I have always been drawn to the Native American cultures, especially my ancestors, the Cherokee. Native Americans have struggled throughout the last three hundred years to maintain their heritage and their culture interest me greatly. I have often wondered what it was like to live among them, to learn their ways. I am saddened by their plight and by the blatant disregard the American government has toward one of the most peaceful people on the earth. No other nation has had more treaties broken between itself and the United States. Americans use derogatory terms like Indian Giver, which means to give something and then take it back. That statement is backwards. It is the white people, the Europeans, that gave and then took back. The Europeans came and took their land by force, by treachery and deceit, using whatever highly unethical means they could to do it.
As a student of higher education, I have learned very little about the plight of the Native Americans. We do not learn about the brutal, disgusting ways our white ancestors dealt with the Native American Nations. We learn about other countries’ atrocities against human kind, such as, Adolf Hitler and his extermination project during World War II or Saddam Hussein’s torture of his own people; however, we never hear about America’s dark past. It is covered over with positive reasoning and swept under the rug. For instance, did you know that Christopher Columbus’ men “smashed [Native American] babies’ heads on rocks in front of their mothers” or that they “sliced people in two for fun, in bets over whose sword was the sharpest” or that the Native Americans called the Pilgrims “cut-throat” people because those same Christian and supposedly civilized people invited the Natives to eat with them and then slit their throats (Roppolo)?
Today, Native Americans strive to keep their culture alive for their descendants. My interest lies in helping them do that. I want to further my education so that I may be of some help to the Native Americans, whose blood runs in my veins. When I discovered that Dr. Lucas, a Communications Professor at Ohio University, had spent a full year living with the Shawnee, I could not pass up the opportunity to hear of his adventure and to find out for myself how the Native Americans view the world around them and how they keep their traditions alive.
Dr. David Lucas is a tenured faculty member of Ohio University Southern and has been with the university twenty-one years. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and another in Communication Studies at the University of Kentucky. He obtained a Master’s degree in Communication Studies from Marshall University and an additional Master’s degree in International Studies with an emphasis in Latin American Studies from Ohio University. He finished his Doctorate in Higher Education through Ohio University, as well. His humble office is littered with Native American décor. There are Navajo blankets here and there and books and magazines on Native American culture strewn around his office. At the time of our interview, Lucas is nicely dressed and his head sports the remains of his annual, summer mohawk hairstyle. His demeanor is respectful and it is apparent that he holds all Native Americans in high honor.
Lucas was born and raised in Freetown, Indiana. His home property is on a former Miami (pronounced Me-ah-me) village site. Lucas is a descendant of the Huron tribe and is proud of his Native American heritage. The Miami and the Huron Native American tribes were allies and both were indigenous to the Indiana territory. Through the guidance of his grandmother, a full-blood Wyandotte (pronounced Wan-dote-tay) Native American, Lucas learned the ways of his ancestors while growing up.
By the age of twelve, he knew he had to quest for his Native American name. According to Lucas, Native Americans name their children differently than other world cultures. In Native American culture, when a child is born, he or she is given a temporary name. Once the child reaches a certain age, he or she must go on their name quest. The first step is to make a smudge, a small bunch of dried grasses and herbs. It is up to the person making the smudge what grasses and herbs they are going to use to make it. A popular herb used is sweet grass, a sweet smelling grass used as a sachet or spread upon the floor of the wigwam to repel odors. It grows in marshy areas and used to grow abundantly in the Ohio area. The young David Lucas gathered his herbs and grasses together and entered a wooded area near his home. It is required that one fasts while on their name quest; therefore, he only drank water for the three days of his journey. He waited all day along the edge of a path for some form of sign among the bramble and bushes, and around four o’clock, a red fox trotted down the path. He knew that it was a sign, but he wasn’t sure where it would lead. He went home and returned to the woods the next day. Again he waited all day and nothing happened until around four o’clock. To his surprise, a gray fox trotted up the path. Again, David returned home, not exactly sure what the significance of the two foxes was. The next day he entered the woods for what would be his third and final time. He waited until around four-thirty and to his amazement the red fox came down the path and the gray fox came up the path and when they both met, they fought each other right in front of him. He thought at that moment, after fasting for three days and waiting patiently, that he had finally been guided to his Native American name: Warrior Fox. He described the experience as being very spiritual, and he has never forgotten it. Although Lucas has not formally studied Native American studies, throughout his adult life, he has continued to learn and grow in his heritage by learning through experience with the Shawnee tribe and through reading.
When Lucas had completed his degrees and moved to the Southern Ohio area, he started noticing the name of the Shawnee tribe everywhere he went, such as Shawnee State University, Shawnee Used Cars, Shawnee Computers, etc. He became involved with the local Boy Scouts of America, and during his first real experience as a leader, at Boy Scout camp, he observed a Native American re-enactment. He was appalled by what he saw. He was embarrassed and remembers:
You know, a couple of guys got sheets and wrapped them around and I thought they were Arabs instead of [sic], or Ku Klux Klan, I couldn’t tell which. They were attempting to portray the Native American culture, and it made me angry for the boys, and it made me angry that it was such a slough off for a culture that I deeply respect.
After witnessing the poor portrayal of Native American culture, Lucas began searching for information on the Shawnee. Because the tribes relied on an oral history told from generation to generation, there was little written record of the Shawnee, or any Native American culture for that matter. They utilized symbolic signs or pictographs to communicate in writing, which, according to Lucas, developed into a type of pictograph shorthand over time. He noted that at one time, in the 1700s, a couple of men came from the East to conduct research and were “able to compile a short alphabet and language for the Shawnee.” Their language is comprised of fewer words than that of the English language. Lucas, after much searching, was able to find a published Shawnee vocabulary dictionary. He showed me two of the books, volumes fourteen and twenty-one. They were originally published in 1860 and were entitled, “Denny’s Vocabulary of Shawnee” by Ebenezer Denny (Denny). The books are very small with a list of English words along with the Shawnee word and correct pronunciation inside.
In the course of his research, Lucas unfortunately discovered that there were very few Shawnee still remaining in the Southern Ohio area. He mentioned there were Shawnee in the Bellefonte, Ohio area; however, they were not full blood Shawnee. He directed his search to the internet and began to seek out literature and was disappointed with his results. After studying in that manner for some time, he finally called the tribal chieftain in Oklahoma and introduced himself. Lucas made it clear to the chieftain that although he wanted to conduct research, he wanted the “full truth” about the Shawnee. He had no intention of interfering in any way. He was granted permission to study the Shawnee on their reservation and his journey began, a journey that would lead him into the heart of a people long forgotten and would leave him changed forever after.
When Lucas began speaking about the Native Americans, the atmosphere in the room changed. Suddenly, the air was heavy with anticipation and respect. I knew then that I would always remember this interview. The sense of pride and deep respect that he holds for the Native Americans is profound. His entire body language changed. Surrounded by Native American motif, he became quiet, yet poised for action as he spoke. In a hushed voice, he began with a brief history of the Shawnee tribe.
The Shawnee first came into contact with the white man, the French, along the Ohio River, or Oyo, meaning “Beautiful River;” however, the tribe extended further north to Chillicothe and beyond, spreading in all directions. According to Dr. Lucas, Chilogatha, meaning “First Man Town,” was the main Shawnee village on the outskirts of town, named so because the chief resided there; however, the white man was unable to pronounce the name of the village so, it became Chillicothe. The same thing happened with the name of the tribe. The Shawnoa became the Shawnee to the white man.
Lucas went on to explain that after the Greenville Treaty of 1795 (United States Government) and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, (Fixico) orchestrated and implemented by President Andrew Jackson, the Shawnee, along with numerous other Native American tribes, were forced west of the Mississippi. They were forced to give up their homeland again and to give up their heritage. According to Lucas, it went much deeper than the loss of their land. He became very quiet for a moment. I could tell he was deeply moved by what he was about to say. He quietly related to me that the various tribes did not believe that it was their land to sell or cede to the United States. They did not believe that the United States had a right to it either. It was not either of theirs to sell to the other. Lucas mentioned Tecumseh[1], a Shawnee Warrior leader, who, according to Lucas, was an odd man. Odd because he was over six feet tall and “he was well spoken, a good orator because he couldn’t read and write” (Lucas). Tecumseh had formed an alliance with the Midwestern tribes and was joined by his brother, Tenskwataya, also known as “The Prophet.” Both of them believed that, “Native Americans held collective rights to land that could not be sold or bartered without the consent of all” (Pritker) Tecumseh himself addressed the Governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison on August 12, 1810. In his speech he stated the following regarding the barter of the land of his forefathers: “That it [the continent] then all belonged to red men, children of the same parents, placed on it by the Great Sprit that made them, to keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its productions, and to fill it with the same race. Once a happy race” (Tecumseh). Tecumseh went on to say, “no part has a right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers; those who want all, and will not do with less. The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because they had it first; it is theirs” (Tecumseh). The Shawnee and other tribes fruitlessly fought for their lands and were eventually forced west into reservations, which, according to Lucas was an abysmal failure. He describes it as “artificial ways to handle their [the government] relationship with the Native Americans. I mean, it’s like taking them a herd of buffalo and dropping them on the ground and saying ‘here, eat this’ and then later, when the buffalo are all gone then ‘here, take this beef’ and it was full of worms” (Lucas). To put it in perspective he explains,
If somebody rushed in here, grabbed you, and took you to some remote part of India or China and dropped you and said ‘Now survive.’ What would you do? Where would you begin? You couldn’t speak their language. You had none of your elements that you normally have, none of your resources, none of your tools that you normally carry with you, and so you sort of start scratching it out, but it takes you years to recover, if you ever recover, and emotionally and mentally, you’re exhausted. You’re frightened. It’s a terrible thing” (Lucas).
According to Lucas, the government only pretended to take care of the Native Americans, instead of “saying that these are human beings and we gotta do something for them” (Lucas). A small portion of the Native American families stayed east of the Mississippi, eking out an existence in the wilderness. Those that could read and write or owned land were permitted to stay. The Europeans “wanted them to be Kentucky farmers with a plow and a mule, to be civilized” (Lucas). Instead of incorporating Native American culture into Western culture, they wanted to change the Native American. The Native Americans refused to give up their heritage, yet having no choice, removed themselves to various parts of the country the government allowed them to settle. Each time the white man needed to expand, they simply forced the Native Americans to move again. The Shawnee moved south to the Florida Panhandle, into Georgia; however, the majority settled in the Oklahoma area and remained there.
In 2003, Lucas first visited with the Shawnee in a village called Shawnee, Oklahoma. The Shawnee welcomed him with wariness and suspicion at first. They thought he was another Native American “wannabe;” however, Lucas remained in the background, never interfering or asking questions. He says his biggest challenge was figuring out ways to stay out of their way. He began his research as an observer, but quickly gained their trust and was slowly integrated into the tribe. Throughout the remainder of his research, he was invited to participate in often private and always sacred practices. He explained that the Shawnee had chosen to take individual tracts of land as opposed to one large tract of land. In Lucas’s opinion, “it splintered the tribe” because Native American tribes are communal societies, meaning they share everything. They work as a whole to sustain themselves financially and agriculturally. Yet, even though they lived in separate dwellings he quickly saw the deep love and communion between the tribal members. Communication and equality was essential to the tribe and its inner workings. As it has been since time immoral, the women are equal to the men and have a voice.
The tribe strives to maintain their traditions and heritage in many ways. The Shawnee struggle to keep one foot in their culture and one foot in the modern world. They must work, “they must go to Wal-Mart,” but the old ways and traditions are still prominent in their society. For instance, the “warrior” mentality is still prevalent. Young Shawnee that serve in the United States military are greatly honored and cared for. They keep their culture alive by keeping age-old traditions alive. For example, the tradition of holding village council is an important and efficient way to communicate with all tribal members and to solve any issues that come up.
There are no televisions in the village, they hold Council. The entire tribe meets and a stick is passed around to each person. The person holding the stick speaks to the tribe, and then passes it to the next and so on. “The eldest go first.” As he mentioned that, he laughed, “Because they fall asleep quicker than all of the others” and they need to have the opportunity to have their say. This keeps the tribe informed and fair.
He was permitted to observe a traditional game the Shawnee play for sport, yet it is also a tribal ritual. It is similar to American football. The men and women of all ages are split up into two teams and they have a ball made of deer leather. They can hit it, kick it, or grab it with their arms. There are lots of rules but, there is no real winner. The game is more like a play that “acts out the strata of the tribe,” Lucas says. For example, if an old woman gets the ball, the “young buck warriors pretend to get the ball and out of respect for their wisdom, they fall down at their feet.” If a princess or virgin gets the ball, she is tested physically, but she is held in high honor. If a young buck gets the ball, he is tackled and “the others just clobber him.” It is a playacting of how the tribe works.
Everything the Shawnee do is spiritual and deeply significant. The simple act of giving thanks for their daily bread is an intricate dance ritually performed on sacred dance grounds. Lucas got the opportunity to witness the sacred Bread Dance at the sacred White Oak dancing ground. The women are dressed in beautiful, colorful dresses with their hair pulled back. They dance around and drop loaves of bread from their aprons while staring out beyond the crowd, beyond the sky. Lucas marvels at the memory: “They weren’t seeing us. They were looking into the future. It was an incredible moment, lasting for hours.” The ritualistic beating of the drums and the atmosphere took him back in time, especially when the Stomp Dance was performed later that evening. The Stomp Dance is a practical dance with symbolic meaning. Lucas explains that in the old days, you would be walking along fields of high grass and all of a sudden come upon a clearing in the middle of nowhere. The Native Americans were most likely responsible for that clearing. They were a nomadic people, and when they would move from place to place they had to deal with the high grass being in the way of setting up camp. They entire tribe would gather and dance in a circle with drums and chanting, stomping the grass down into a carpet for their homes, chasing away the snakes and vermin, so that they could live comfortably. Today, the dance is still performed, but it is more symbolic in nature. The Stomp Dance seems to have made the most impact on Lucas than any of the other dances he observed. He describes his feelings while observing the dance:
I was watching this intricate event occur and thought to myself, I am so glad I am not a white man tied to this tree because it was literally frightening. Here’s why; because there was so much emotion in that dance . . . what if they had that fire in the center and they were dancing and then they all turned toward me? I understand now why that was so frightening [to the white man] because they were so unified, so unified in purpose and emotionally unified and vocalizations; they just knew the cadence. They knew the steps. Nobody directed them. It was learned generation to generation. It was a unifying experience.
He does not believe that there is anything that we do “on this side of Native American culture” that comes close to the unifying experience in that dance. Western culture divides itself into individual groups, “Not everyone comes to the kitchen, to the revival. Native Americans have a purpose and are unified in everything they do.”
According to Lucas, we, as a society, think of ourselves as in nature. Native Americans believe they are nature, that we all are connected to the earth and everything in it. “The wind, the rain, the snow, the four directions, four seasons, everything is all connected. Their belief is similar to Asian culture, yin and yang, the balance of nature. If you are in balance with your surroundings you aren’t stressed out,” he says and Lucas finds this philosophy liberating because everything that happens is for a reason and he is at peace with that. He believes in the full circle of life, a sort of what comes around goes around mentality. He monitors himself and does not get stressed out. He states, “Just because someone says you have to do something, doesn’t mean you have to do it. Who made up that rule? You choose where and when to spend your time. You don’t waste time and you don’t stay idle. Visiting with a family member is much more memorable and fulfilling than, say, going to King’s Island for the day.” He determines who and what is most important in his life. Lucas does not participate in idle gossip and will walk away from it. He says that, “each person has to measure what is important to them” in order to stay in balance and at peace.
As stated before, the Shawnee are a deeply spiritual people; however, contrary to popular pop culture belief, the Native Americans do not believe that there are gods everywhere or in everything. Lucas explains that the Native American god is Mother Earth. She “enlivens everything around us . . . the wind carries the breath of God. The clouds carry the joy of God. The rain brings the blessing of God” (Lucas).The earth is in tune with every animal, every living thing, and the Native Americans strive to become one with the earth, to be in harmony with the earth, to be at peace with themselves and their surroundings, wherever that may be. There is a Father Sky and the great Grandmother Spirit that nurtures us and cares for us.
The spiritual practice of the “Sweat Lodge” ceremony is important in their tribe, a rite of passage to the individual’s destiny. Lucas was privileged to take part in a sweat lodge ceremony himself. He describes it as an incredible, exhilarating experience that changed his life. Lucas explains that what is important to remember about Native American tradition is that the four corners are key to who we are as individuals. North, South, East, and west; therefore, when one takes part in a sweat lodge ceremony he must enter the lodge four times, each time the lodge is hotter and more difficult to withstand. Young warriors heat the volcanic rocks from outside and continually add them to the pile of rocks inside the lodge, pouring water on them. Only the shaman can determine the amount of rocks needed for the ceremony. Lucas says the ritual is a “worship experience.” There are always four lessons, four passages centered around the “idea that we are moving through the circle of life.” The Shawnee and other Native American tribes build their sweat lodges so that one must “hug the bosom of Mother Earth. That is the purpose of the sweat lodge ceremony; to become one with Mother Earth. One must lie as close to the ground as possible, humbling himself before Mother Earth. Another reason one lies close to the ground is because of the intense heat within the lodge. If one sits up during the ceremony he may perish from the heat. Lucas states this is the reason inexperienced individuals that attempt the sweat lodge sometimes die during the process. One such incident that Lucas mentions was the October, 2009 Sweat Lodge disaster led by self-help guru, James Ray. Mr. Ray had invited individuals seeking harmony and wealth in their lives to join him on a quest for spiritual health and “harmonious wealth” through the use of a sweat lodge (Katz). He charged the individuals up to $10,000 for the experience. His inexperience in performing the ceremony became apparent when two people died and nineteen were injured during the retreat. The article explains that Ray did not use “breathable fabric” to cover the lodge and therefore, the heat could not escape properly. He also had too many people in the lodge, up to sixty, when a sweat lodge typically holds twelve people. According to the article, the people were suffocating due to lack of oxygen (Katz). Lucas believes that looking for wealth and using the sacred ritual of the sweat lodge to do it, is appalling and sad, and unfortunately lives were lost in the process. Lucas’s experience with the sweat lodge went according to centuries old Native American tradition and care. He describes his experience with the ritual:
You have to go back to the real man of who you are, so the closer you get to the ground the easier it is for you to breathe . . . You are humbled. You are flat. You are sweating, all of those poisons are leaving your body and this shaman, the wise leader, is quietly saying things to you and suddenly the world disappears. Your troubles disappear because the immediate challenge of just surviving that heat and his words are all you know . . . then you exit [the structure] and pour water on yourself, like a baptism. You sit there for a few minutes and he [the shaman] calls you back. You don’t have to go, but you know that if you stop, you will miss a valuable lesson.
Lucas repeated that process four times, as required, and each time, instead of becoming harder to withstand, the intense heat became easier to endure. The second time through he felt calmer and able to focus. By the fourth time through he had a sensation of elated jubilation, almost an epiphany, as if he were having visions. He knew who he was and that he was one with the earth and he had a purpose. He felt at peace with himself and one with the earth. He has been forever changed.
Lucas states he could not have learned the significance of the dances, the rituals, or the Shawnee’s hopes and dreams for the future if not for a man called Warrior. Lucas describes him as a proud, upright solid Native American that taught him the symbolism of the rituals, took him to the tribal center, and shared with him the plight of the casinos, describing them as a double-edged sword. The money earned from the casino certainly provided opportunities for the tribe such as a medical center and paid medical care for their tribe. The down side of the casino business greatly troubles the tribe; addictions to gambling, drinking, and prostitution, are unfortunate side effects of living and working in that environment. They are forced to buy into the capitalistic society that destroyed their nations, scattered their tribes, and erased their heritage.
The individual that by far made the most significant impression on Dr. Lucas, however, is Chief Red Morning.[2] Lucas approached the chief and asked if he could speak with him. The chief obliged and Lucas sat down “not equal to him because he is the chief” (Lucas). He would not allow himself to be photographed. Chief Red Morning was about eighty-three years of age, his long, silver hair pulled back in typical Native American fashion. He wore a rust colored Ribbon shirt embossed with faint embroidery. The shirt is called a Ribbon shirt because it has four ribbons woven into the chest area of the fabric. There were two on the left breast and two on the right. The ribbons were four different colors: red, because of the north wind; green, the color of the green waters of the south; gold, the color of the rising sun; and blue, the color of the setting sun. Notice again the reference to north, south, east and west. The chief sat facing east and he quietly “told the heart of the Shawnee people” (Lucas). He said that the Shawnee never wanted war and only wanted to live in laughter and harmony. Even now, they just want harmony in the tribe. The chief said all of this looking straight ahead, never wavering. He spoke of how the white man introduced alcohol to the Native Americans and how he could not understand our ways and why we thought we were so much better than the Native Americans. At this statement, Lucas whispered, “I will never forget that moment. There was a light breeze, probably sixty-eight degrees and he, he spoke and I could hear through the pass, the cascades of a tribe lost.” I could not help but notice the raw emotion on Lucas’s face as he spoke of this great, wise man.
When asked what it was like to return to the modern world, Lucas looked thoughtful for a moment and then replied, “You realize that restoration in the spirit and heart is very important. I suppose that’s why people return to church on Sundays because you realize that re-consecration and that rediscovery of that peaceful moment is critical to who we are” (Lucas).
Since 2003, Lucas has returned to the Shawnee village twice. He continues to study Native American history and culture on his own. One thing that bothers Lucas in a tremendous way is the fact that the Native Americans are not given credit for helping the Europeans when they first arrived in our history books. They are often depicted as savage, hedonistic people that were bent on murdering the white man. He uses the example of Lewis and Clark and the expedition that we Americans have studied and praised, made documentaries about, in which the Native American is never mentioned, and yet Lewis and Clark could have never survived without the instruction of the Native Americans. Lucas states,
This is what is most frightening. History is always told from the perspective of the culture writing it . . . Native Americans have their perspective, but don’t understand why they are never considered. You hear about Hispanic or Black [contributions and/or sufferings], but no American president says anything about Native Americans. I don’t get that. They’ve been shoved off . . . surely there was a way that we could have done this differently” (Lucas).
Dr. Kimberly Roppolo, a Native American Studies professor at the University of Oklahoma, tends to agree with Lucas on the issue of racial exclusion facing the Native American tribes. Being Native American herself, she strives to bring tribal issues to light, both modern and old. She states in her article, Symbolic Racism, History, and Reality, that:
American Indian Nations are the only sovereign nations the United States government has ever broken over five hundred treaties with, violations that . . . gives these nations the legal justification to issue one huge eviction notice to the United States, the only nations whose citizens are owed . . . billions of dollars in money that was held in ‘trust’ for Indians thought incapable of being responsible for it (Roppolo).
She goes on to say that even today, the majority of Native American reservations are poorer than most third world countries because the government has not paid restitution for their breach of contract(s). The modern Native American struggles with an identity crisis and also has to deal with,
. . . Survivor guilt for being alive and suckered in by colonialist capitalism when so many were butchered in its creation, the shame of being descended from those unable to protect our women and children in the face of a demonic killing machine . . . the shame of women who descended from those raped and tortured, or those who married or enconcubined [sic] themselves to European men as a means of survival (Roppolo).
For these very reasons, I feel that it is imperative that I continue to study Native American culture in order to expose the truth and to give the Native Americans a voice to tell their story, their true story.
The knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual enlightenment that he has gained from his total surrender to the Shawnee culture will live with Lucas forever. He is ever watchful of his surroundings. He listens to the hawk, the owl, the crow. They fly and therefore, “are closer to the great spirit and have significance and they bring you messages . . . it is up to you to figure out what that message is. Nothing is coincidental when everything is in harmony” (Lucas). He advises his scouts to stay vigilant of their surroundings, to pick up the feather at their feet. He has taken his daughter into the desert to quest for her name, which is quite an amazing story. After fasting for three days and nights in the desert, they were led by a red fox to a rock formation. Finding nothing, they began their return to camp and there, in the middle of a desert, was a large turtle. If that wasn’t strange enough, another turtle was close by. As a result, her Native American name is Two Turtles.
I asked Lucas if he had any words he would like to share with me before ending our interview and he said something so unexpected to me. He said that I began this journey writing a paper; however, if I did not continue to look into this, continue to study, I would not be content. He did not believe that it was happenstance that I made an appointment with him. He looked at me and said, “Your destiny lies beyond what you are doing now. This is a sense that I get that you have been brought to this place for a reason . . . there is something more for you and you will find it and be at peace with it.” This statement hit me at the core of my being. I have been so inexplicably drawn to the Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee. It is as Lucas mentioned. It is like going to an art museum and studying a painting or piece of artwork that so moved you that you never forgot it. Suddenly, you notice colors around you that you never noticed before. Colors that were part of that one object that moved your senses. After leaving Lucas’s office, I have looked into the hills as the leaves change and pictured the Shawnee warrior, strong and proud, walking silently through the leaves carpeting the ground. I feel the wind caress my skin in a different way. I feel more at ease and in tune with my surroundings, a sense of peace. It’s an awareness that is new to me. I am compelled to know more about the Native American culture. Lucas was right about that. This is only the beginning of my journey.
Works Cited
Barry M. Pritzker. “Tecumseh: Speech to Governor William Henry Harrison.” Encyclopedia of American Indian History. 2008. http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ebc/view?docId=tei/abc/AMINDH1E/AMINDH1E.xml;chunk.id=AMINDH1E.976;toc.depth=1;toc.id=AMINDH1E.976;brand=default.
Day, Jack. "Oklahoma University." Department of English at the University of Oklahoma: Dr. Kimberly Roppolo. 11 November 2011 .
Denny, Ebenezer. American Language Reprints. Vol. 14 & 21. Evolution Publishing. Southampton, Pennsylvania. 1860.
Fixico, Donald L. “Indian Removal Act.” Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts, and Sovereignty. 2008. ttp://rave.ohiolink.edu/ebooks/ebc/NVAMTRE
Government, United States. "A Chronology of U.S. Hisotrical Documents: The Treaty of Greenville." 2009. University of Oklahoma. 3 October 2011 .
Katz, Neil. "Sweat Lodge Death Investigation Turns to Self-Help Guru James Arthur Ray." 12 October 2009. CBS News. 11 November 2011 .
Lucas, Dr. David. Dr. David Lucas Shawnee Interview Sybrina Hodges. 30 September 2011.
Roppolo, Kimberly. “Symbolic Racism, History, and Reality: The Real Problem with Indian Mascots.” Genocide of the Mind: An Anthology of Urban Indians. Ed. MariJo Moore. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nations Books. 2003. 187-198.
[1] Tecumseh means “Panther in the Sky.” On the day he was born he was given this name because a meteor streaked across the sky at the time of his birth. He kept the name contrary to the Native American tradition of temporary birth names.
[2] Shawnee Name: Mesquaway K’wa lah wah páh kee, which translates to Red Morning
0 comments:
Post a Comment