Voices of Diversity in American Literature Unit 4: Silenced Voices Presented by: Tammy Levene

1. Voices of Diversity in American Literature Unit 4: Silenced Voices Presented by: Tammy Levene Ofra Mark

2. The Creoles The word Creole derives from the Latin “creare”, meaning "to beget" or "create. By the nineteenth century, black, white, and mixed-race Louisianas used the term to distinguish themselves from foreign-born and Anglo-American settlers and came into their own as an ethnic group, enjoying many of the legal rights and privileges of whites.  Today Creole is most often used in Acadiana to refer to persons of full or mixed African heritage.. It is generally understood among these Creoles that Creole of Color still refers to Creoles of mixed-race heritage, while the term black Creole refers to Creoles of more or less pure African descent.  • The Creoles occupied a middle ground between whites and enslaved blacks, and as such often possessed property and received formal educations. After the Civil War, most Creoles of Color lost their privileged status and joined the ranks of impoverished former black slaves. Black, White, Indian Or What?

3. The Native Americans "No single definition of "Indian" exists - socially, administratively, legislatively or judicially. Currently in the United States 10 to 20 million people may have Indian ancestry, but only a small percentage identify themselves as being primarily Indian. "My cultural identity makes me what I am. It is my beliefs that make me Indian." An Indian knows he is an Indian because of the mystic tie to the land, the dim memory of his people's literature that has been denied him, the awareness of his relationship to the tribes somehow all manifest themselves within him and constantly call him back to his ancestors. To be Indian is a way of life, a looking within and feeling a part of all life, an allegiance to, and love for, this earth. Historically, we did not judge individuals by the color of their eyes or the color of their hair, but how they conducted and lived their lives. To debase our identity by reducing us to percents of blood is another version of genocide

4. The contrast between Whites and Native Americans as depicted in “The School Days of an Indian Girl” By Gertrude Simmons Bonnin “A paleface woman” “bronzed children” Bronze Color White “many voices murmuring an unknown tongue” “deaf to the English language” Sioux Language English “tightly fitting clothes”,”cutting our long, heavy hair” “my moccasins had been exchanged for shoes”, “thick braids”, Long hair (thick braids), moccasins shoes, Appearance Immodest dresses,,shingled hair,shoes “the constant clash of harsh noises” “ironhorse”,the bell’s metalic voice Nature sounds IndustrialSounds Noises Native Americans Whites

5. “I was afraid to venture anything more” “we have to submit, because they are strong “People had stared at me” By understanding the fundamental characteristic of an entity, one may be able to understand its doings and potential fully. Human fundamental characteristic has three aspects: physical, psycho-spiritual, and psycho-social. Our physical characteristics includes our basic biological functions of sleep, hunger and thirst, procreative urge, and fight-or-flight survival response. These are the aspects of our human nature which we have in common with all animal species.Not understanding these characteristics and the whites' decision to change them may cause suffer to many innocent people. “I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder” “I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet” “I lost my spirit”

6. The End