Religious Freedom: Native American Story

   The first white settlers came to America believing that the land was theirs to take, they wee in for a big surprise, but never the less, these white settlers took the land from the Native Americans as if they felt they had the right too. Since then, fights been instigated and a endless war has always lingered among the white man and the redskin. One of the most common issues has always been religion, which is pretty contradicting, regarding that "America" was based on a land of freedom and religious prosperity. The following examples will enlighten and explain the different types of religious discrimination the Native American faced by the white settler, including assimilation and the Ghost Dance.
    Americanization was basically the only options the Native Americans had in their battle against the white supremacist, but in this regard they would basically lose their native american identity. One of the most common ways of assimilation was first: the cutting of the hair, second: they had to gain some sort of citizenship, which is pretty ironic regarding they are NATIVE Americans and finally: the picking of the Christian name. Now this was pretty common among the white people, they would pick out a name from the bible (ex. John, Thomas.. etc.) and they would be very common names among the community. What they would do for these Native Americans, especially the children that would attend white schools, is that they would, like previously mentioned, pick a name out of the bible or out of a book that contains all the religious names.
    One other movement that the whites felt was an act of rebellion or downgrading act, was the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was a type of religious movement which originated in Nevada in the late 1880's when the Indians faced a hard time with the american government. The dance/religious movement was originated by a Paiute shaman called Wovoka, son of Tavido, a very respected religious leader. In a short description, the Ghost Dance was basically what was believed by the Indians to be  the reincarnation of an Indian Messiah that would save them from the white rein and would get rid of the whit man once and for all. White officials were intimidated by the upbringing so they declared the religious movement illegal and many Indians were killed as a result of the religious restraints they were given by the white officials.
    The Sioux tribe was divided into seven groups and three main political units being, the Teton, Yankton and Santee. Of these seven groups, the vocal in their fight with the white man, were Red Cloud's group and Sitting Bull's group. The Sioux regarding religion were pretty "straight forward" in their beliefs. They believed in "The great Spirit" Wakan Tanka, which translated to "all that is holy and mysterious", they believed Wakan Tanka to be the creator of the universe, life and the earth. Regarding the afterlife, the Sioux men would prefer to die in battle than die of age and disease, and they would go with Wakan Tanka and become one with the earth and their fallen Sioux brothers.
    These examples give us greater understanding of what life was like religion wise for the Indians and the Sioux in particular, also the fact that no even religious tolerance was acceptable for the white race that came from other lands to claim one that was already inhabited. This leads to show us, and hint examples of what was to happen later in history like, Hitler and the Jewish intolerance and the Latin intolerance going on in the US today.