Enduring Columbus was about the Native American experience after the first white settlers came to America. I also have a lot of Native American blood in me so I was very interested to see what my ancestors experienced. I had always read whatever was written in my textbooks as a child about Native Americans, however I had never gotten the other side of the story.
In this movie it talked about how the Spaniards arrived in the West. They killed the men and then sent the women and children to be slaves. Their relationship does get better. The Spaniards and pueblo people pulled together to protect themselves. They began to understand each other’s ways. The Spaniards gave the Indians land grants, but the Spaniards still tried to convert the pueblo to Catholicism. There was much trade at these trade fairs. Pueblo people were sold as slaves. However the Mexicans lost their lands. The pueblos were dissatisfied with the Mexican government. Tribes of Indians revolted against the Mexicans. The revolt failed.
During the rebellion of 1847-indians took a stand against the U.S. Colonists who were trying to take their lands. Indians killed a governor and news spread and so did the rebellion. The U.S. won the revolt, they took the Indian leaders to Santa Fe to “talk�, but these leaders were actually hung.
The Pueblo people went from fifty thousand to seven thousand. Indian slavery was very acceptable, even after the civil war. There was a treaty signed that was supposed to end the war against the Indians, but it didn’t. Non Indians settled on Indian land, so did the U.S. government. Roosevelt took Blue Lake, a sacred place for the Pueblans. They took Indians to an Indian school to become more “civilized�. They taught them English and Christianity. They were trying to make the Indian culture vanish.
But the Indians refused to disappear. This is what I found so amazing. The Indians never gave up. They refused to conform to the ways of the White man. It is difficult to stand up for what you believe in, but the Indians still do today.
