Journal #1 Native Americans

The things I know about Native American culture are pretty standard. It bothers me when people call them Native Americans because technically they aren't native to America. They'd been here a long time before the white man showed up, but they had to migrate here like everyone else. I was in the a museum once and saw a sign that said they had most likely migrated from Northern Asia across the Bering Strait when it was still connected.

In some ways, their way of life was a lot less complicated than our lives are today. Many of them were nomadic and traveled around a specific region each year in search of food. They respected the land and tried not do do anything damaging other than what was necessary. They had a fantastic sense of community within the tribe. the leader of the tribe was chosen by the rest of the tribe, and the leader made most of the descions. He could be overruled by the other members of the tribe though. Based on what I've read for my book in A.P. U.S. History, the American Indians' political system sounds a lot better than ours as far as corrupt politicians.

Their lifestyle was also harder than ours today. We don't have to hunt and roam the earth in search of our food most of the time. That's really only a recreational activity now.

I know that women were treated much better in their society than ours were treated at the time. Women were treated with respect in the tribe, and some of them carried quite a lot of weight. I love how if a woman wanted to divorce her husband, all she had to do was put his hunting gear outside their dwelling. I can't remember what tribe that was, but I like it.

I remember from history class that the Native Americans were polytheistic. They had many gods they worshiped and prayed to for any number of things. Even though the European people saw them as heathen people without a religion, they were really a very religious people. They always have very interesting stories about their religion, which are cool even if you don't believe the things they do.