Week 2 Questions/Comments-327 13

Overarching questions I am curious to know, after reading about how much power Native American women had in certain tribes, how and when did the power from European women get stripped? What caused Europeans to become so patriarchal that they couldn't even consider Native American treatment of women as anything else but savage? -Katie Redmiles

In Dr. Sellers' Native American class we talked about the role of women briefly. Specifically we discussed, much like in MP and Wolch's work, that women's work was a "fair share" of the burden. Women worked as a collective body dividing work amongst themselves. They would take shifts which made the labor much more manageable. - Kasey Moore In regards to Christianity, we discussed (in NA class) that women were seen as a symbols of peace. They become extremely important in the creating bonds between Europeans and Natives because Christian similar revered women (the Virgin Mary). Therefore, women were often brought along in trading/diplomatic situation to symoblize the parties came in peace. -Kasey Moore

As I was reading the different accounts I noticed there was a significant amount of bonding between women in Native American tribes. I feel that this was a major reason why they had the power that they did throughout the tribes. These Native American women were able to bond and gain friendship with one another which must have improved their social status in the tribe. Because they were able to bond that could also attribute to why they were successful at trading because of their communication skills and their non-threatening appearance. – Courtney Collier While reading about the trial of Sarah Ahhaton, it mentioned towards the end of the article that she could not get a divorce from her abusive husband, as it would be "un-christian." And yet in the same night's reading, in both "Major Problems" and Woloch's selections, we read that in some Native American tribes, divorce or separation could be decided upon by either the man or woman. This clash of ideals must have surprised Europeans, as they struggled to come to terms with the New World. -Ryan Quint Why did the colonists never consider asking Native American women if they liked their way of life and if the enjoyed farming as well as working or not? Why did they insist on believing that the women were slaves to the men, when it seems that all they had to do was look at the Natives and see, that for the most part, they were happy? - Morgan H.  After reading through all of the different documents, I noticed a pattern; I discovered that Native American men accepted Europeans lifestyle such as Christianity much faster than the Native American women did?! Why is this? Was it because they noticed the significant power European men had over their women? Were Native American men influenced by Europeans to overpower the women in their lives? How long did it take for Native American men to conform to Christianity compared to Native American women?- Melanie Houston. Mary Rowlandson’s account (1681) and Mary Jemison’s account (1824) The comparison between Mary Rowlandson and Mary Jemison's accounts truly reflects the lack of a monolithic narrative. I do think it is important to notice the different terms (adopted rather than captive) used to express their "captivity". Jemison was taken a replacement for a lost tribal member much like John Tanner in MP. The ceremonial purpose of capitivty was much different than that of Rowlandson who was more of a political prisoner. - Kasey Moore I learned in Prof. Seller's class First Religious Contacts in the New World, that often when a family member from a tribe dies, the spiritual energy is at a loss. To fill that void, war prisoners were often adopted into a family making up for the lost person's spiritual energy. One of the main differences between Mary Rowlandson's experience with the Indians and Mary Jemison's seems to be that Rowlandson was taken in as a servant while Jemison was an adoptive child. The age difference between captives could have played a role as well, as Rolandson was middle-aged while Jemison was a teenager. --Mae D'Amico Mary Rowlandson's account reminded me of a story that I read in my own family history. Similar to Rowlandson's account in 1694, during King Phillip's War a group of Native Americans, under command of the French, attacked a settlement in Oyster River, NH. Ultimately, one of my ancestors, Tamsen, was captured by Native Americans and was eventually released 4 years later. Since I cannot find an account of what her life was like during her captivity, it is interesting to read the drastically different accounts of Rowlandsonand and Jemison. -Suzannah Carretto What caused the difference between the ways captives viewed their Native captors? Rowlandson was not really treated badly by the Native Americans yet she was very fearful of them. Jemison, on the other hand really seemed to love the Natives after a period of time. Is this because of the age at which the two women were taken and the duration of time they spent with the Natives? - Morgan H. I find it very interesting how the women Mary Rowlandson and Mary Jemison were put into somewhat similar situations and saw the Indians in very different ways. I wonder how much of their experience was caused by their biases to the Indians before they were captured. Ike Copperthite Was Mary Rowlandson literate or where her experiences dictated to someone else as Mary Jemison’s where? Also did she make a profit off of telling her story of her captivity? Ike Copperthite John Heckewelder’s 1819, Women’s Lives among the Delaware I am fascinated by Heckwelder's account in that it mentions Native American women being able to leave their husband/lover whenever they felt they could not live with them anymore. I am intrigued by the idea that they even had the equivalent relationship to marriage, when there was no other society influencing them, meaning the basic idea of marriage is rooted so deeply in pure human nature. Also, I was interested in knowing that the equal of divorce was so accepted by the culture, whereas the colonists could not even comprehend such acceptance. Perhaps this suggests that when a culture is more focused on the community as a whole unit, there is actually more freedom and acceptance when it comes to social matters. -Katie Redmiles

John Heckewelder points out in his observations of the Delaware Indian families that women are not beasts of burden and do their agricultural work happily. Women of the Eastern Indian tribes also enjoyed privileges in a matrilinial society that women in patrilinial societies did not have, like divorce. With growing most of the food, women had the right to have a say within the tribe, but even so, women were much less likely to be allowed a directly active part in their form of government. Women were not allowed to be on the council of elders and very seldom were they chiefs, why? Why even in a less oppressed society compared the the settlers were women still left out of prestigious leadership roles? --Mae D'Amico In John Heckewelder accounts of the Delaware Indian women he stated that, “The work of the women is not hard or difficult. They are both able and willing to do it, and always perform it with cheerfulness.” I feel this is a very contradictory statement considering that these women are doing the job of men in Europe. I feel that Heckewelder may have said this to make a point of masculine strength while also trying to semi give the Delaware women a compliment. – Courtney Collier John Heckewelder's account is contradictory. He claims that an Indian man "must keep his limbs as supple as he can, he must avoid hard labour as much as possible, that his joints may not become stiffened, and that he must avoid hard labour as much as possible." However, Heckewelder asserts that "the fatigue of the women is by no means to be compared to that of the men.[...] Were a man to take upon himself a part of his wife's duty, in addition to his own, he must necessarily sink under the load, and of course his family must sink with him." Heckewelder denies that the labors of Indian women are difficult but implies that if a man participated in agricultural labor, he would destroy his body's physical capabilities. Heckewelder participates in the European notion of gender roles by projecting male superiority onto the Delaware men and minimizing the roles of the women. -Mary Fesak Samuel de Champlain, 1616 It is clear that the woman have control over the marriages in this culture. Women not only had the power to decide whether or not to marry a particular suitor, but also had the power to leave her suitor or husband at any time during the beginning of their relationship. I found it particularly interesting that if a woman became pregnant after having multiple partners, she could choose who she wanted to be the father of her child. The lack of jealously was also fascinating. There didn't seem to be any inherent judgement around promiscuity for either men or women. -Katherine Miller Pierre de Charlevoix, 1721, “Iroquois Women in Government” It seems to de Charlevoix's surprise that "that the nearer we view our Indians, the more good qualities we discover," which is understandable considering the pervading illustration of Native Americans was of savages with no structure to their society. Yet, he finds that the Native American government, which even though allowed women, still ran, akin to "the senate of Rome." -Suzannah Carretto Roger Williams Remarks on Narragansett women – 1643 In Roger Williams' Remarks on Narragansett Women he makes kind of like a dictionary of their language and then makes observations. There's an interesting comparison between his translation of phrases and his observations that kind of contradicts itself. When talking about polygamy his translations are "He hath one Wife." or "He hath two Wives." and etc, but when explaining why it's because women have the wealth and economic power. I found that intriguing given that polygamy, in current times, can be seen as detrimental for women since it puts men as the dominant and the multiple wives as the submissive. Yet, in his observation he explains that women hold the economic power, which can completely change the power dynamic. When polygamy is seen as a male-dominant, female-submissive structure, his observation shows the opposite when it comes to economics. - Sandra Sanchez Mary Musgrove assists the Georgians in Dealing with the Choctaws, 1734 &amp; Mary Musgrove Seeks aid for past service from GA, 1747 Do we know if Mary Masgrove received the compensation that she requested in her letter to Georgia? Ike Copperthite Captive John Tanner in 1830 Father Le Jeune on necessity of teaching native women, 1633 This document explains that Native American women should be educated, because the men were being educated, and they didn't wan tan educated man to marry a "savage" girl. This was very interesting. They would have also wanted to educate the women so that their children could have been raised "properly." I foundit interesting that they didn't want to educate the women to better the women themselves but for the men. -Amy Wallace

This document gives detail on how Father Le Jeune finds it necessary to teach both boys and girls Christianity. He believed that "women have great power" not because they are hard-working or play a significant role in their tribes, but they will be the very ones who will teach their sons about Christianity; he believed that men were the Masters.- Melanie Houston Father Le Jeune goes to great lengths to explain that the english men can marry the Native women, but they must be converted first to christianity so that the men may not become barbaric and run off into the woods with the women. Although a legitimate fear of those who did not understand the Native way of life, there were cases of people running away to join the tribes. Why is it that besides the fear of women becoming the ones in control over the white men, the english are so concerned with changing a culture they don't understand, seemingly it is not just fear, but something else. -Charlotte O Native women resist Jesuits, 1640 I found it odd that the patriarchal standards held by the Jesuits seemed to have spread quite quickly among the men of the tribe mentioned in this piece, for within a few years of knowing the European priests they were willing to round up the women of their tribe for baptism. However, the harsh practice of chaining people up for days in order to convert them may partially explain the rapid changes. -Kearsten Lehman Within our readings, there was a short piece called "Native Women Resist the Jesuits, 1640." While the women resist the baptisms offered by the Jesuits, it's interesting to see the change of perspective in a relative time difference. Last year in Seller's religion course, we spent a great deal of time discussing one Native woman, Catherine Tekakwitha, who became so devout she was given sainthood. What change can be achieved in such a short time... - Ryan Quint I found it very interesting that after being told that she is a subject of her husband, a woman ran away into the woods. She was brought back and chained by the foot and had to go four days and nights without eating. This shows the brutality the Europeans were willing to enforce upon the Native Americans to force them into Christianity. -Amy Wallace I find it interesting that the Native American men seemed to be more willing than the Native American women to convert to Christianity. I have to wonder if this is because the men liked the patriarchal culture of the Europeans that goes along with Christianity. -Katherine Miller I find it remarkable how quickly the Native American men adapted to the patriarchal culture of the Europeans despite the innumerable years that they had practiced their individual tribal cultures. Why did the Native American men so quickly assimilate to the Judeo-Christian gender standards? Was it because they wanted to gain favor with the Europeans? Did they like the having greater power even though it clearly strained their relationships with their wives, families, and communities? -Mary Fesak Wamponoag women of Martha’s Vineyard, 1727 This document consisted of 4 accounts of women and their relationships with God or how they came to know him. I liked this document because it showed that these women came from different religious backgrounds but in the end they found God. To me, it showed that no matter what choices someone makes in their life they can still find the right path. Overall I thought that it shined a good light on the religion that the Europeans brought over.-Katie Way After reading the four online documents, it seems to me that Native American women became more accepting of Christianity as time went on and a more prolonged interaction with European missionaries. I wonder how much this had to do with mounting pressure from the Native American men who became Christians or if they truly found benefits to their lives through Christianity, considering Experience Mayhew states that there seemed to be more pious Native American women than men. – Jess Hopkins Sarah Ahhaton’s trial, 1668 Sarah Ahhaton's trial was quite fascinating for me, because the men got off unpunished. Her husband who was abusive and adulterous was an upright religious man so he was viewed as having done no wrongs while her supposed lover left town. In a Native American community the divorcing someone like her husband was less of a hassle and he most likely wouldn't have gotten off scot-free. European society did Native American women no favors by destroying their autonomy. -Kearsten Lehman I found this trial very interesting. A Native American woman was found to be having an affair. Instead of getting a divorce, like she would have been allowed to do in Native American culture, she was forced to stay in an unhappy relationship because it was unchristian to leave.After her punishment she had to return to her husband. It shows how deeply the European/Christian culutre had invaded the Native culture at the time. -Amy Wallace I found it interesting that while Sarah Ahhaton was penalized for having extramarital relations, which was deemed "unchristian," her husband, who beat her and also possibly had an affair, was free of blame. I think this shows the hypocrisy of the missionaries' attempt to right what they saw as abuses of women in Indian society, when in reality they were just imposing different abuses. -Suzannah Carretto In Sarah Ahhaton’s trial, I found it very interesting that she had to go back to her husband. I do not understand why it was okay for her to be punished but not her husband. If her husband had not abused he she would have leave him and find another man. I think she should have been allowed to get out of the abusive relationship and her husband should have been punished. - Katie Way Out of all the readings, I was most engaged in this one. The trail of Sarah Ahhaton in Massachusetts in 1668, not only was a prime example of the lifestyle of Algo-Christian religion expectations (Ahhaton not going through with the divorce because it would have been considered "unchristian"), but also provided evidence to the difference in treatment between men and women. As I was reading through this, I had a difficult time understanding why Sarah was put in prison for adultery, but her husband had no punishment, even though he abused his wife. Clearly, this is one of the many diverse norms among men and women in that time period. -Melanie Houston In Sarah Ahhaton's trial i found myself puzzled over how much the english culture had overtaken that of the Natives. The native culture took less than 50 years to overthrow and begin to actively live in the english way. Sarah was punished for having an affair by going to Jail, not a divorce like her culture dictates. A "crime" such as adultery shouldn't bear the weight of a prison sentence, and yet she was "lucky" to have not been executed instead. I find it ridiculous that she had to endure imprisonment and punishment to be allowed to return to the husband that she needed to have an affair on. --Charlotte O Sarah Ahhaton was Algonkian not Narragansett, the tribe that Roger Williams described in his dictionary, but it's interesting to compare the treatment of adultery in the two different documents. In 1643, the husband of a Narragansett women who committed adultery could be "solemnely revenged upon the offendor...by many blowes and wounds" to the point of death. This violence is condoned by the larger society, but not inflicted by it. Still, this defense of the man's honor is availible to the men even if the society itself doesn't take responsibility for regulating adultery. In 1668 with Ahhaton, instead of the husband revenging upon the man his wife had the affair with, the government takes her to court and inflicts and official punishment on her. This might be primarily because Joseph did not return with her and Ahhaton was punished in his place, and the politics of publicly shaming an Indian woman to encourage other Indian women to be loyal, especially since she was the wife of a Christian minister. --Sarah Palmer Ann Marie Plane's essay I believe the purpose of this essay was to question why Native American women were so active in converting to Christianity and attending churches. There is no one correct answer to that question but from the various primary sources I got the sense that Native American women knew that it would be simpler to convert to a new religion peacefully and adhere to it in a bid to gain some autonomy back. For ,in European society (which was imposing its concepts and beliefs upon Native Americans), a pious woman was treated better than one considered a "Savage" which in turn allowed the pious woman to do her own thing to a greater extent. - Kearsten Lehman Plane suggests that the severe punishment of Sarah Ahhaton may have been due to her race, in order to discourage further adultery. However, as she continues to discuss the conflict between the European culture and the resisting traditionalism, I feel that her husband’s role as the native Christian minister also influences her punishment. She was a native woman not only committing a crime against Christianity, but specifically committed adultery against an authoritative native Christian. – Jess Hopkins