Last Blog post!!! :):):)

This week in class we learned about Native Americans and Buffalo soldiers. We watched videos from ABC-Cleo to help further us understand why these people were treated differently than white people. We also read excepts from the Dawe's Act and Helen Hunt Jackson: A Century of Dishonor which explained to us how the Soldiers and Native Americans felt when federal policies were made.

After the civil war, people were still discriminating African Americans. Buffalo soldiers were Black Cavalry Soldiers. Most African Americans did not have jobs, so the government thought that allowing them to be put in Calvary troops would solve this problem. For the most part, buffalo soldiers were well respected and were given uniforms to fit in. Also, many Buffalo soldiers got high honor awards for being so courageous. But, there was still some racist people who would discriminate against them. This meant many fights broke out between men because they did not want an African american to have a higher power than a white person. The buffalo soldiers were also given jobs that white people did not want to do; these actions were intentionally discriminatory.

These people are Buffalo soldiers who helped fight in the Spanish War.

Unlike the buffalo soldiers, the Native Americans lived out west away from Whites; this was because they were forced to move due to the Indian removal act in 1830. This was intentionally discriminatory to the Native Americans. In a century of dishonor by Helen Jackson, it states "Of these, 130,000 are self-supporting on their own reservations, "receiving nothing from the Government except interest on their own moneys, or annuities granted them in consideration of the cession of their lands to the United States." It is clear to see that the Natives have been living independently without the help of the government. Later gold started being discovered on the land that the Indians were on, this is when battles started to break out. The troops fighting against the Indians used the tactic of total war. One strategy they used was getting rid of the buffalo, which they Natives depended on for almost everything (clothes, food, housing etc.) This was obviously discriminatory towards the native Americans; the government would do anything to drive them out of the land so they could get the gold they were looking for. Despite this, they did make actions to help to natives. They would try to educate and give religion to the Indians; also know as "Americanizing". This did the opposite, Native Americans became educated, but they lost their culture.

Overall, the government did discriminate towards the Buffalo soldiers and the Native Americans. Even when the government tried to help, they ended up making it worse. The government was greedy and did not actually try and help the soldiers and Natives problems. It was clear that whites would do anything to get their way, like trying to move the natives after they had been previously kicked off their own land. Instead of offering them jobs like working in gold mines, they destroyed everything they had, even their culture.