NE discussed cultures lost, suppressed

By Victoria Almon/reporter

People have a responsibility to find out about life and their history, a NE Campus government professor said during Black Indians’ Lost Culture Feb. 3.

Lisa Uhlir is a Native American who said she hopes to promote training for students on understanding and perceiving cultures and ethnicities.

“Education is what other people tell me or what I explore for myself,” she said.

“Researching cultures and history can give you a sense of self and solid identity.”

Uhlir had watched a documentary on the Trail of Tears and discovered that one-third were black freedmen or slaves of Indians.

It was “history I haven’t been told,” she said, adding it encouraged her to ask the question, “Why was it hidden?”

“History is written by the victor,” she said. “The history of multi-ethnic people and cultures was lost because of biased documents.”

That tradition makes it difficult to find the culture because black history was suppressed while Native American history was more oral, Uhlir said.

“Don’t deny lost culture,” she said. “Doing research yourself changes your perspective of yourself.”

NE student Miranda Shepard said the presentation showed her “there are two sides to the coin” in American history.