Behind The Lens
Portraits of the Dispossessed by Zeyd Anwar
The term “Indian” is said to have been coined by none other than Christopher Columbus, the Italian voyager who used the term to refer to the original inhabitants of the American continent. After a ten-week expedition across the Atlantic, Columbus in 1492 believed he had landed in the Indies, in the pursuit of eastern riches.
Contrary to popular opinion, Columbus was not the first European to discover the Americas. That honour belonged to Leif Erikson, a Norse explorer from Iceland. Erikson discovered the Americas approximately half a millennium before Columbus, and possibly founded the L’Anse aux Meadow site in Newfoundland. During the years of settlement in Newfoundland, the Nordics faced constant threats of attack from the Natives, whom they referred to as the Skraeling. The colony was eventually abandoned and Europeans did not settle in North America until the late fifteenth century.
The return of the Europeans to the North American continent was to have devastating impacts on the Native Americans that lived there. Disease, warfare and superior technology led to a decimation of Native American populations. While population records of indigenous populations did not exist at the time of discovery, models suggest that a population of sixty million people existed on the American continent in 1492. By the beginning of the 1600s, this figure was estimated to be four million. For historian Raphael Lemkin, the expansion of European colonial powers into North America, and the subsequent establishment of colonies was tantamount to genocide, involving a two-stage process: first, the destruction of indigenous populations, second the imposition of European way of life.
Today, the current population of Native Americans in the United States is six point seven nine million, around two-point zero nine percent of the population. There are currently five hundred and seventy-four federally recognised tribes in the United States.
A Native American, 1925 / Harris & Ewing photograph collection / Library of Congress
Native Americans, between 1923 and 1925 / Harris & Ewing photograph collection
Native Americans, February 1923 / Harris & Ewing photograph collection / Library of Congress
An elderly Native American woman, 1870 / S.J. Morrow, Yankton, Dakota
Unidentified Native American man / Schreiber & Sons, photographers, 818 Arch St., Philadelphia
A group of Native Americans / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native Americans with a bicycle, 1938 or 1939 / Harris & Ewing
A Native American woman, April 1924 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native American women, April 1924 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native American woman, between 1921-1923 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Unidentified Native American soldier in Union uniform, between 1861 and 1865 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Charles Curtis (centre) and Native American (right), 1929 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native American baby, 1929 / Library of Congress
Woman wearing native american clothing in an automobile, 1923
Two tipis on beach with Native Americans in foreground / Clarke / Library of Congress
Native American man, half-length portrait, facing front, approx 1836 / Eaton, E. L. (Edric L.) / Library of Congress
Portrait of two Native American women seated outside of tipi, between 1860 and 1890 / Library of Congress
Sun Flower, Native American man, half-length portrait, facing left, 1899 / Heyn Photo / Library of Congress
Native Americans during a mathematics class at Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1901 / Francis Benjamin / Library of Congress
Two Native American women, posed, on Mackinac Island, 1903 / Francis Benjamin / Library of Congress
Native American at the White House, 1921 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native Americans at the White House, 1929 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Two native american men, one in traditional dress, 1923 / Library of Congress
Native Americans in traditional clothing, 1923 / Library of Congress
Native Americans in front of tipis, 1923 / Library of Congress
Native Americans at U.S. Capitol, 1936 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Thurlow Lieurance with three Native American Indians, one of whom plays a courting flute, date unknown / Library of Congress
Native American men and a boy posed outside of Carlisle Indian School, 1890 / Library of Congress
Native American woman from Plains region, half-length portrait, facing right, with baby on her back, 1901 / Library of Congress
Chief Crane, Potawatomi, holding a tomahawk and an unidentified Native American man in delegation to Washington, D.C., between 1855 and 1865 / Library of Congress
Male Native American students in physical education class, Carlisle Indian School / between 1901 and 1903 / Francis Johnston / Library of Congress
Native American seated on the edge of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, between 1909 and 1932 / Library of Congress
Calvin Coolidge and a group of Native Americans at the White House, 1925 / Harris and Ewing / Library of Congress
Native American in traditional clothing, 1923 / Library of Congress
A group of Native Americans (possibly Winnebago) wearing blankets, with some standing before a log fence and others sitting, with a canopied shelter in background, 1862 and 1868
Big Road, between 1873 and 1916 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Ale Ko, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Quanah Parker, between 1981 and 1894 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
White Horse, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Jas Arkeketer, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Chief Ne-Sann-Dow-Anice, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Fox, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Fox, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Standing Bear, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Walking Cloud, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Standing on the Prairie, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Blue Hair, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Shontona, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Possibly Wah Shem Gah, between 1901 and 1903 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Possibly Wah Shem Gah, between 1901 and 1903 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Little Dog with wife and child, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Indians, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Waulicomo, between 1873 and 1890 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Two Horns and Am. Horse, between 1873 and 1890 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
Bahbeskeit, between 1894 and 1901 / C.M. Bell / Library of Congress
John-Smith, between 1900 and 1915 / Library of Congress
Paiute Indian, Long Charlie, on Horseback. , 1910
Pahute Jim and his adorable squaw, between 1860 and 1890 / Library of Congress
Zeyd Anwar is the founder of New Politic
@zeydanwar
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