Connexions Quotations

Indigenous People
Quotes

Humans merely share the earth. We can only protect the land, not own it. - Chief Seattle (Si'ahl)

The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. - Chief Joseph (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt)

My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace; but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother. Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun. Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear to us? I know you will cry with me, Never! NEVER!. - Tecumseh

Once they were a happy race! Now they are made miserable by the white people, who are never contented but are always coming in! You do this always, after promising not to, yet you ask us to have confidence in your promises. How can we have confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came upon the earth, you killed him, the son of your own God, you nailed him up! You thought he was dead, but you were mistaken. And only after you thought you killed him did you worship him, and start killing those who would not worship him. What kind of a people is this for us to trust? - Tecumseh

To learn more about Indigenous Peoples, explore the Connexions Subject Index Indigenous Peoples page and the Aboriginal History page.