Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown’s book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is an accurate account of how the United States dealt with the Native American problem in the mid to late 1800’s. After all the Indians were on OUR land and didn’t seem to use it for any economical means, why can’t they just be moved somewhere else. Giving them Christian names and putting them in large groups on a small area of land seemed to be the answer. That way the Indians can still live in nature, but they won’t interfere with the everyday American lifestyle. The last three sentences are the way I feel most people felt about the Native Americans after the American Civil War. History is filled with stories. Many of these stories have been changed or suppressed by the leaders who carried out some of the most pivotal events in human history. As a young country the United States had its ups and downs as far as dealing with key human rights issues is concerned. Probably the most publicized example would be the civil rights struggle for African Americans. They are not the only group to be persecuted throughout U.S. history. There were the Chinese who were kept in camps after they completed the railroads to the west, which helped

Across the chancel front above the pulpit was strung a crudely lettered banner: PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN. All of the mistakes our country make are in the past. We can never change our history, but we can fight to make sure that similar events of injustice never happen again. In the early 1900"tms the Irish Americans coming to New York were constantly harassed and persecuted. The North American Indians (Sioux, Apache, and Cherokee) were more primitive, but no less important. After the brief introduction the book covers about three decades of the American Indian"tms fight for their land. On September 11, 2001 our country changed. The last story being told was probably the most gruesome, the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The most riveting part of the book was probably the last paragraph. The book describes the struggle between the Native Americans and the European settlers who became Americans. The Mayans, Incas, Sioux, Apache, Aztecs, and Cherokee are all tribes whose cultures have been removed from the face of the earth. When the first torn and bleeding bodies were carried into the candlelit church, those who were conscious could see Christmas greenery hanging from the open rafters. Anger and sadness are the only two ways to describe the way I felt.