Native Americans & Freemen Essay.
Native Americans and Freemen
HST/165
Native Americans and Freemen Video and Journal Reflection
This week I had the opportunity to watch two great videos. Freeman or Freedman, and American History: Massacre of Native Americans. This paper will discuss both videos and provide a journal and reflection.
Freeman or Freedman
In this short video, I was unable express into words or understand what that must be like for former slaves. Freeman and Freedman are two terms that have been loosely interpreted to have the same meaning, but they are actually different with different applications. The two words, both refer to a state of freedom from slavery and Serfdom, but the condition around the freedom is what makes the difference between the two terms. While Freeman refers to one that is neither a slave nor a serf, Freedman refers to an individual that has been made free from a condition of Serfdom or slavery. Freemen of the pre-reconstruction era primarily included those that had slaves to take care of their day-to-day cares. The freemen engaged in government duties, philosophy, literature, and warfare. Freedom from slavery was one of the elements that characterized the reconstruction era. The freedmen slowly acquired the rights that were only reserved to the freemen. The video taught me so much about slaves once they had been freed and what it was like for them. It was especially amazing to see the number of people on this video as they learned about their family’s history and their ancestors.
American History: Massacre of Native Americans
Many emotions took place while watching this video that tells of the Sand Creek Massacre that took place in 1864. Anger, sadness, and pain were just a few that can be related to this time period and everything done to these people. In no way, shape, or form, was it okay to ambush this tribe or their homes when they did absolutely nothing wrong. The video even explains that they hung the American Flag and a White Flag to represent that they were peaceful and wanted no trouble. One of the least important parts of this video was when it mentioned a trial that took place because of the behaviour of the Governor and Colonel. This to me was unimportant and should have been an automatic “Goodbye” to these individuals for what they did to this tribe. Why was a trial necessary when it can be clearly seen the trauma they caused, lives they took, and innocent people they hurt with their actions!
Conclusion
Finally, one thing that surprised me is the fact that some slaves were still kept as slaves by Native Americans once the war had ended. Like the video explained, because they had their own laws and did not abide by the US Laws, they had the mindset that they would keep people enslaved until someone came and took them away. I never knew this fact and it’s very interesting to learn that even Native Americans had kept African Americans as slaves during this time. Another interesting fact was how some slaves would change their last names once freed to that of their prior owner or one they came up with on their own. I believe this would have helped many slaves to change their lives and official live for themselves during that time if they changed their name completely to something they wanted.
References
The sand creek massacre: Seven hours that changed American history [Video file]. (2006). Retrieved June 7, 2018, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=18566&xtid=37436
African-American lives 2: A way out of no way [Video file]. (2008). Retrieved June 7, 2018, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=18566&xtid=40957