Rowan Strathmann Strathmann 1

Cooper 4
AP LANG III
19th, May 2019

Collaborative Indigenous Success

Since the moment that Columbus landed in the Caribbean it was quite apparent that there

was thriving society but how had it been made? Collaboration and cooperation. These two Cs,

have been the constant in native history and have had to stay in use throughout the pre-colonial,

colonial, and post-colonial eras. No, this does not mean something like Comanches and Apaches

just being labeled as “Indians” and working together as one group of people, but more like if the

Comanches and Apaches tried to understand their different cultures in order to help each other.

But how have they collaborated and cooperated? In many approaches but in particular, through

forming alliances with other native groups and whites, through forming tight-knit communities

in contemporary society, and through recognizing cultural differences while accepting and

embracing them.

The two C’s of collaboration and cooperation have been very evident in how Native

Americans began to and still hold alliances with other tribes and whites. This was very apparent

when I went to New Mexico with AGS as on multiple occasions Native guides or spokespersons

made sure to emphasize how the Pueblo peoples maintain tight alliances. For example, when I

went on a rafting tour through the Rio Grande with a native guide, a man of mixed Pueblo

descent, the guide explained how all nineteen Pueblo tribes stay together as well as incorporating

the Apaches and the Navajos. While for many tribes across the country, tribes have been forced

to come together by reservation relocation, yet what I learned was that none of the Natives of
New Mexico were relocated, showing that these alliances were formed more naturally and

therefore

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have allowed for their functioning in the past as proven by the success of the Pueblo Revolt as

multiple Pueblo peoples were able to come together and push the Spanish out of the

southwestern area. Another example of this I had found in the process of my IBL project, as I

learned that Mormons and the Shoshones had a mutual relationship founded off of the Mormons

converting the Shoshones in exchange for giving the Shoshone people food, water, and shelter

(Perry). While at first, this alliance seemed like both groups were just trying to take advantage of

each other, the alliance really became a strong bond, helping the Shoshones prosper. While this

was whites and Natives working together and not different Native groups coming together,

collaboration and cooperation were employed nonetheless.

Collaboration and cooperation have also been seen in how Native Americans nowadays

form tight-knit communities among their distinctive tribes. This has been true of Native

Americans from the beginning of their existence and their communities have only strengthened

over time. This was easy to see in New Mexico, as we travelled to multiple reservations and

villages. One of these villages was the Acoma village, a Pueblo resting atop a Mesa west of

Albuquerque. There was much to see atop the mesa but one of the most important things to think

about was that they had no running water or electricity in the village yet people decide to live up

there anyway. As we toured however, we could see the strong bond held among the residents of

the village, easily showing how they have collaborated to overcome challenges in history and

now, their lack of running water. Along with Acoma, we also visited the To’hajilee reservation
and toured their school. The school barely numbered around 200, yet seemed much bigger as

everybody appeared to know each other and acted like family. The school wasn’t properly

funded yet everyone looked

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to be working together to make ends meet and students and teachers alike had each other’s

backs. Another example of this was in the book, ​The Education of Little Tree​ as Little Tree’s

grandparents treat any other Cherokee like family such as Pine Billy who they let into their house

automatically once they see him (Carter). While this novel is very inaccurate as it is written by a

white supremacist Asa Earl Carter, the hospitality of the natives that who he wishes to write

about is one of his few accurate depictions of native, or in this case, Cherokee, customs.

Collaboration and Cooperation have been seen in Natives in a great way through the way

that they have recognized the cultural differences of other tribes and now embrace and accept

them. When in New Mexico, we concluded our trip by attending the Gathering of Nations

Pow-Wow in Albuquerque, observing as representative dancers from tribes across the North

American continent danced and sang together across the floors of the performance arena. This

was an obvious display of cultural acceptance, as Natives who hundreds of years ago would not

have come together but possibly would have fought instead, were unifying but not as a

homogenous unit, but more like a rainbow of different peoples all celebrating their culture.

While we met with representatives from multiple different tribes, all of them made a point of the

significance of the cultures of different groups across the state. The negative impact of loss of

tribal differences was seen in the Encomienda system, as Natives were seen as all the same and

as the worst form of citizen by the Spanish. While there were many different tribes that were
being placed under this rule, the native people were subjugated to plain Indians. On another note,

had these different tribes accepted each others differences, they could have possibly overcome

Spanish force. Now though, we can see what accepted diversity has allowed the indigenous of

America to do together.

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Although a more contemporary theme, the way that Native Americans are now embracing their

differences allows for more of a widespread society across this country of indigenous brethren.

Native Americans have collaborated and cooperated to create functioning societies

through forming intertribal alliances, through forming tight-knit communities, and through

recognizing differences between other tribes yet embracing and accepting them. Whether before

colonization, during Manifest Destiny, or now, the indigenous of this continent have had to work

among each other in order to make their societies and maintain what they have done.
 Works Cited

● Carter, Asa E. ​The Education Of Little Tree.​ New York: Delacorte Press, 1976. Print.

Accessed, 21st, May 2020

● Perry, Mae. “Chapter Two - The Northwestern Shoshone” ​Utah History To Go.

Published

Oct 15, 2000.

https://historytogo.utah.gov/people/ethnic_cultures/the_history_of_utahs_america

n_indians/chapter2.html. Accessed Jan 16 2019.