Comparison of African and Native American Responses to Europe - Essay Example

Comparing European Colonial experiences of Native and Black Americans School: Introduction The similarity of experiences for Native and blacksAmericans, during the time of the European colonialism draws from the similarity of their disenfranchisement. The disenfranchisement of the two groups subjected to colonialism entailed the deprivation of civil rights like those of citizenship and the denial of civil privileges. In the same way, the two groups were denied constitutional rights, including those to participating in democratic voting exercises (Scham, 2001). During the colonial era, it was also a common era to witness the outright denial of basic rights. Through this paper, the writer will explore the similarity between the experiences of European colonialism, among the members of the two minority groups.
Discussion
For both the Native Americans and the black Americans, the phenomena of colonialism developed in a progressive way. For the Native Americans, the times before colonialism and during the early years of experience, they were often referred as noble savages. On their part, Native Americans described themselves in a similar manner, as the groups originating from the nations. Later on, the Indians were given more negative labels, including that they were heathens, wild, savages and those changed to modern labels like drunken Indians (Aguirre & Turner, 2009). In a similar manner, the experience of the Black Americans, their experience of colonialism also developed progressively. In their case, the people that later became the victims of colonialism started out as merchants, Arabic scholars, animal-tenders, arts people and peasants to the would-be colonizers. However, later on as their colonization progressed, they were viewed as niggers, uncivilized, childlike and to current labels, including criminals and rapists (Glaser, 2005).
The experience of Native groups and blacks was similar in that, both groups suffered from the inhumane mistreatment projected by their colonizers. In the case of the Native Americans, the mistreatment experienced entailed the dispossession of their lands by their colonizers (Nash, 2014). In a similar, but different way, the blacks suffered from the mistreatment of their colonizers, which took the forms of forced labor and denial of their human rights. In similar ways, the mistreatment experienced by the Native and the black groups was practiced at both a personal level and also in institutionalized ways. In giving justifications and explanations about the mistreatment of the two groups, the colonizers relied on the idealized ideologies that were institutionalized using social and political frameworks. The frameworks utilized included the lawmaking system, the congress and courts.
During the revolts made against colonial supremacy exerted by the colonizers, the experiences of the people of native origins were similar to those of the blacks. The experiences of the two groups included the revision of the issues taken for granted as ordinary, and criminalizing them, in order to regain their rights. For example, during the push for civil rights; in the push to curtail the mistreatment of the native and black people, and pushing for the redress of their mistreatment (Berlinger & Sheen, 2006). Examples of the actions taken included the re-establishment of the American Apartheid experienced by the blacks and the Trans-Atlantic trade of slaves as atrocious activities (Schulze, 2008).
Conclusion
The experiences of Native Americans, like those of the blacks were similar in different ways. The similarities between the experiences of the two groups included that their domination grew in a progressive way. Secondly, the two groups suffered from the inhumane treatment projected by the colonizers, and the evils of colonialism were justified using legal and social frameworks, as socially acceptable practices.
References
Aguirre, A., & Turner, J. (2009). American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination, Sixth Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Berlinger, J., & Sheen, M. (2006). 10 days that unexpectedly changed America [DVD]. New York: New Video.
Glaser, L. (2005). Early European Exploration and Colonization. Virginia.edu. Retrieved from:
http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/solguide/VUS02/essay02.html?
Nash, G. (2014). Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Scham, S. (2001). The Archaeology of the Disenfranchised. Journal of Archeological Method and Theory, 8 (2), 183-213.
Schulze, K. (2008). Arab-Israeli Conflict (Second Edition). Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited. Read More