What does the term American Indian Represent?

Replacing America’s Romanticized Image of the American Indian and the Moundbuilders with the Facts.

Apology

Americans perceptions the American Indian is, to say the least, an inaccurate one. People have all sorts of notions from what an American Indian looks like to the Amerindians innermost understanding of themselves. Many of these notions are so deeply rooted in the Euro American past that the truth is repeatedly ignored in favor of these romantic(false) ideals. As scholars have done before me notably R Silverburg ( The Mound Builders, 1986) and Roger G. Kennedy ( Hidden Cities; The discovery and loss of Ancient North American Civilization, The Free press 1994).

I have explores the history of this romanticism and found it to have both an extensive root system and far reaching effects.( Euro-) American romanticism and as Kennedy coined it, AMNESIA, has left us with a false history and robbed the American Indian ( today’s Black Americans)of a rich past that in turn leaves the generations of American Indians/ Black Americans with no true sense of self and belonging.The American Indian has become a stranger in his or her own lands and is left only with the Western version of history. I have been dubbed a ” heretic Historian” by some, meaning I am not a traditional one. I must confess this is the case. I have never accepted “facts” unless they were demonstrated to be so. However I believe this to be a strength and not a weakness as it has led me to my last point I hope to make in this paper. I have found little or no excuse for the fictions passed off as history as there is no small amount of original source material to support a very different and more accurate view. Therefor, the thrust of this paper is to attack, with heavy and indisputable support, some of the more popular fictitious notions Americans have about American Indians and to demonstrate the value not just of original sources, but of the American Indians own account as a valid historical source. I believe this to be more than just an exercise in academics as the problem is still with us and it’s flames are continually fanned by various publications, textbooks and media (example Roots).

It is time to get the record straight.