Forced to Change #2

For the past week, I've been looking at an interactive activity that has furthered my understanding on my topic. The link for this activity http://reta.nmsu.edu/modules/longwalk/lesson/maps/lw_map.htm. For this activity, I went through each different part of the activity and did what it asked me to do and looked at the graphs and images that it asked me to. By looking at these graphs and images, I was able to come to a deeper understanding on the struggles that the Navajo Indians went through during this time. I was also able to relate their struggles to the overall theme of this assignment which is People, Places, and Power. These connections I made helped me to understand more of the key terms and make one more Enduring Understanding.

Key Terms:

Expansion- the act or process of expanding

Pacific Railway Acts- a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies

Homestead Act- several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost

Sitting Bull- a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies

Reservations- a tract of public land set apart for a special purpose, as for the use of an Indian tribe

Ghost Dance-  a new religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems

Massacre- the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder

George Custer- a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars

Dawes Act- adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians

Assimilation- to take in and incorporate as one's own

Allotment- to divide or distribute by share or portion

Indian Reorganization Act- U.S. federal legislation that secured certain rights to Native Americans (known in law as American Indians or Indians), including Alaska Natives

John Collier - an American social reformer and Native American advocate

Navajos- largest federally recognized tribe of the United States of America with 300,048 enrolled tribal members
Bosque Redondo- a 40-square-mile (100 km2) area where over 9,000 Navajo and Mescalero Apaches were forced to live
Fort Sumner- a military fort in De Baca County in southeastern New Mexico charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863-1868 

Enduring Understandings:

People in Power abuse those not in Power by manipulating them to do things that only help them.

Collier betrayed the Indians trust and it caused them hunger and poverty. (The Indian Question, 230)

Allotment had been transforming Indians into landless people. (The Indian Question, 224)

People in Power force those not in Power to relocate in order to advance their personal needs.

Military abused power by corralling Indians into reservations and shooting them if they ever stepped out. (The Indian Question, 220)

Native Americans were put into reservations because they were not "Using their land properly" (The Indian Question, 223)
People not in Power endured harsh conditions traveling to Places forced upon them by People in Power
Some of them had to travel more than 450 miles by foot, and many died along the way from cold, starvation, or murder. (The Long Walk, Part 1)

Experiencing this event as a Navajo Indian would be extremely devastating. The emotional and physical toll they had to endure was insane. For example, they had to travel over 450 miles on foot, to reach a place that none of them even wanted to go to in the first place. As shown by this map, the route was not exactly the most efficient and looks like it goes through very rough terrain.

This walk was brutal in every way, with supplies running short and death inevitable. Having the risk of death hanging over everybody you love along with yourself would be devastating and almost unbearable. It's safe to say that this journey was one that would rather have not been taken.