We Shall Remain

If you haven't heard, there's a great new mini-series documentary about Native Americans on PBS called "We Shall Remain". It comes on at 8:00 CST every Monday night. So far, they've shown 2 parts of the 5 part series.

• Episode 1: "After The Mayflower" is about the 1621 treaty between the Wampanoag and the Pilgrim settlers and the problems it caused.
  
• Episode 2: "Tecumseh's Vision" follows the life of Tecumseh and is attempt to create an Indian homeland in what is now mostly Ohio and Indiana. The amazing thing is how close he came to making this a reality.
  
• Episode 3: "Trail of Tears" follows the tragic story of the Cherokee as they adopt European culture, but are later betrayed and sent on a forced march from their homes in the Eastern United States to Oklahoma, resulting in the deaths of nearly 4,000.
• Episode 4: "Geronimo" tells the story of the last Native American leader to lead a fighting force against the United States government.
  
• Episode 5: "Wounded Knee" brings us to modern times and details the protests that took place in 1973 by the American Indian Movement that helped bring about rights to Native Americans.

As someone whose own ancestors were on the Trail of Tears, I have been waiting for something like this for a long time. I do not think that there has been an accurate depiction of Native Americans in American history. I would think that in about the past few years we have only begun to scratch the surface of what really happened and there is a lot that people need to learn.

From what I gathered from my days in school, they were depicted as stupid savages that got drunk and gave their land away for nothing and all died off from disease. Those that resisted were never well organized and had no chance of winning. As far as the Trail of Tears goes, even though it went through Arkansas, I was never told the details of it. All I knew is that they were made to march out to Oklahoma. That was about it. What I'm getting from this series is telling a much different story from what I was told in school. I hope this show and others will spark new interest in the history of Native Americans and make people show them in a more accurate light and talk about them more often when discussing history.