Tom Whitecloud's "Blue Winds Dancing" and E. Pauline Johnson's "A Red Girl's Reasoning" are both stories that comment on cultural differences between the dominant white North American culture and the Native culture. In "Blue Winds Dancing", a young Nati...

Throughout my life as a Native American, I have experienced many beautiful, and terrifying things. I come from a tribe we call the Delawares. We were named the Delawares by the English because we lived on the bay named in honor of Lord De La Warr, Governor of the English colony at Jamestown in 1610....

Hallucinogenic Substances and Cultural Uses Throughout the centuries, natural herbs and plants that produce hallucinogenic effects have been used for various reasons within a religious context, ranging from religious rituals to alleviating cold and flu symptoms. These religiously structur...

When scholars study religion, the tendency exists to focus on the mythological aspects of the religion in an attempt to understand the major underlying concepts present. However, an equally rewarding study often can be accomplished through the careful analysis of the religion's ritual aspects. ...

The Cherokee: A Proud People The Cherokee Indians are of the Iroquoian linguistic family. Their economy, like that of most of the other southeastern tribes, was based on intensive agriculture, mainly of corn, beans, and squash while the typical hunted animals were deer, bear, and wild turkey. Co...

The state has seen the rise and fall of several different cultures, and their remnants still blend together in Mississippi's culture today. Mississippi, one of the East South Central states of the United States, bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by the Gul...

During the time of western development in the 19th century of American history, the Sioux Nation was at the forefront of political aggression. Already forcing the Native American people onto cramped lands, the dominant white man began to turn to new solutions in order to kill the salvage and ...

The Melungeons Many people go through their whole life not knowing their heritage. I recently had an opportunity to do a little research on my ancestors and I found my pedigree is very diverse; their history ranges the Isle of Man, to the mountaintops of the Appalachian Mountains. This is the pa...

Joining Hands "You are children of a great new father", Meriwether Lewis declared to the Native Americans the Corps of Discovery encountered on the expedition that shaped history. Most people tend to think that there isn't enough credit given to Lewis and Clark, but I believe the ...

Notes on the State of Virginia Any study of the United States should include Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia. Not only does he meticulously gather information, categorize and document the natural resources, but also discusses Virginia's constitution and laws, whic...

The story of the Lakota and the Great Plains is one of resilience and strength. Their story includes great moments of coming to together as a tribe and resilience against the westerners when the railroads were commissioned. The plains were home to the Lakota long before the settlers arrived, being s...

Peyote the Religion Chal the main character was born into a time and place where his culture was being destroyed. His blood is not pure Osage, mixed with white, but the Indian blood is powerful inside him. The blood that runs through him takes him to days of the past, days lost, heritage lo...

The constitution of the United States reads; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." In the 1830's, there e...