Bob Marley: Indian Killer?

This week, our class focused on Buffalo soldiers and the treatment of Native Americans. Our proceedings were pretty much the same as the previous week: we made a class google doc, and watched videos, taking notes on main ideas, people, and vocab within the doc. When then decided upon the essential question of: “During westward expansion, did the impact of federal policy towards buffalo soldiers and native Americans match the intent?”.

First, let’s talk about Buffalo Soldiers. Immortalized to the common Rastafarian through Bob Marley’s hit, Buffalo Soldiers were the black division of the union troops who continued to fight across the country after the civil war. These troops got their name from their hair and spirit, which reminded natives of the noble buffalo. We watched several videos detailing the lives of Natives in their prime. One notable thing about the Natives was their lush childhoods. Life was great in the plains. Major tribes included the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota. The Great Plains had been peacefully divided. Unfortunately, when we mixed these two good things (Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans), life became very different for some of them.

Though Buffalo Soldiers built up infrastructure, they also destroyed culture, killing tribes such as the Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Sioux. They brought into the west their concept of total war, in which they destroyed everything according to Sherman’s policies. To wipe out natives, the government ordered the extermination of buffalo and the natives’ horses, making their lives as hard as possible. The natives began to fight back in various wars. In what seemed to be a decisive victory in what is now referred to as “Custer’s Last Stand”, the natives held their own against the American army. However, the government simply flooded the area with troops, and began enforcing many laws to keep the West for themselves. One of these laws was the Dawes act which gave US citizenship to the head of households for American Indian families who became farmers (and left behind their native way of life), but also claimed nearly 90% of reservation space for whites. Extremists such as Henry Pratt claimed that all natives must be exterminated in order for whites to be successful. 

Overall, although the intent of federal policies was ambiguous, the devastation caused by them was undeniable.

Scrambled Carn-Egg-ie

While Mrs. Gallagher began to grade our history papers, we had to take matters into our own hands. We began the unit that would consist of learning material, then writing questions for our final. We were given a weekly plan, and limited guidance. Without Mrs. Gallagher giving us explicit directions, we had to self govern. Certain people came forth as leaders, assigning tasks, while others dedicated themselves as workers. First, as a class we made a Google Doc, and watched overview videos, taking notes in the Doc. We noted main ideas, key people, important events, and essential terms. As a class, we read biographies on John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Finally, we decided on the essential question of "Were the captains of industry a positive or negative impact to the public?".  

Let’s take a closer look at Rockefeller and Carnegie.  John D. Rockefeller was a business mogul in the American petroleum industry who gave millions of his dollars to educations. Rockefeller was once described as the “Greatest business leader in American history”. He graduated from Cleveland High School, and his father was a farmer from New York. It was his father who encouraged him to enter the business world, and he did so, starting Standard Oil in 1870. Rockefeller created a monopoly on fossil fuels in the United States. Though Rockefeller donated large sums of money to various charities, he had a bad public reputation. He was known for his “cutthroat” business tactics, eliminating rival companies and bribing politicians. The public largely believed he was motivated by greed, but he ultimately helped to eradicate Yellow Fever, and gave away 500 million dollars to charity and education.

Andrew Carnegie (Carn-a-gee? Carn-a-jee? Carn-eggy?) was born in Ireland, and immigrated to America. As Aubrey Drake Graham would put it, he “Started from the bottom, now [he’s] here”. Carnegie started as a bobbin boy in a textile mill before working as a telegrapher operator. Carnegie boasts the honor of being among the first operators in country to take messages by sound alone, an impressive feat. Soon, Carnegie was promoted to Superintendent of the Eastern Telegraph Line, and later chose to retire to travel across Europe, expanding his business skills.  A budding steel manufacture, Carnegie took note of the British production system and later employed it in his factories. He invested half his fortune into steel manufacturing, and teamed up with Henry Bessemer, who had introduced the Bessemer process of making steel for cheap. He was then able to produce a higher quality steel at a lower price than his competitors. Carnegie was caught up in controversy when his plan to destroy the Iron and Steelmakers industry, and his workers began a strike. Carnegie was also famous for expanded his company in financial depression while others were downsizing. Finally, as the second richest man in the world, he sold his company to JP Morgan and began his life of philanthropy, making schools and public resources.

I think it’s clear that though people may have seen Rockefeller and Carnegie as money grubbers, they had a positive impact on their society.