Initial thoughts on Native Americans

Ok, so I was given "Native Americans" as the topic for my research project. I have to be honest, while I'm excited to learn more about America's native people, this topic has never been one I've found all that interesting. I hope that this project will prove my enthusiasm wrong as I do understand that Native Americans hold a rich and beautiful culture full of heritage and tradition. Alright, this won't be so bad. Something which has always interested me with Native Americans is their overall culture. Last week I saw the movie Avatar. I left the movie amazed at the message it displayed. The movie motivated the viewers to have a respect for the earth and value their family and heritage. The values presented in Avatar, respect, lover, and community, are themes which I remember being taught in elementary school. I also remember these are values which Native Americans highly incorporate into their everyday lives. I remember leaving the movie with a friend and discussing the parallelism we saw between the movie and the history of Native Americans. Although I am not the biggest fan of Native American History, perhaps this is due to my lack of knowledge on the topic. The cruelty I know has been preformed to Native Americans throughout the years I know is not only unique to the United States, but to many other nations across the world. I hope my reaserch on America's natives over the next few weeks will prove to be interesting and help give myself a better perspective on the American people by gazing back on our roots.