What are common misconceptions about Native Americans?

Answer 1

How! I short hair brave of Cherokee....(I seriously am though)

They speak broken english!

Answer 2

Many people today think that the Sioux or Comanche culture is the culture of all of us. This is just not true. So many times I hear someone from the Southeast saying "That's the traditional way to do such and such." (most commonly with the pipe and sweat lodges, colors and directions, and hairstyles and clothing.) Generally, they are telling someone the Sioux way, or the Comanche way, mostly Sioux. I am not knocking the Sioux or Comanche. But for a Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Natchez, Catawba, Lumbee, Delaware, Shawnee, etc. to say that the Sioux way is their traditional way is just as incorrect as saying the Irish way is their traditional way.

Another is: We are NOT Indians, this is NOT India, nor are we Native Americans, both those names were put on us by "whites". If you ask one of us what we are, 99 44/100% of the time we will tell you we are Cherokee, or Choctaw, or Lakota, or Navajo etc.

Next one is that we are all alike, we are NOT, there are over 500 seperate groups of us each with it's own belief system and spirituality. While many of us share a common language group, each group has it's own dialect. We don't all live in teepees, we don't dress alike, we don't look alike.

The list could go on and on.

Answer 3

the various extra difficulty-free misconceptions contain: a million. That the interior of sight individuals had developed a ask your self existence kind that would want to insure peace and calmness with one yet another and they'd done a better factor of civilization that changed into destroyed by ability of the White guy. actuality--interior of sight individuals at the prompt are not considered a civilization by ability of observed historians because they were backward, they never developed ANY type of unifying authorities, they'd never erected platforms, developed a monetary gadget, their medical improvements were almost nil, in case you've been to be transported decrease back in time to the 1100s and observed the way the Indians lived in us of a and then changed into transported to the 1700s there might want to were almost NO massive difference. They were nevertheless squatting interior the sunlight grinding corn, they hadn't invented something of note, and it wasn't until eventually the Europeans got here to North us of a that civilization quickly observed. regrettably there's a ludicrous romance appropriate to the interior of sight individuals it extremely is often undeserved. If us of a changed into nevertheless inhabited by ability of interior of sight individuals might want to there be a Microsoft, a NASA, a Disneyland, a circumstances sq., open-heart surgical operation, i-pods, the internet? actually no longer. in basic terms look at Mexico. they are really doing a similar issues right now they were doing in 1840.

Answer 4

Misconceptions can range from ignorance to lack of diversification. People blatently ignore that Natives were the ORIGINAL inhabitants of North America. They often confuse Natives with South Asians (Pakistani / Sri Lankin / Indian) which I find to be sadly pathetic and wrong. We also have to blame the media as well, they often in comical sense portray Natives as bush eating animalistic and uninterllectual individuals who have no sense of cultural superioty or values upon which they live by.

Answer 5

#1 That they are "native" to North America. These people came to North America by crossing the Bering Strait 10-20,000 years ago. They came from another continent just as the Europeans did. The may have been the First Americans, but they are not "native" Americans.

Answer 6

They all worshipped the Great Spirit
They were all savage warriors
They were all peaceful
The government provides all they need on the reservations

I have Native American friends who could give you a list a mile long....(and they all call themselves Indians or by their tribe..just being PC by saying Native American)

Answer 7

A common misconception is that we prefer to be called Native Americans. The preferred term for us is American Indians.

Another is that we invented scalping. You can thank the French for teaching that to us. By taught, I mean, DOING that to us.

The other horrible lie that is often attributed to us is the one held by the Mormons, that we are some lost tribe of Israel. They need to leave us out of their cult superstitions.

Answer 8

just about everything people 'think' they know about native americans is a product of misconception...there are two important things that you need to always keep in mind...once you stray from these two important points, you're headed for trouble...
#1) native americans are PEOPLE...individuals-regardless of tribal identity, they are as individual as anyone else

#2) no two tribes' stories are quite the same

Answer 9

That they like to be called Native Americans.

Answer 10

some of the common misconceptions about them mostly because of the reserves are that they are fat and lazy and claim that everything is theirs. that they have drug abuse problems. this however are sterotypes but you could say the same about white people black people so it doesnt even matter in the end.