The Squaw Drudge: A Prime Index of Savagism and Indian Women as Cultural Mediators

The Squaw Drudge: A Prime Index of Savagism
This reading explained the way settlers used their imported European ideals to dehumanize the Native Americans, which then lead to them justifying taking their land, trying to ‘civilize’ them, and killing them. Native men and women shared the division of labor differently than the Europeans, with the women working more of the agricultural part of the house hold labor while the men invested a lot of time hunting and fishing. Part of the European culture of the elite upper class considered hunting and fishing to be leisure sports, so they thought the men were lazy, and made the women do more than their fair share of the work. They brought this idea back to England where it became the prevailing belief, in spite of other evidence that was produced later.

Indian Women as Cultural Mediators
This reading explained the important role the Native American women had as cultural mediators between their people and the Europeans. Even though the end result of their actions was the conquer of their people and destruction of their way of life, their actions were motivated by their culture. I had already learned of Pocahontas and Sacagawea, but it was interesting to learn about the rest of the women I had not heard mush about.