I always knew there many different tribes and groups of Native Americans in North America when the Europeans arrived. I was only taught about the ones who "impacted" exploration of North America, and the Plains Indians. But I am still amazed when Tai shows us a map where the different Indian tribes were located, and it seems there are so many. Then we hear about how tribes were forced to move westward due to European colonization, and many of the tribes seemed to adapt to their new homes. The Indians were a smart and industrious people who were viewed as ignorant by the Europeans because they were different.
And then Tai told us about the cross gender and the tribes seemed to embrace this person who was different and accepted them for who they were. Women were also viewed to have power by some tribes because of childbirth. Men and women all had functions within the tribe and if one function didn't do it's job, then everyone suffered. It was a group effort.
Maybe if the Europeans would have looked at the tribes and their treatment of each other and learned from it, then perhaps we would have greatly different views of society today, and be more accepting of each other and our differences.