This past Wednesday, Eric Cheyfitz, a former director of the Indian Studies Program at Cornell, came to speak to the Rose Scholars about the many ways in which the indigenous Haudenosaunee people are incredible undermined today. Technically Cornell was created on Native American land, land that was cultivated and protected by various tribes for years before civilization decided to overtake it. I find it interesting that even though there is an entire history that was devoted to maintaining the land millions now live on, much of this information has been lost or simply left out of textbooks and records. Professor Cheyfitz was very passionate in explaining the importance of the Six Nations tribes and how efforts continue to be made in order to give these people more recognition for the sacrifices and hard work they made.

Last semester, I took a course called Indigenous Ingenuities in the American Indian Studies Program and it brought in native speakers each week who spoke about the history behind the Haudenosaunee tribes. My favorite lecture was when one of the Chiefs of the Six nations came and spoke to us about the stories that were shared during meetings with the other nations. The tone of voice he used throughout his talk was engaging and almost enchanting, for I could picture myself sitting in a longhouse – a building where the leaders usually have their meetings – and attending a reunion to talk about issues concerning the land and the people. It is truly a beautiful society, one in which loyalty and respect for one’s elders and nature is held to a very high regard. It was also amazing that one of the speakers actually acknowledged me because I reminded him of one of his daughters, and so I was considered an adopted child of his for the rest of the semester.

Something Cheyfitz mentioned was that most people have no idea who the Iroquois people are or what they did for our nation. As I am taking a course titled Immigration in U.S. History this semester, it seems like there is a trend in literature choosing what elements of history to ignore whether it be out of convenience or ignorance. Although I am not a historian, I feel as though there should not be a restriction as to what information is released to students or society all together, because if we chose to leave out the people who practically created all that we as citizens have available to ourselves, then we have failed to consider one another as equal members of humanity.