American culture and early housing

American culture and early housing

The culture of Early Americans had great impact on housing and community organizations. To the Early Americans, culture involved behavior, way of life and customs. All these impacted on their ways of housing in different ways. Early Americans expressed their cultural aspects through clothing, food, ceremonies, recreation and even from educational institutions. Moreover, the early American culture had external influence from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, which also influenced their way of housing. This paper seeks to discuss various cultural aspects that influenced the way early Americans constructed their houses.

Family unions

The Native Americans who lived in the upper plains and Lake Region constructed tipi houses. According to Zinn (2005), in the early American society, women were charged with the role of constructing and roofing the houses. This is because in the traditional American society, house construction was a role of women. Women used mats and buffalo skin. They also constructed a ceremonial lodge for medicine at the heart of every tipi. The tribes of Missouri like the Pawnee Mandan lived in dozens. Several families lived in one house. They culturally believed in the power of unity. They used logs and earth to construct the houses, which were circular in shape.

Housing in Colonial America

Colonial Americans who lived in New England constructed and lived in wooden houses. This was because there were a lot of trees in this place. Such a farmhouse comprised of one and a half stories. The houses also had a huge frame made of timber and consisted of a huge chimney at the centre for purposes of warming the house during winter. There was also a general room where the members of the family ate their meals from. There was also an adjacent room which acted as a parlor for entertainment. The children could sleep in the loft that was placed above. Due to the social lives of the colonial Americans the houses did not have much privacy.

In New York and Albany the architecture was majorly of the Dutch style. These buildings had their exteriors made of bricks and their ends were shaped into high gambles. Their churches had the shape of an octagon the Germans in Pennsylvania ignored the existing use of timber in making houses and constructed their own stone houses. At the same time the settlers who had come from Ireland constructed the log cabins using timber.

Administration and housing

The Cherokee built log houses and by 1540, these people were still living in settlements of 200 families. The homes were constructed using saplings, mud, vines and wooden frames. They built red and white houses, which depicted their culture of war and peace. According to Morgan (1907), early American tribes were ruled by chiefs who were under head-chiefs (70). The white houses were the dwelling places of the people under tribal supreme war chiefs, while the red houses were the dwelling places for the people under the supreme war chiefs. The villages of the Cherokee were surrounded by fences that protected them from their enemies. Their culture of living in communities also prompted them to construct council houses for holding tribal meetings and ceremonies. The architecture of the council house was also dictated by their culture, for instance, the council house had seven sides representing their seven tribes (Morgan, 1907 p.113).

Influence of Clothing and food culture on early American housing

The traditional Americans diet depended mainly on game meat, especially buffalo meat. For Cheyenne, people wore buckskin clothes made of buffalo skin. The hides were used in construction of tree-poled tipi houses. This meant that the Cheyenne would preserve a lot of hides and use them later on for construction of the houses. Their eating habits influenced their mode of housing. The hide-made houses were adaptable to both cold and warm weather.

Socialization and housing

The Chucalissa were Native American towns which were constructed in Mississippi. The housing in these towns took a certain pattern. This pattern was dictated by the social life of the Chucalissa people. Each house had a large plaza or an open area at the center. The open space was meant for ceremonies, games, gossip and even trade. The social life of the people was therefore paramount to influence the way they constructed their houses.

Economic culture of the early Americans and housing

The Creek people constructed houses according to the amount of wealth that a family had. Such houses raged from one to four. They constructed houses that were framed using poles that were rectangular in shape. They then used straw and mud to plaster the walls. They made roofs using cypress-bark shingles. They had a structure for cooking, a winter quarter, a summer lodge and a granary. Women planted a small garden of corn, tobacco and beans. They also had communal lands for food supplies.

References

Morgan, L. (1907). Ancient Society. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company. pp. 70– 71, 113.

Zinn, H. (2005). A People’s History of the United States: 1492–present. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.