Monday, February 28, 2011

PERIOD 3 - 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.

40 comments:

Nicky Simard said...

I thought the video "White Man's Image" was very interesting. It gave me a better look at how some of the whites treated the Native Americans at the time and how strongly the whites believed the Native Americans to be uncivilized. The white people also did a lot to try to convert the Native Americans to their culture and to talk and act as they did. I am partially Native American and I am always interested to learn more about Native American history.

Ellen Donahue said...

I thought that "White Man's Image" was interesting because some of the schools it talked about were in the 20th century. When I imagine struggles between Native Americans and whites I imagine it taking place two or three hundred years ago, so to hear stories from relatively recently told by one man who actually went to one of the schools was interesting.

Ellen Donahue said...

In response to Nicky's comment, it's good that you were able to somewhat relate to the Native Americans through your heritage. I cannot, so I wonder how differently I would view it if I was partially Native American. I think it was horrible regardless, but it must be unsettling to see the discomfort your ancestors were put through.

Nicky Simard said...

In response to Ellen's comment, I think that by having someone speak about what they actually went to goes to show how after so many years of treaties and attempts at change, the Native Americans were still being asked by the white people to change some part about themselves.

Jenny Volpe said...

I thought that the video "White Man's Image" was intriguing because I am not very familiar with the Americanization of the Native Americans. I knew that it happened in history but I did not know to what extent. As a parent of one of these children I don't know how I would have been able to give up my child for such experimentation. I think that it was cruel and selfish of White American's to even think up this type of a school especially because the Indians were living in the land long before the White American's were.

Jenny Volpe said...

I agree with Ellen that hearing the story through a man who went to the school was interesting. Also, I think it is neat of Nicky to share that she is part Native American because I never knew that about her!

Jen Bracey said...

I thought the film "White Man's Image" gave me a greater understanding to how whites treated Native Americans at that time. I think it's unfair how they treated the Native Americans and prevented them from practicing their culture. It was selfish of the whites to take control over the Native Americans when the Native Americans were the ones who occupied the land before the whites settled there. It shows the sense of superiority and power whites felt they had over Native Americans.

Jen Bracey said...

I agree with Ellen, it was cool to hear about a man's story at one of the schools. It was interesting to hear it from his perspective as someone who attended the school more recently.

Isaiah M said...

The movie "white man's image" portrays the unjust circumstances that the native Americans endured. they were forced to leave their homes and reservations by the white man and were also forced to learn white american culture. i think that this was disrespectful and unfair to the natives.

Steph Debs said...

I thought the video "White Man's Image" did a good job showing what it was like for the Native Americans to be Americanized. The Americans thought that they lived the right way and needed to teach the Native Americans how to live. The whites took over a hundred children away from their families to teach them in a school. I also learned that the Americans broke many treaties with the Native Americans which seems very unfair to them because they trusted them with their children. Watching this film made me realize that the White Americans were very untrustworthy and stubborn.

Steph Debs said...

I agree with Ellen because it was a bit surprising that this happened not too long ago. I also think that it was interesting to see a man who actually went to the school. I didn’t know how short of time ago the struggle between Native Americans and white men took place.

Nick said...

The video was indeed informative and intriguing. Although I cannot personally relate to the Native American's plight, I feel sympathy for them as they have been cast down and betrayed by the white man for countless years.

Nick said...

In response to Ellen's comment, I too imagined the same thing she did. I found this video enlightening and empowering.

Isaiah M said...

i agree with Bracey because you can't come into a land that was already occupied by someone, take it and try to change the people that leave in it. i believe that that surely is selfish

Berit Bancroft said...

Watching the film “White Man’s Image” was eye opening for me. I was able to see just how disrespectful and controlling the whites were in that time. They believed that their way of living was the only way. Also to think that this was happening not too long ago is shocking to me because I would like to believe that our country has come a long way in terms of viewing equality but I am always amazed to see that many of these things happened relatively recently.

Kasey Murphy said...

Watching "white mans image" was very interesting and eyeopening. I would have never guessed that the whites would treat the native americans in such a unhuman like way. They definetly used their upperhand and power to succeed.

kasey Murphy said...

I agree wiht jen that it was unfair that the whites made the native americans give up their culture, way of life and beliefs.

Brenton Croteau said...

"White Man's Image" portrays the lengths that the Americans took in order to assimilite the Native Americans. Through stripping the Indians of their culture and homes, and forcing traditional American customs and education on them, they attempted to re-invent the Native American population. When thinking about the conflicting interests at hand, I personalize the situation. If all of the WHS students were told to throw out all of their norms and values, the reaction would be highly negative

Brenton Croteau said...

I agree with Jen in that it provides insight about the absolute truth of the situation. Many people think that the United States has always been fair and civil, when in reality, it has had low points, like every other country.

Jess Ward said...

I agreed with Nicky, it gave me a different view on how whites treated the natives. Last year in history we talked a little about how they would take them from their homes and bring them to white towns and cut their hair and make them go to school to get an education. The whites probably thought they were helping create a more civil country but they were destroying the native americans identity.

Fernando Silva said...

After watching the video "White Man's Image" I realized how poorly the Native Americans were treated by the whites, and how unfair and rutheless the white americans were, not recognizing the Native Americans rights, and depriving them from their own culture.

Fernando Silva said...

I agree with Nicky, after watching the video I understood more and realized how the native americans were viewed by the whites. They weren't respected, and viewed as savages. That is not how we should treat a group of people, even though the culture is different.

Taylor S said...

This video showed the harsh ways the natve americans were treated by the whites. The whits thought they were superior to the natives. I belive the whites had no right to take the natives from their land.

Gabby King said...

I thought this video showed the harsh reality of what the Native Americans were put through. The whites were very selfish and completely altered their way of life. They changed the Native Americans to become white people and ruined the Native American families. I feel bad for the Native Americans that they had to go through this and the whites were being very controlling and powerful.

Taylor s said...

In response to Nicky's comment also i can relate as well. I am forty percent Native American. Watching this angered me in by saying the Native Americans werent on the same level as the WHites

Gabby King said...

I agree with Steph how it was very unfair for the whites to break the treaties they made with the Native Americans. They had trust in the whites but all of that trust was broken.

xoxivette said...

I thought the video "White Man's Image" was an interesting video to watch. It spoke about how Native American kids were taken from their reservations and away from all their families in order for them to go to white reform schools. At the schools they trained the Native American children to do common work and to study the english language. I thought it was very interesting to watch because I never really understood the whole ordeal of civilizing the Native Americans and watching most of this movie really opened my eyes as to how they did it.

xoxivette said...
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xoxivette said...

I agree with Jen Volpe because I too knew that it happened but not how or to what extent. And what she said about not knowing if I could give up my child for such experiments is very true because I imagine it was very hard for the Native Americans to give up what may have been their only family. I know the movie talked about how family was a huge aspect in the Native American culture so I imagine that it must have been extremely difficult to go through with.

Rachael King said...

I was deeply disturbed by the video "White Man's Image." I think it is terrible that they went to such drastic measures to convert the Indians. The American's were too ignorant to believe that although the Native Americans have a different culture then most, it is still a fully functional way of life and no one has the right to try to change that

Rachael King said...

I agree with Ellen's comment. I thought that the struggles that went on between the white's and the Native American's took place a lot longer ago then what the movie showed

Natalie Donabedian said...

The film "White Man's Image" was a bit disturbing to me. I had learned a bit about what was shown last year in my US History class but to see a video put everything in perspective. I think it's unfair how the white men kind of took hold of the Native Americans and made them conform to their lifestyles.

Natalie Donabedian said...

I agree with Rachael's comment. The Americans were acting with pure ignorance. Who are they to judge another group's way of life? If it works for the Native Americans then it should be of no concern to the Americans.

Jack said...

I thought the "white man's image" was a very interesting depiction of the life put opon the native americans. This showed the lack of respect the whites showed towards the natives. It also explained methods of whites taking controle of the "uncivilized" people.

Jack said...
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Jack said...

I agree with rachel. I feel this video was very disturbing in many ways. The fact that the whites were able to take their land along with striping them of their culture its truely upsetting.

Tony Silva said...

The clip that we watched the other day really put how unfairly the native Americans were treated in perspective. The white people stripped them of there freedom, rights, and land which is unconstituional.

Tony silva said...

I agree with with Ellen that this film really put things into perspective. When I thought of whites and native American struggles I always assume it took back hundreds of years ago, when in reality it's a struggle that still goes on today.

clark masterson said...

I believe the video "white man's image" was very eye-opening. I knew the natives were treated terribly, but I had no idea how cruelly the whites attempted to integrate them into their society. I believe this movie is important because it was very educational and could help prevent things like this from happening again.

Richard Packer said...

I thought the film was very much an example of how native societies were viewed, as uncivilized. What the school tried to do to the native americans was not very different from what many Spanish monasteries tried to do in Central and South America. It's one of those recurring themes in white history, how whites have tried to "reform" or "civilize" other people's and races due to a complete lack of cultural awareness or openness.