american history @zylyff - Tumblr Blog

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hello! i'm dee (they/it). indigenous american & first nations canadian history has been a long term special interest for me. however, i am a white person on the internet, and i am not a historian by any means, so please don't take me as an authority on native history, because i'm really not. i'm just a guy with a hobby!

here i post images of north american history from precolonial times to the 20th century. mostly i focus on Native history, because that's the area i know most about, but i also post about Black & Chinese american history on occasion. i attempt to tag any photograph of an Indigenous person with their nation where possible !

please correct me if i share any misinformation! ok bye

#my posts

thebigkelu

Cetage, Hidatsa, in Partial Native Dress - 1884

thomas american horse, oglala lakota

#my posts #history #american history #indigenous history #native american history #us history #native american #indigenous people #oglala #oglala lakota #lakota

thebigkelu

Four Araphoes Men Sitting Outside Cabin - Soule - 1867

out of all the historical figures that have been treated too harshly by history, i think black kettle is definitely up there. bc he's either presented as like. a naive fool for ever thinking that peace was attainable or as some kind of conniving mastermind whos evil plan backfires on him, as well as continually receiving criticism for every single action he ever took.

this is deeply unreasonable. the pressure he must have been under is unimaginable. he wasnt a pacifist so much out of ideology, but pragmatism; he believed the cheyenne could never defeat the army militarily. thats why he chose to form a relationship with edward wynkoop, in the hope that he could thereby gain access to fort lyon. he showed genuine care in agreeing to hand over the hostages and preventing wynkoop being assassinated by bull bear, but also political savviness in his understanding of how he could use wynkoop for his own ends.

furthermore, his decision after sand creek to hand over the hunting ground was forced; he felt he had no choice. now he'd committed to his policy of peace there was no way out - all the young men had abandoned him, leaving him with the elderly, the women, the children, those too weak to fight. now more than ever he had no opportunity for retaliation. and the way he gets blamed for his constant agreement to treaties he knew would get broken is unfair; he wasn't naive, this was his only option.

that's why he sheltered the young fighters who had committed crimes, which is what eventually led to his murder at the washita massacre. it wasnt inconsistent with his policies at all; he had sympathy with them, but wanted no active part in what they were doing. he had no particular love for the whites, and absolutely no trust in them, but he had no opportunity to fight them.

unfortunately for him, with the gift of hindsight, every decision he made seems to have been the wrong one. but whatever decision he would have made in those years would have still impacted him negatively. he was completely backed into a corner. his actions are judged much too harshly, considering he was a victim of a genocide.

#my posts

thebigkelu

White Hawk – Oglala (wife of Big Foot) - 1872

ka-bés-hunk, ojibwe, painted by george catlin

#my posts #history #american history #indigenous history #native american history #first nations #indigenous people #ojibwe #george catlin

thebigkelu

Babeshikit, Kickapoo, in Partial Native Dress with Ornaments and Holding Fan - Bell - 1874/90

thebigkelu

Standing Bull, Bear Who Looks Back Running, Has the Big White Horse, White Tail, Liver Bear, Little Thunder, Bull Dog, High Hawk, Lame and Eagle Pipe - Grabill - 1891