Minorities have played a crucial role in the development of the United States. In Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century Of Dishonor, many Indian tribes tell the story of their treatment by the United States. By 1840, all the eastern tribes had been subdued, annihilated or forcibly removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Some of these tribes were the Cherokee, and the Cheyenne.
The Cherokee tribes suffered horrific treatment by US soldiers. They were forced out of the land, which they legally bought from the US and moved west on what is called the trail of tears. Even though the Cherokee tried to conform to the US homestead way of living, they were still forced out. This is a horrible event that the US conducted because they had little or no respect for minorities like the Cherokees. .
The Cheyenne Indians lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota after being pushed out of the east by other Indian tribes. They lived there until gold was discovered and prospectors wanted to mine gold. They were friendly to the white settlers at first but conflicts grew and eventually the US slaughtered Indian men, women and children at Sand Creek. This event led to the transfer of Indians to a reservation. The US moved them to a reservation that was poorly run because they were a minority and the white majority wanted the Black Hills. .
The United States has many minorities such as the Indians, in A Century of Dishonor it is showed how the US Government treated the Indian minorities because they were greedy for natural resources for white people to have. These dealings with the Indians showed the people of the United States how Indians were treated and changed our history forever.
