People were so eager to get the Native Americans a low class education and convert them into Christianity. They were excited to use the Native Americans as part of the army to serve for America. I think that they did all of this because they genuinely believed that the Natives were lesser beings than whites. America was still at a point in time where they thought that it was okay to use other people like property. The education the Natives were getting was only good enough for low paying jobs which would probably work long, hard, hours, just like slaves.
I agree with Sophie, America definitely displayed that there was no room for multiple cultures and traditions in one nation. By doing so, they completely disrespected the Natives rather than making a simple compromise which would allow both parties to benefit.
I think that many people like Richard Pratt thought that they were doing the native population good by trying to as assimilate them into the white culture, and that they were just misguided. Although they believed that the natives were lesser beings, at least those that were bringing them into schools saw that they were humans that had good in them. However, I cannot imagine being taken away from my own home and getting pushed to behave like a foreign culture. What they were doing was undoubtedly wrong, but I still think that it was better than the people killing them like they were garbage.
I agree with you Brendan. Although I've always known and been ashamed of the fact that some whites have and still due think of themselves as a superior race, this movie brought to life the things that you read about in textbooks. It is much more moving to see pictures and listen to the interviews of their grandchildren than to just read about it.
“White's Mans Image” was a very interesting film. It was amazing how the white people felt that they had the power to take the kids and try to change them. A question I had after watching this was to why the parents of the Native Americans would ever let their kids go with the whites knowing what had just happened. This film left me with many questions, I think I would either have to re-watch the film or do further research on the subject in order to have them answered.
“White's Mans Image” was a very interesting film. It was amazing how the white people felt that they had the power to take the kids and try to change them. A question I had after watching this was to why the parents of the Native Americans would ever let their kids go with the whites knowing what had just happened. This film left me with many questions, I think I would either have to re-watch the film or do further research on the subject in order to have them answered.
Brendan I completely agree with you. I really wish our country did not do that because although that was not as bad as somethings in history that have occurred, it should never be forgotten and repeated. I can't believe that the U.S.A has that in our history and what we thought of as the "melting pot" was extremely racist towards African Americans.
I think the film we watched today was kinda sad but then again was sort of a good way of showing a view of how both sides feel. i think the natives didnt like what the americans were doing but in the end if they ever planned on moving forward it was a good thing that Gen. Pratt did what he did.
I agree with Sophie for some of her thoughts but if america didnt think there was room for any cultures or other traditions they wouldve never had opened those schools throughout the country. And people wouldve never volunteer
"The Whites Man's Image" displayed how the Whites tried to change the Native Americans identity. It showed how they Natives were forced to act the way the Americans wanted them. Both the Americans and the Natives had negative views toward one another just because their lives were so different. I think its horrible how the Americans treated the Natives and forced them to fit in the way they wanted them to act which caused the Natives to lose their identity. Period 4
I agree with Nicole about how cruel the Americans were to the Natives. It was horrible how they stripped them of their values and culture and forced them to fit into the American way. Period 4
shows how a person may think that he is doing the right thing for people whom he consider as wrong because they are simply different. not every different is wrong.
I think this documentary did a good job of showing how cruel americans were to people who weren't like them. It showed that americans thought that the way they lived was best and that they didn't want to accept any other cultures. I think it was terriable the way that they striped the Native Americans from their identities. I agree with Sophie because America like Nazi Germany thought that there image was better than everyone else's.
I thought that this documentary a "white man's image" did a good job of getting the people watching it to realize how cruel we can be to other cultures. The Native Americans were stripped of their culture and the "white man's image" was thrown upon them. It's honestly pathetic how groups of people can treat other groups, no one is superior, and this really pissed me off.
The White Mans Image showed how poorly the Native Americans were treated. It would have been one thing if they came and tried to take the white's land, but they were there first. The white man thought they were superior to the Natives, and forced them to try and adapt to their culture. The Native Americans were treated terribly, and if I were them I would've been pissed off.
I think the documentary did a good job at explaining how the Native Americans were poorly treated and how the white men took just about everything from them. It shows how the white men did not want to accept any people or cultures that were not like them. It shows that these white men wanted to change everyone who wasn't like them to be like them. This is cruel what they did to the Native Americans and everyone has their own right to be the person they want to be and be in the culture they want to be in
I agree with Sophie about how mind bottling it is how much our country has changed in only a couple hundred years. Not only were Native Americans treated poorly as The White Mans Image showed, but we also treated blacks terribly too. Its nuts to think how much our country has changed
The documentary, "The White Man's Image" shows how people can changes other peoples identities into what they deem normal.The indians had nointentions for learning the white mans ways until the whites forced them to do it. It is extremely sad to see how these indians were forced to do something that they just didnt want to do.The whites should have concidered the natives views before just shipping them halfway accross the country to learn the white mans ways.
I agree with Brendan. This documentary really put into perspective on how cruel and inconsiterate we were being to people who lived hear long before us.
I thought that the documentary was great. It showed both points of view and really highlighted how difficult it must have been to be a Native American during that time. They were constantly lied to and did their best to maintain their culture when the White Man was trying so hard to take it away from them. It must have been very difficult for the Native Americans.
I agree with Katie. The white men truly believed that they were doing the Native American's a favor by teaching them the "right" ways. It is amazing to me how they could possibly think they were helping the Indians.
This movie was very interesting. It showed me just how judgmental people used to be and still are. The white men believed all the problems could be solved by turning the native Americans into one of them. They took away the important values of the native Americans and forced them to be like the whites. The white men were cruel and unfair to do this to the native Americans and the native Americans couldnt do anything about it without being killed.
After watching "The White Man's Image", everything that the white men did to the Indians was just wrong. They were pretty much terrorists and took everything away from them. They white men made them change who they are and what they believed in. I think what the white men did was sad, because the natives were not doing anything wrong or being disruptive for the white men to come in and take everything away from them. The fact that in the end they ended up sending them back after the experiment was cruel since most of them died.
This documentary shows a direct example of how Americans at the time felt they needed to assimilate those of different cultures in order to expand the nation. This shows a level of irony in the growth of America because of the contradicting elements of gaining independence and oppressing another culture for the sake of self-expansion.
I thought the film “The White Man’s Image” was extremely depressing. The way people could take Native Americans and change their whole lifestyle is extremely cruel. By starting with the kids in order to wipe out all knowledge of Native Americans for the future is just as bad as killing them all off. The way they made Indians assimilate to white man’s culture is similar to the Holocaust in the way that they are trying to kill off an entire population of people because they don’t agree with their beliefs.
i think that this documentary was sad and it really made me realize how poorly the native americans were treated. i think it is awful that they basically had to lose their identities and change their whole way of life just because the white men didn't approve of them. its pretty sick to think that people could treat them so bad and take such advantage of them.
33 comments:
The documentary, “The White Man’s Image”, showed how the Native Americans were poorly treated. Their land was taken away from them, and they were assimilated into the primary culture. Their buffalo were killed, and they had to wear United States military uniforms and cut their hair. Schools were built for them to learn industrial tasks to help them survive in their new lives. I thought this film did a good job describing how badly the Native Americans were treated.
I believe the documentary on native Americans that was shown today was surprisingly sad. Not sad in the teary eye kind of way;however, I felt like my country let me down for being so cruel. Although we've all learned about Native Americans and their hardships in History class. This documentary put it to life and really put a face to the native cruelties we always learned about. To sum it up i'm quite disappointed in America for being such assholes.
“The White Man’s Image” showed how the country wanted to “civilize” people by making the Native Americans lose their true identities. It showed exactly how all of their rights were taken away as if it was not a big deal for the Americans. It was as if there could not be multiple cultures and traditions. I think it even parallels to the Holocaust, because in the same way, Hitler wanted one major culture under only his specific requirements. In the same way, unfortunately Americans acted similarly, by destroying the Native American’s culture and way of life and forcing extreme, unwanted changes to the Native Americans.
I agree with Brendan when he said it was surprisingly sad and disappointing to see how the Americans acted towards the Native Americans. It is surprising because we are lucky enough to currently live in a country that has greatly developed and has become increasingly more diverse and accepting. It shows how much the cultural identity has changed over years and we should be thankful our country has changed for the better.
I think that what our country did by trying to civilize the Native Americans was wrong, but at the time we believed it was right. People were so eager to get the Native Americans a low class education and convert them into Christianity. They were excited to use the Native Americans as part of the army to serve for America. I think that they did all of this because they genuinely believed that the Natives were lesser beings than whites. America was still at a point in time where they thought that it was okay to use other people like property. The education the Natives were getting was only good enough for low paying jobs which would probably work long, hard, hours, just like slaves.
I agree with Sophie, America definitely displayed that there was no room for multiple cultures and traditions in one nation. By doing so, they completely disrespected the Natives rather than making a simple compromise which would allow both parties to benefit.
I think that many people like Richard Pratt thought that they were doing the native population good by trying to as assimilate them into the white culture, and that they were just misguided. Although they believed that the natives were lesser beings, at least those that were bringing them into schools saw that they were humans that had good in them. However, I cannot imagine being taken away from my own home and getting pushed to behave like a foreign culture. What they were doing was undoubtedly wrong, but I still think that it was better than the people killing them like they were garbage.
I agree with you Brendan. Although I've always known and been ashamed of the fact that some whites have and still due think of themselves as a superior race, this movie brought to life the things that you read about in textbooks. It is much more moving to see pictures and listen to the interviews of their grandchildren than to just read about it.
“White's Mans Image” was a very interesting film. It was amazing how the white people felt that they had the power to take the kids and try to change them. A question I had after watching this was to why the parents of the Native Americans would ever let their kids go with the whites knowing what had just happened. This film left me with many questions, I think I would either have to re-watch the film or do further research on the subject in order to have them answered.
“White's Mans Image” was a very interesting film. It was amazing how the white people felt that they had the power to take the kids and try to change them. A question I had after watching this was to why the parents of the Native Americans would ever let their kids go with the whites knowing what had just happened. This film left me with many questions, I think I would either have to re-watch the film or do further research on the subject in order to have them answered.
Brendan I completely agree with you. I really wish our country did not do that because although that was not as bad as somethings in history that have occurred, it should never be forgotten and repeated. I can't believe that the U.S.A has that in our history and what we thought of as the "melting pot" was extremely racist towards African Americans.
I think the film we watched today was kinda sad but then again was sort of a good way of showing a view of how both sides feel. i think the natives didnt like what the americans were doing but in the end if they ever planned on moving forward it was a good thing that Gen. Pratt did what he did.
I agree with Sophie for some of her thoughts but if america didnt think there was room for any cultures or other traditions they wouldve never had opened those schools throughout the country. And people wouldve never volunteer
"The Whites Man's Image" displayed how the Whites tried to change the Native Americans identity. It showed how they Natives were forced to act the way the Americans wanted them. Both the Americans and the Natives had negative views toward one another just because their lives were so different. I think its horrible how the Americans treated the Natives and forced them to fit in the way they wanted them to act which caused the Natives to lose their identity.
Period 4
I agree with Nicole about how cruel the Americans were to the Natives. It was horrible how they stripped them of their values and culture and forced them to fit into the American way.
Period 4
shows how a person may think that he is doing the right thing for people whom he consider as wrong because they are simply different.
not every different is wrong.
I think this documentary did a good job of showing how cruel americans were to people who weren't like them. It showed that americans thought that the way they lived was best and that they didn't want to accept any other cultures. I think it was terriable the way that they striped the Native Americans from their identities. I agree with Sophie because America like Nazi Germany thought that there image was better than everyone else's.
I thought that this documentary a "white man's image" did a good job of getting the people watching it to realize how cruel we can be to other cultures. The Native Americans were stripped of their culture and the "white man's image" was thrown upon them. It's honestly pathetic how groups of people can treat other groups, no one is superior, and this really pissed me off.
The White Mans Image showed how poorly the Native Americans were treated. It would have been one thing if they came and tried to take the white's land, but they were there first. The white man thought they were superior to the Natives, and forced them to try and adapt to their culture. The Native Americans were treated terribly, and if I were them I would've been pissed off.
I think the documentary did a good job at explaining how the Native Americans were poorly treated and how the white men took just about everything from them. It shows how the white men did not want to accept any people or cultures that were not like them. It shows that these white men wanted to change everyone who wasn't like them to be like them. This is cruel what they did to the Native Americans and everyone has their own right to be the person they want to be and be in the culture they want to be in
I agree with Sophie about how mind bottling it is how much our country has changed in only a couple hundred years. Not only were Native Americans treated poorly as The White Mans Image showed, but we also treated blacks terribly too. Its nuts to think how much our country has changed
The documentary, "The White Man's Image" shows how people can changes other peoples identities into what they deem normal.The indians had nointentions for learning the white mans ways until the whites forced them to do it. It is extremely sad to see how these indians were forced to do something that they just didnt want to do.The whites should have concidered the natives views before just shipping them halfway accross the country to learn the white mans ways.
I agree with Brendan. This documentary really put into perspective on how cruel and inconsiterate we were being to people who lived hear long before us.
I thought that the documentary was great. It showed both points of view and really highlighted how difficult it must have been to be a Native American during that time. They were constantly lied to and did their best to maintain their culture when the White Man was trying so hard to take it away from them. It must have been very difficult for the Native Americans.
I agree with Katie. The white men truly believed that they were doing the Native American's a favor by teaching them the "right" ways. It is amazing to me how they could possibly think they were helping the Indians.
This movie was very interesting. It showed me just how judgmental people used to be and still are. The white men believed all the problems could be solved by turning the native Americans into one of them. They took away the important values of the native Americans and forced them to be like the whites. The white men were cruel and unfair to do this to the native Americans and the native Americans couldnt do anything about it without being killed.
After watching "The White Man's Image", everything that the white men did to the Indians was just wrong. They were pretty much terrorists and took everything away from them. They white men made them change who they are and what they believed in. I think what the white men did was sad, because the natives were not doing anything wrong or being disruptive for the white men to come in and take everything away from them. The fact that in the end they ended up sending them back after the experiment was cruel since most of them died.
This documentary shows a direct example of how Americans at the time felt they needed to assimilate those of different cultures in order to expand the nation. This shows a level of irony in the growth of America because of the contradicting elements of gaining independence and oppressing another culture for the sake of self-expansion.
In response to Annie's comment,
I agree very much that it was pathetic what the white men at the time did to the native Americans and their culture.
I thought the film “The White Man’s Image” was extremely depressing. The way people could take Native Americans and change their whole lifestyle is extremely cruel. By starting with the kids in order to wipe out all knowledge of Native Americans for the future is just as bad as killing them all off. The way they made Indians assimilate to white man’s culture is similar to the Holocaust in the way that they are trying to kill off an entire population of people because they don’t agree with their beliefs.
I was absent this day.
i think that this documentary was sad and it really made me realize how poorly the native americans were treated. i think it is awful that they basically had to lose their identities and change their whole way of life just because the white men didn't approve of them. its pretty sick to think that people could treat them so bad and take such advantage of them.
It's terrible that we thought of the Indians as sub-human and felt we had to fix tem.
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