MELANIE GOLD
wRITER~EDITOR~HISTORIAN

native americans

Native American History
What’s in a Name?
Not Just Tipis
We the People
Noteworthy Natives in History

Native American History

As a youngster, Melanie occasionally heard her father mention something about having “Indian” heritage, but the references were usually less than flattering. Later, she learned a few sketchy details about her great-grandmother, Mary Casebeer, who was of mixed Lenape (aka Delaware) ancestry. Since then, she has dedicated much of her writing endeavors to learning and sharing information she has learned about Lenape traditions and American Indian culture in general. Click on the links on this page to learn more about the people who took such good care of the land before Signor Columbus “discovered” it.

Return to Top

What’s in a Name?

Many Native American tribes were given names by non-Indian “discoverers” that had little or nothing to do with the names they used themselves. Most of the time, traditional tribal names mean the people or real people. And just as often, the names conferred upon them by strangers—the names that are now common usage—mean something quite different. This is one reason Native peoples prefer to be called by their ancestral tribal names. Here is a sample:

Return to Top

Not Just Tipis

Often spelled tepee, the tipi is a Siouan, or Lakota, word meaning “to dwell” and has come to universally symbolize Native dwellings and architecture. However, the conical tipi was used as a dwelling mainly among the tribes of the Great Plains, such as the Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, and Sioux. There are many other types of dwellings, depending upon the permanence of the village, the materials available, the nature and number of residents, and other cultural and practical considerations.

Type of structure	Materials used	Location	Travel Opp
lean-to	grasses/straw; poles. Inside: evergreen boughs	Yukon; cold climates (Tagish)	Find out more about Yukon culture by visiting the Yukon First Nations in Canada.
plankhouse	square or rectangular with vertical sides and gabled roof. Some painted, some not	American Pacific Northwest, western Canada, Alaska (Kwakiutl, Haida, Chinook, Salish)	See a real Chinook plankhouse made of cedar at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse Project in Washington state.
pueblo	rock (sandstone); mud mortar; wooden ladders. Built in clusters of “apartments”	desert areas in American Southwest, Mexico (Anasazi, Acoma, other pueblos)	The Acoma Pueblo (also known as Sky City) is the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America.
wattle and daub hut	earth, straw/ grasses/reeds; wooden poles; exterior often whitewashed with ground oyster shells	American Southeast (Cherokee, Muskogee, Choctaw)	The Oconaluftee Village in Cherokee, North Carolina, has replicas of traditional Southeastern Indian homes.
wickiup	thatch/straw; grasses; thick branches	American Great Basin; Midwest (Sauk & Fox; Bannock; Ute; Washo)	Wickiups were among the most common dwellings in what is now the United States. You can find wickiups in the Midwest, West Coast, and at the White Mountain Apache Cultural Center and Museum in the Southwest.
various names, including na, tana, and yotoch	reeds/poles; grasses; thatched roofs; wooden doors; palm leaves; sometimes with adobe walls	Mexico (Maya; Aztec)	See a Mayan village when you visit the Xcaret Museum in Cancún, Mexico.

Return to Top

We the People

Though many of colonists, including Ben Franklin, characterized the indigenous peoples in what is now North America as “savages,” it seems somewhat ironic that the U.S. government should be founded on such “primitive” principles. And yet there seems evidence to suggest that our founding fathers not only observed the democratic Iroquois Confederacy (Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations), but they also adopted some of their ways, which had been well established since at least 1500 A.D. They had a politico-spiritual organization that the Europeans may have recognized as one they wanted but never had in the Old Country: a monotheistic democracy. But the Iroquois also had a strong sense of family that was descended from women, something most patriarchal Europeans probably had a hard time fathoming.

It is now well known among scholars of the colonial era that Ben Franklin met with the Iroquois in 1754. Shortly thereafter Franklin proposed the creation of a Grand Council uniting the 13 colonies that seemed suspiciously similar to the Iroquois Confederacy.

Franklin wrote, “It would be strange if ignorant savages could execute a union that persisted ages and appears indissoluble; yet like union is impractical for twelve colonies to whom it is more necessary and advantageous.”

Dr. Donald Grinde, Jr. strongly suggests that Thomas Jefferson adopted specific symbols from the Iroquois. The Tree of Peace became the Tree of Liberty, and the eagle clutching a bundle of thirteen arrows became the symbol of the new American government.

And apparently, John Rutledge of South Carolina, chair of the constitution drafting committee, read portions of Iroquois law to members of the committee. He asked them to consider a philosophy coming directly from American soil.

Return to Top

Noteworthy Natives

Did you know the following people have Native American background?

Colin Powell – Arawak
	Heather Locklear – Lumbee
Rita Coolidge – Cherokee
	Jimi Hendrix – Cherokee
Jay Silverheels (aka Harold J. Smith) – Iroquois (Canada)
	Elvis Presley – Cherokee
James Earl Jones – Cherokee/Choctaw
	Benjamin Bratt – Quechua

Return to Top