Title: Common Native American Stereotypes Debunked - Everyday Feminism
Headings: Common Native American Stereotypes Debunked
Common Native American Stereotypes Debunked
Negative Stereotypes
1. All Native Americans are alcoholics.
2. Native Americans are lazy.
3. All Native Americans live on reservations.
4. American Indians receive special benefits and privileges from the government.
5. Native Americans overreact to their likenesses being used in school celebrations or as team mascots.
Positive Stereotypes
1. Native Americans are spiritual and wise.
2. American Indians are animal lovers, tree-huggers, and sun-worshippers.
3. Native Americans are all dancers and storytellers.

Content: Just because you see it portrayed on TV or read about it in a book doesn’t make it accurate for every individual, even if it’s accurate for some. Having these pre-conceived “positive” notions of qualities that people of certain cultures or ethnicities are supposed to possess only places undue pressure on those who don’t “measure up.” 2. American Indians are animal lovers, tree-huggers, and sun-worshippers. When we think of the Native culture, often the first thing to come to mind is their supposed love of animals — especially eagles and wolves. We also tend to think of Natives as being extreme environmentalists who worship nature and the earth. According to this great resource, Native Americans worship a Supreme Being just like other cultures do. The stereotype of the nature-worshipping Indian comes from early European settlers in America who observed Native peoples raising their hands to the sky in the form of prayer, which they misinterpreted as “sun-worshipping.” The animal-loving stereotype may also have its roots in early European colonization. Early Native Americans observed the behavior of animals to learn how to hunt and survive in undeveloped land, similar to what other hunter/gatherer societies did.