2007-06-19 15:31:13 · 6 answers · asked by groucheta66 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
the prior answerers are wrong - it's not just a reference to the darker color of Native American skin as opposed to European skin.
Rather, some tribes on the eastern seacoast (particularly in what is now new england) had the custom of smearing red paint on their faces prior to going into battle.
as these were some of the first tribes encountered by the europeans, they got the nickname "Redskins" and it soon became a derogatory name for all American Indians.
Interestingly enough, Lone Star Dietz, the coach hired to coach the Boston (now Washington) Redskins in 1937, the same year they changed their name from Braves to Redskins, was a member of one such red-paint-wearing tribe.
2007-06-19 15:45:54 · answer #1 · answered by JBarasch 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually, the term is because of scalping. American Indians didn't do all the scalping. British colonists were involved in scalping as well. So when you went to the trading post did you want a muskrat skin, a bear skin, or a red skin? The red skin because the scalp bleeds fiercely (just watch Ric Flair cut himself sometime...) and the scalp is almost always stained with blood.
2007-06-19 22:50:25 · answer #2 · answered by IamCount 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
By the time they discoverd America, they had already discoverd India.
The natives in America resembled in likeness the asian Indians. However the american Indians had a slightly pinkish/reddish brown complexion where the asian Indians had more of a yellowish brown complexion.
So, the american Indians were dubbed the "Red Indians".
As they were not as dark as the Africans they were not simply classed as just black. The closest thinkable link to them was the asian Indians, from India, Sri Lanka , Pakistan, etc.
2007-06-19 22:39:56 · answer #3 · answered by tim's gal 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They were called Red Indians up till recent times too. The skin color varies from place to place, and certainly isn't always ruddy, but the warpaint is the reason for the name.
2007-06-20 04:14:48 · answer #4 · answered by jenesuispasunnombre 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Native Americans were not white like the settlers so they were called that because of their own skin color.
Some see it as a derogatory racist term (and rightly so, I might add).
2007-06-19 22:34:12 · answer #5 · answered by chrstnwrtr 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dang! I knew the right answer JBarash beat me to it. Way to go for knowing that!
2007-06-19 22:50:06 · answer #6 · answered by Bronte'swish 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋