I have seen the painting American Progress only once before and I’m pretty sure that the previous time I saw it was in seventh grade for Human Geography class. But when I saw it in class, we were discussing how great the picture was and how relentlessly America persisted for expansion in the 19th century. We discussed Manifest Destiny but the discussion was so entirely focused on glorifying America that we hadn’t even spoken about the left side of the picture. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even notice that side of the painting. Becoming conscious of the mistreatment of Indians has opened my eyes to that part of the picture and honestly, I think that it is the most crucial side of the painting. We have to remember where, or more importantly, who our land came from. In the picture, you can see Lady Liberty bringing innovation and new technology over to a new span of land. She is bringing newer methods of communication and transportation over a new span of land. But the picture clearly shows that Indians are being forced out of their homelands and the settlers are gradually spreading and taking control of it. I think that it is important that we notice the subtle details in this painting.
mikerose June 29, 2018
MaKayla,
This is a really interesting thing you picked up on. Just another example of how we don’t teach the full truth in our schools. We glorify America and how we came and developed the United States, but we always seem to forget a very important part of the process in which we try to get rid of the Indians. It’s honestly laughable that you did not even talk about the other side of the painting, it is just so typical of our education system. We will talk about Hitler we will talk about slavery but for some reason we just don’t do it for the treatment of Indians from the United States. I really hope this can change soon.
-Mike