Problems of sacagawea essays

Problems of sacagawea essays The many hardships faced by a young Shoshone woman plays a significant part in the discovery of what we call America. Unfortunately, much of this was not realized until long after her death. The problems and frustrations Sacagawea had endured all through her life only contributed to her courage and strength, this was proven many times on the expedition of Lewis and Clark. She was born approximately in 1788, into an Indian village of the Shoshone tribe. Sacagawea lived for the first twelve years of her life with this tribe in the Rocky Mountains region in Idaho. Around this time the most important hardship in her life occurred, for if it didnt Sacagawea couldnt have played an important role in Americas Discovery. She was kidnapped by the Hidatsa Indians, enemies of the Shoshone. The enemies armed with guns, easily overtook the Shoshone and killed many of her people. Sadly, the fact that she was a young Indian girl implied in itself that she faced many frustrations. To begin, all women of that era had little or no freedoms at all. She and other females in her home village received special beatings only given to girls. She did many hard jobs young boys of her age didnt do. Some of the tasks she preformed were; collecting berries and other fruits, finding roots, tending to the horses, cooking, making fires, dressing the skins that made the clothing, making the clothing, collecting wood, and packing items on horses for long trips. As a girl matured, the derogatory name squaw was given to her, basically it meant prostitute to Indians and white men as well. To their husbands they thought of wives (having more than one) as a mere slave and trade, prostituting them off in exchange for goods. This is a perfect example of why Sacagawea did not try to return to her village when she was kidnapped. Being a slave in the Hidatsa village, she was gambled off to a French fur trader living with them at ...