Question

What is your knowledge of Native Americans in the U.S.?  What do you think when you hear of things like the Dakota pipeline protests led by the Standing Rock Sioux?  

Answer 1

Indigenous people's thoughts and perspectives, particularly those who lived during the 15th through 19th centuries, have survived less often in written form than is optimal for the historian. Because such documents are extremely rare, information from traditional art, folk literature, folklore, archaeology, and other sources is also drawn from those interested in the Native American past. Native American experience is also confused by the varied regional and ethnic contexts of the communities concerned. As one would expect, in stratified societies, such as the Natchez, indigenous American farmers engaged with Europeans differently than those who relied on hunting and gathering, such as the Apache, did. Likewise, Spanish conquistadors were involved in a colonial activity of a radically different nature than were their predecessors from France or England.

The demonstrations on the Dakota Access Pipeline, also named by the hashtag # NoDAPL, were mass campaigns that started in early 2016 in response to the permitted development of the Dakota Access Pipeline by Energy Export Partners in the northern United States. The pipeline was projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation under part of Lake Oahe. The pipeline is considered by many in the Standing Rock tribe and surrounding communities to constitute a serious threat to the water of the region. The house is still seen as a direct danger to ancient burial grounds and historically significant cultural sites.