How do you know about the native American Indians?

Answer 1

If you mean historically, the best sources are those written at the time by people who were there. Many Europeans (and later Americans and Canadians) were interested in the native groups and even lived among them; there were also very sympathetic traders who recorded details of their customers' dress, habits, customs and more.

The early explorers were positively encouraged to find out about the native populations and record details to take back to "civilisation" in the East: Lewis and Clark were among the first explorers to contact several tribes and later the artists Catlin, Kurz and Bodmer visited many native populations to record their appearance and customs.

It is amazing to read that in the early 1830s George Catlin was concerned that the culture of the Plains tribes was alreadydisappearing fast and he felt an urgent need to record as much of it as possible.

It is thanks to artists such as R F Kurz that we have accurate details of Crow costume and beadwork designs before the Crows were confined to their reservation and exposed to influences from other tribes and White Americans - his work remains the most important record of how the Crows dressed in the early 1850s.

We also have the words of the native people themselves, mainly written down by sympathetic European or American writers. Crow chief Plenty Coups and the noted warrior Two Leggings both dictated their entire life stories to trusted White men; these include details of growing up in a native environment, learning the art of warfare, tribal and clan structure, religion, food, details of hunting and travelling and much more.

In addition we have access to large quantities of original native artefacts from most tribal groups, mostly in museums and private collections around the world. Many of these can be accessed on-line or in published books such as "Becoming Brave" by Lain Thom, a very useful book on Plains culture.

If you mean how do we know about modern native Americans, the only way is to visit them and talk to them about their modern lifestyles. This can be an immensely uplifting experience, or in many cases a sad and devastating one.