Racism Towards Native Americans in the United States

Category: Race and Ethncity

When the United States declared their independence in 1776, multiple classes of citizens arose. The whites believed that based on the color of their skin, they were more civilized than the natives. Whenever the whites wanted more land, they pushed the natives farther west, pushing rival tribes together and creating more anxiety throughout the country. In 1829, Jackson, president of the United States and supposed role model, created the trail or tears, where the 125,000 Cherokees living east of the Mississippi were forced march to the west to give their land up to the “upper classes”. Thousands died, but this did not matter to the civilized peoples.
As the Naive Americans were pushed further and further west, the whites decided that the natives were not true citizens. In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act, beginning in Oklahoma. It was meant to released tensions between the settlers and the natives, but instead it aggravated the relationship. The Native Americans were forced to live on reserves instead of the land they already knew. The whites did not want to live in integrated communities, they created a racially segregated area against those they believed to be below them.