California Indians Surviving the Gold Rush Essay

calcium Indians Surviving the Gold Rush - Essay ExampleThe easiest way to survive was, perhaps, the most humiliating. Some Indians allowed their oppressors to train them. By adopting face cloth styles of dress, living in modern, rather than traditional homes, and most importantly, but kowtowing to the white opus and embracing his religion, some native people were able to keep their own lives. In Deeper than Gold Indian Life in the Sierra Foothills, Brian Bibby writes of a man called Billy Preacher, who, based on the stories and artifacts he go away behind, had a strong belief in and connection to his own religion and culture. However, Billy Preacher, accommodating to switch over (Bibby 30), goes to work on a white mans ranch and eventually takes on his employers culture. Bibby states that this ranch, provided a safe oasis and labor opportunities for individuals and families who had been disinherited from their former homes by the influx of miners and settlers to the region (Bib by 30). Billy Preacher, at the end of his life, has born-again to Christianity and in appearance appears almost completely European.Servitude was more or less expected by the white man, who saw the Native as, at best, a useful servant, and, at worst, a pest to be exterminated. For this reason, many Indians found it simpler to cater to the invaders, whoever they were.