Page 218 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAPTE R FIVE

Indian and white male-American Indian relationships derived in large
part from gender roles and responsibilities. Because white women had to
procure fo od, clothing, and other domestic goods, they developed a col­
legial relationship with American Indians. Because white men were cast
as aggressors and land grabbers, they became adversaries of Native
Americans.
Why did this occur? Although women's roles allowed them to enter
warm relationships with individual Indians, sociologists maintain that
stereotypes and prejudices do not change solely through positive con­
tact with group members. Rather, education must supplement such con­
tacts. White women did undergo a learning experience. Increased
demands on their physical capabilities helped them realize they were
not as weak as they had thought. At the same time, the realities of the
moral climate showed them that their supposed talent f o r reform was
not as significant as they had believed. As women accepted these alter­
ations in their self-images, they could adjust their attitudes toward
others. Thus, white women became susceptible to influences provided
by their amicable contact with Indians.
White men did not participate in a similar educational exercise.
Convinced of their strength, their right to wrest a livelihood fr om other
peoples' land, and the inferiority of indigenes, men had no reason to
modify their convictions. Rather, the stresses and strains of the frontier
caused white men to reaffirm such convictions to justify their actions.
Men, therefore, treated American Indians in a way that produced the
very results that they expected. Because men believed Indians would be
contentious, they made displays of their power. Men boasted, brandished
weapons, and acted arrogantly. Unsurprisingly, American Indians
responded in a militant f a shion.When conflict erupted, white men's sus­
picions were confirmed and their anti-Indian prejudices reinforced.
They seldom had pleasant personal contacts with American Indians to
alleviate their fe elings. Unlike their f e male counterparts, men had little
motivation or opportunity to revise their ideas about American Indians.
At the same time, a significant number of women developed a sympa­
thetic stance toward their enemies, which allowed neighborly fe eling,
f r iendship, and even affectional relationships to occur, which confirmed
women's belief that Indians could be "nice."

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