The brain is one of the most complex and magnificent organs in the human body. Our brain gives us awareness of ourselves and of our environment, processing a constant stream of sensory data. It controls our muscle movements, the secretions of our glands, and even our breathing and internal temperature. Every creative thought, feeling, and plan is developed by our brain.
After the 1960s civil rights movement led by African Americans, many Native Americans also pushed for more civil rights and renewed what many see as their original struggle to force the U.S. to keep its promises to native peoples. Today the relationship between native peoples and the rest of the U.S. remains complicated and often tense. The government, for example, still maintains agencies to deal specifically with Native Americans, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On its Web site, the bureau describes its mission as âthe administration and management of 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives.â
Settlement by European Americans also pushed many Native Americans off their land. Some made treaties with the Whites, giving up land and moving farther west. Others fought back in battle but lost and were forced to give up their lands. These battles, as well as war with other Native American tribes, also killed many. The fates of the three largest Native American tribesâthe Tuscarora, the Catawba, and the Cherokeeâare examples of the fates of the other tribes in North Carolina. In the Coastal Plain Region, most of the smaller Algonquian-speaking tribes moved westward in the face of growing numbers of white settlers.