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Different views on USA's 250th anniversary - 13th July 2026
The United States of America is 250 years old. Lots of people are having parties. Native Americans are thinking about the anniversary too.
Politicians wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It calls all men "equal". But it isn't talking about Native Nations. It calls them "Savages".
Historians see this anniversary as an opportunity. They want the United States to tell the whole story. Europeans controlled Native Americans for centuries.
The US pushed Native Nations off their land. The 1830 Indian Removal Act moved 60,000 people. Native Americans and their Black slaves had to leave the Southeast.
It pushed them west of the Mississippi river. 4,000 to 15,000 people died on the journey.
Children had to go to special schools. They got English names. They had to go to church. They couldn't use their own languages.
Tracy Canard Goodluck works with young people. She's a Native American. She wants to tell the full history. "We're still here. We're doctors, lawyers, teachers and political leaders."
