Modern Myths: The Indigenous Peoples of North America Were "Primitive"

[Edited to remove or edit parts I believe to be insensitive as well as to remove the notion that the indigenous peoples of the area now known as North America were homogeneous. I would also like to note that today I would not write a piece like this that has the veneer of an anthropological study of extinct peoples, when native peoples are still around today. Instead I would prefer to center their own stories.]

As I was thinking where to head next with my blog, this great idea suddenly popped in my head: "Top Ten Modern Myths and Why They're Not True". While I assembled the material for this blog post, I realized that there would have to be much more than ten points and that to do each point justice I would need to make separate posts. On that note, here begins my new blog series "Modern Myths".

Myth: The indigenous peoples of North America were "primitive" before Europeans came along.

Many of us have grown up with images of [removed racial caricature and slur as I don't believe displaying these even while denouncing them is right, but only likely to further perpetuate that imagery]. These images have been spoon-fed to us by TV shows (e.g. Looney Tunes), sports teams (e.g. R--skins), and wild tales from USA folklore.

In reality, native peoples of the time were quite advanced. Many had built towns. Many played organized team sports. Many excelled in hunting and fishing. Many had parallels to democratic government structures. In farming many were experts. Women often held prominent roles in many societies. Many had medicine which was sometimes shared with the Europeans. Many had sophisticated religion and theology which was a key part of their societies. Cleanliness was important to many: in fact, many were more clean than the Europeans for whom bathing and clean clothes were not all that important. Their cultures were often centered on toleration and freedom. Many avoided conflict when possible and abhorred devastating war. Many had sophisticated languages. Monetary currency and economic systems were also present in many societies.

The native peoples generally strived for good relations with the colonizers. In fact, scalping was introduced by the Europeans. It is due greatly to native peoples that colonizers survived the early years.

Resources:
http://www.mobyfinn.com/lists/ten-myths-about-american-history/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

The creator of the image of Cahokia is unknown. All else is the original content of Josie Stewart.
Copyright © 2011-2020 Josie Stewart.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It must be distributed without the attached image as it is not known to be licensable.