Talking Back to Civilization Essay -- Frederick E. Hoxie American Indi

Talking Back to Civilization Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history. American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with â€Å"civilized,† non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for â€Å"the advancement of the human race† (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this â€Å"conquest of Indian communities† was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people wer e slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life. American Indians associated many t... ... the â€Å"advancement of the Indian race† in a Euro-American-dominated society. These endeavors bring us back to the meaning of the title, Talking Back to Civilization . The fundamental of American government that was the greatest aid to the American Indians in their plight was their freedom of speech; without it, it is questionable whether American Indians would have been so progressive in finding justice. Convicting and compelling, words can be a powerful asset. In a way, words and voice were used to preserve the American Indian's distinctive identity; they were used as a weapon to hold on to whatever culture they had left. Words also documented the American Indian plight so people in the future (like us) could understand how distinctive they really were. Works Cited Hoxie, Frederick E., ed. Talking Back to Civilization . Boston: Bedford, 2001.