African American Culture Analysis

Culture: Freedom of Religion
After researching endlessly and reading the book Education for Extinction by David Wallace Adams, I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about boarding school experiences and religion of Native American people. Education for Extinction is about the boarding school and Native Americans during the time of 1875-1928. The struggles of religion for Native Americans and citizens of the Roman Empire can relate due to limited expression of cultural practices.
Early in the semester, the chapter of Roman Imperial Civilization and the Triumph of Christianity struck interest in me. It showed similarity in what the Native American people of what is now known the United States of America. Before 313 in Rome, Constantine …show more content…
These men were called Christians. He got a number of people to confess. On their evidence, a number of Christians were convicted and put to death with dreadful cruelty. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and left to be eaten by dogs. Others were nailed to the cross. Many were burned alive and set on fire to serve as torches at night. It was very dangerous for Christians to take part in such practice but once the religion was legalized, Christianity spread across the empire and more than half of the Roman population became Christians. It took over all towns and the countryside as well. Bishops influenced communities and became role models. They looked out for orphans, widows, the sick and poor. Just like the Christians of the Roman Empire, Native Americans believed in their religion and culture just as strong. However, they faced great difficulty. Being Native American you are born with characteristics that some people work all their lives for. Native Americans have a traumatizing history and have been treated unfairly by the American Government when European-Americans pushed further West. The Government attempted to take native land, food sources, culture away, took the children away and placed them in boarding schools and culture away. Their ancestors fought battle after battle to be able to give future generations what they deserve and that is culture, hope, strength and …show more content…
History tells us that the Americans kept pushing West of the Mississippi River because soil for farming was better than the East, and the Mountains were no longer affecting how their livestock moved and grazed. The white threat came to the Natives in many shapes and forms: smallpox, missionaries, Conestoga wagons, barbed wire and smoking locomotives (Educations for Extinction, 5). When the Americans reached a certain point in their voyage, the realized that gold and other scares minerals were found where the Native Americans lived. The Black Hills in present-day South Dakota and Wyoming are very sacred to the Native American people. Many cultural ceremonies were practiced in different locations of the hills. The Native Americans have seven sacred sites: Black Elk’s Peak, Bear Butte, Devil’s Tower, Bear Butte, Wind Cave, Inyan Kanga, and Pesla. There are different ceremonies that happen at each of these sites and different times of the year. The Americans didn’t care how sacred these sites were, they wanted the gold that lied within the hills and they were going to get just

Show More