Indians Quote by Dee Brown
““mainland of America, the Wampanoags of Massasoit and King Philip had vanished, along with the Chesapeakes, the Chickahominys, and the Potomacs of the great Powhatan confederacy. (Only Pocahontas was remembered.) Scattered or reduced to remnants were the Pequots, Montauks, Nanticokes. Machapungas, Catawbas, Cheraws, Miamis, Hurons, Eries, Mohawks, Senecas, and Mohegans. (Only Uncas was remembered.) Their musical names remained forever fixed on the American land, but their bones were forgotten in a thousand burned villages or lost in forests fast disappearing before the axes of twenty million invaders. Already the once sweet-watered streams, most of which bore Indian names, were clouded with silt and the wastes of man; the very earth was being ravaged and squandered. To the Indians it seemed that these Europeans hated everything in nature—the living forests and their birds and beasts, the grassy glades, the water, the soil, and the air itself.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, 1970
The passage laments the erasure of Native American peoples and cultures by European colonizers, noting how only a few names survive while the rest are forgotten.
In simple terms: Colonialism erased many indigenous groups, leaving only a few remembered.
Key Takeaway
Remember and honor lost cultures.
Themes
history
colonialism
memory
loss
Mood
sadness
anger
Type
historical
reflective
When to use this quote
- education
- museum curation
- community activism
- heritage preservation
Key Concepts
cultural genocide
historical erasure
Questions to Reflect On
- What stories of resistance are missing?
- How can we preserve remaining indigenous knowledge?
A Different Perspective
The narrative may overlook resilience and survival of many tribes.
