history DB
lisa9530
HIS2113_Lesson1_OriginalMichiganders.pptxMichigan history
The Original Michiganders
Pre-European History of Michigan
Where does the story of Michigan begin?
How do we tell the story of the original Michiganians when…
We lack written documents that reveal this story
The original inhabitants were pushed to the margin of the story and eliminated altogether
We approach the story from the vantage point of the “victors” in the more general, accepted versions of the story.
Pre-European History of Michigan
From the vantage point of American Indians, the American Story and Western Civilization is a story about their displacement from the land and loss of their way of life.
Two responses:
Ethnocentric triumphalism that reinforces, without critique, notions of frontier, civilization, and ideas (manifest destiny) that perpetuate this loss.
Empathetic romanticism that embraces the vague notions of Native American values and practices, without acknowledging the differences and realities.
Telling other people’s stories
Don’t treat peoples as abstractions or ideas: What is most meaningful to people is often lost in an “official” history generated by the state.
Approach history within framework of social units of people you are seeking to understand.
Attend to cultural values to frame historical questions:
Religion
Language
Art
Family Networks
Landscapes and Land
Time (Cyclical or Linear)
Telling other people’s stories
Locate sources where these values have been expressed.
Understand how interactions between marginalized groups and more powerful social groups shaped the history of the powers.
Old residents in the New World
Most scholars believe that Indians began arriving on the continent around 14,000 years ago.
At the time of European arrival, 100,000 Indians (10% of total Indian Population north of Mexico), lived in the Great Lakes area.
In the area now known as Michigan, there were three dominant tribes (people groups) who understood themselves as “The Three Fires.”
The Three Fires:
Chippewa – Around 25,000-35,000
Ottawa – Traders, Around 4,000
Potawatomi – “People of the place of the fire,” Polygamous
Life among the Three Fires
Hunter-Gatherer societies: semi-nomadic, smaller bands organized around clans, classless society.
The Three Fires “lived harmoniously” with each other.
Sharing and Reciprocity were a way of life
Religion was animistic but acknowledged the agency of “the Great Spirit”
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Impact of Whites and Assimilation
Material culture first to be impacted by European technology; by mid-1700s, Michigan’s Indians dependent on European Trade Goods.
Political changes followed Economic changes…Europeans expected Indians to have leaders with whom to negotiate.
By 1900, only 8,000 Indians remained in Michigan.
Assimilation
Indians in Michigan Today
In 2010 census, 139,095 people identified their race as American Indian in Michigan.
Most impoverished racial group (measured by household income).
Poverty and Education
Economic opportunities: commercial fishing and casinos.
