History I Never Learned in School: Native American Heritage Month

I was in class a few weeks ago and my teacher had us watch a video on a documentary that was about Navajo people in the Southwest that can’t be exposed to sunlight because it is deadly for them. The parents and doctors in the documentary mentioned that they believed this condition came as a side effect from the Long Walk, which was when the Navajo people were forcibly deported from their ancestral homeland to reservations in Eastern New Mexico.

When I heard of the Long Walk, I was surprised. I had never heard of it before. I had always read up on the Trail of Tears in school because that was of personal interest to me, my great-great-grandmother was full Cherokee. But I had never heard of the Long Walk. And then I thought about it, I had only heard of the Trail of Tears because I read it, not because it was ever mentioned in class. And then I stopped being surprised because I know what the American education system is like, it won’t focus on something if it can’t make white people look good.

And now I think more about how Native Americans are treated in American history. How is the original main-cast treated like side-characters that get no screen time? I learned more about Native Americans in one mythology class than I did in several history classes, like how is that possible?

The US has a very evident history of neglecting and disrespecting Native Americans. They weren’t allowed to be citizens until 1924. They’ve been, and on some teams, remain mascots and caricatures. And we never learn about them in school. I am almost certain that the extent of my formal education on Native Americans was Thanksgiving, Lewis and Clark, and Disney’s Pocahontas. It was never mentioned that white people dressed us a Mohawk Native Americans at the Boston Tea Party to hide their faces so no one knew they were committing a crime.

All that I have learned about Native Americans have come from outside of school and was mostly inspired by social media. And I love that social media is raising awareness for Native Americans, but I’ve learned the history of the people that were on this land first from social media and Wikipedia, and I know I’ve only just scratched the surface of what there is to know.

I know that schools aren’t necessarily supposed to tell us how to think and all that there is to know about the world but to just not ever talk about this large group of people that have been done so dirty is just disrespectful and rude. If you never mention a large section of facts and history, how would someone ever find out about it? There are plenty of people that don’t watch the news, that don’t read articles, that don’t watch history videos, that don’t go on to major in history or work at a really diverse museum. There are plenty of people that would never find out about Native American history if it was not explicitly taught to them. If the extent to which someone is taught about Native Americans is Thanksgiving and Disney movies, it’s very plain to say that they don’t know anything about Native Americans.

I don’t foresee much changing with the history that is taught in schools during this current administration or possibly the next (this is being written on election night). I just hope that Native Americans, as a whole get their justice. That their history is taught in schools in the main history classes and that they are no longer being treated like side characters. They have been disrespected enough. Their stories need to be told, not just on Twitter but everywhere where everyone can see and hear them.