Karenne Wood Presentation

Karenne Wood Presentation was a really good presentation. She is the director of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program. The event was held in the Boyd Dining Room, September 21, at 11 a.m. I sat beside one of my classmate which was Stephanie from my FYE class. I thought at first it was going to be boring but it turned out to be really good. A lot of people showed up more than I thought even our class had a good turnout of classmates. Mrs. Woods who looked and dressed like an Indian did a really terrific job. She talked about how people portrayed the Indians of how they thought they look like, she should us a picture of Pocahontas saving John Smith, and she explained to us the picture was wrong. Pocahontas did not save John Smith and in the picture she was not that old nor did her family look that way. Another issue that stood out to me is how the use of Native American mascots in sports has become a contentious issue in the United States. Not realizing that my high school Nandua High School, which is on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Our mascot is a Warrior head, I heard that our land was discovered by Native Americans but as time went on we didn't have a lot of true Natives on the Eastern Shore. Good question what ever happened to them? A painting by John Gast called American Progress really hit my eye it was beautiful it showed the "Manifest Destiny", the religious belief that the United States should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in the name of God. It's still a lot of information that can be learned and shared about this magnificent culture, and I would love to someday hear or study more about it.

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