The Contributions of Non-Europeans to History

The assertion that history is the domain of white, male hegemony overlooks the importance of other racial groups, including the Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexicans, in shaping the cultural foundations of American society.

First, the Native Americans possess a history that began far before they came into contact with Europeans. It is estimated that Native Americans began to migrate to North America between 40,000 and 32,000 BCE (Olson and Olson 17). They formed agricultural communities with their own social, economic, and political systems (17). These early cultures offer a rich history to be examined.

Second, African Americans developed cultural innovations that influenced the American landscape. African slaves were influenced by their own indigenous cultures from Africa, and later African Americans developed their own forms of English, musical traditions, and folk heroes. These cultural developments influenced the American society at large.

Finally, Mexican Americans were influential in shaping the cultural traditions of the southwest. Prior to the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the southwest was primarily controlled by Mexico, and the mestizo population was in the middle class (219). Thus, a combination of indigenous and Spanish traditions influenced regional culture.

As the contributions made by Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans demonstrate, a study of history is incomplete without examining the contributions of nonwhite groups.

Work Cited

Olson, James S., & Olson, Heather. The Ethnic Dimension in American History. 4th ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.