AMERICAN INDIANS: Trading Old Stereotypes for New.

"Native cultures have changed--sometimes by necessity and other times by conscious choice--but they have survived."

THE PUBLIC'S PERCEPTION of Native Americans has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years. Indians, for so long vilified, are now more likely to be idealized. In the past, both detractors and defenders of Indians presumed that this population was vanishing, but, presently, they have an unusually high profile as an admirable people.

In 1992, 500 years after Columbus stumbled upon the Western Hemisphere, something approaching a social movement eagerly sought to educate modern Americans about the true nature of those who were living here in 1492. Revisionist historians and Indian leaders were given a welcome opportunity to correct old misconceptions, claiming that Columbus and the European values he represented were morally bankrupt and the native peoples whom the Europeans exploited were noble and undeserving victims. In addition to all the magazine and newspaper articles devoted to this message, nu...

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