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Book Summary
“Strong Medicine” Speaks: A Narrative American Elder Has Her Say is a book by Amy Hearth that tells of the story of an American native woman and her experiences in life. The book narrates the ordeals of her tribe such as racism that forced many Native Americans to live in secrecy. Many were considered colored people because they were neither black nor white, some were dark while others were brown. This enabled them to fit in many communities. In the book, a story is told of a woman of Lani Lenape Indian origin, but who grew up in New Jersey. Her tribe’s ways are narrated and ideas of what a Lenape woman was regarded as are well evidenced, giving the thoughts and major points in this book.
The book has in a great way talked about the tribe of Lenape and their struggle to survive during the racial discrimination in the Twentieth century when they were not considered black or white and were left out especially during the Civil Rights movement era. This happened after the arrival of the Europeans when the natives had to live in hiding. From the story of this tribe, much has been revealed about the way things have changed and their struggle to have an identity. Much of the ideas held by the tribe are revealed that are still present today although most have changed with the modern times. Strong Medicine further narrates how living in an extended family gave her strength to live and cites that lack of unity among families today has contributed significantly to problems faced in the modern society.
To the Lenape, a woman was regarded as a key figure in making decisions. A woman was regarded as a partner to her husband and both made decisions equally, except that a man would be considered the wheel. One strong point in this book is that women are not weak because they are feminine, and both feminism and strength can go together unlike many people believe. Strong Medicine believed that she could do anything that a man did; sometimes even feeling that a woman’s work in her younger days was boring and she preferred the man’s chores. She gives one example of her life experience when she had to clean a blocked gutter by herself when the men she asked to do it refrained.
Another point that Strong Medicine makes concerning changing times is that the way children are brought up is quite different. For instance, she asserts that in her younger days, disciplining children was easier since they could spank and reprimands them. Today, however, parenting has changed and children state their demands such as what to eat or wear and yet they are not punished or reprimanded. In this regard, she states that young people should know what is expected of them and should be observed to do things not as they want but as is right. This should be extended to other instances in their lives where they interact with their community.
The book also makes a point that this tribe has been influenced by the modern times considering that Strong Medicine managed to get education in her early days. Many people would however expect that Indians did not get any education since they lived like outlawed people. One of the influences in modern society that has changed people’s perspective of Native Indians is the movies in Hollywood where they are depicted as the bad people. Strong Medicine asserts that people should not believe the movies and should seek reality from the Natives themselves rather than sources of popular media. Hollywood has also depicted them as outdated suggesting they should get on with time while the opposite was the truth. Strong Medicine describes how she loved wearing modern outfits or moving with fashion, a situation unlike the Hollywood depiction of the natives always in traditional attire. The major point put across in this book is the need to have a public identity where this tribe struggled because of lack of recognition and the change in times forced them to abandon their culture and values.
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