Me and the Start of my Journey to Understand the First Peoples of North America
As an introduction, my name is Tim McDaniel. I am originally from Terre Haute, Indiana and
have lived in numerous states within the US.
I currently reside in western New York with my wife and Boxer where I
work full-time and I am taking courses at the Empire State College. I love to fish and wish I could do it more often. A couple of photos of me, my wife, and our dog Colbie and one of my favorite fishing photos.
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| Me with a large Striped Bass caught in the Napa River in California |
Prior to taking this course, the First Peoples of North
America, I completed a Philosophy course; another prerequisite of my degree
program. I have never taken a philosophy
course and I have to admit that it, more than any other course to date, has
changed the way I look at everything in my “factual” universe with greater
questioning and not relying on what I know to be “true” in order to develop my
new “truth” which may or may not align with my current viewpoint. While I am no philosopher, I slowly moving along
my path of enlightenment.
I preface this
blog post with this to give insight into how I am looking at the new material presented
to me within this current course.
Leading up to this course, I knew very little about the
history of the Native American people very little was taught in my public
schools growing up, as a result, I had the stereotypical viewpoints of cowboys
& Indians from the mainstream viewpoints.
I found a picture of me at 4 years old where I am holding an Indian
figure with its horse at my side. As I
look back now as an adult with a reasoning mind, I can’t help but feel guilty
of my ignorance of the injustice inflicted on the Native American nations.
I would like to discuss the information contained on the
Smithsonian Institute website regarding George Catlin and his Indian
Gallery. A reference to this and the
other information I write about below can be found at the following web links:
Such a wealth of information can be found using the links
above about George Catlin and his life’s work of documenting the Native
American history. I found the link to Catlin’s
Classroom very enlightening as I listened to each of the links within the
Campfire. Richard Murray speaks of why a
Philadelphia lawyer would leave a lucrative career to go on this quest to
document the Native American culture; he states that Catlin said he did this to
gain fame. He chose to travel west when
others were not traveling west, to put himself in danger to document the Native
American Indian’s who lived in the placed he traveled. He documented the landscapes, the animals,
the Buffalo hunts, the dwellings, the dress, the games, and other aspects of
those subjects he chose. He felt he had
a treasure or wealth of information that he hoped the US government would
purchase to preserve this history.
Another video in the campfire section is from Jaune
Quick-To-See Smith, a member of the Salish and Kootenai Nations of Montana and is
an activist supporting Native American rights.
She speaks of George Catlin’s paintings and how realistic they are
related to the Native American faces.
She explains that Indians have a layer of fat under the skin which makes
the feel of the face softer than that of a European person and says Catlin
captured that in his paintings which makes you able to feel that softness.
Based on my research on the Smithsonian Institute site related to George Catlin’s works, I believe that what may have started out as a way to “gain fame” turned into a true appreciation for the Native American culture and way of life which he felt he must document as quickly as he could before the European colonization destroyed it forever. He interacted with the Native American people on a human level and it was stated that he actually developed friendships with them yet others dehumanized the Native American peoples in order to take their lands and kill them. We should be thankful for George Catlin and this informational treasure available and safely in the control of the Smithsonian Institute where it can be kept safe and where others can go to learn more about the “First Peoples of North America”.
Hi Tim;
ReplyDeleteGreat to see another Western NY on here and a great fish also! Like you, as we learn more information about history and the factual accounts of the history, it draws sympathy and empathy of the horrible crimes that the Native Americans had to suffer at the hands of the European and the U.S. Government. Painters, writers and historians have not always showed in their works the true display of Native Americans.