Assimilation Of Native Americans Essay

One might not understand what makes one keep moving forward day after day. Nobody gets it unless they have lived in the footsteps of another. Ask any Native American. They have lived a life of others judging and misunderstanding and if they haven't their ancestors have. The Native Americans pass stories down generation by generation so surely they have heard what it was like to be misunderstood. They believe differently than other cultures, yet not one is alike. They have a very complicated and hard to understand system when it comes to their views. The way they view, believe and run their system is never fully understood unless one has grown up with the Native American culture. The religious culture of these people is what holds their

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

Opening a discussion about assimilation reveals a double standard that has been present between native and non-native Americans throughout our nation’s history. From the day they stepped off the boat, white settlers expected Native Americans to change and conform, while they themselves refused to do any changing at all. Before the European settlers arrived in America, the native peoples were the “American Mainstream.” White settlers came into their home, disrupted and destroyed their way of life, disrespected their culture and religion, and then asked them to adopt a European lifestyle. We established a nation in a place where

Native Americans have had a long history of resistance to the social and cultural assimilation into white culture. By employing various creative strategies, Native Americans have attempted to cope with the changes stemming from the European colonial movement into the Americas. There are fundamental differences in world views and cultural and social orders between Indians and Europeans, which contributed to conservatism in Native American cultures. In this paper, two aspects of such cultural and institutional differences of Native American societies will be examined: holistic Native American beliefs versus dualistic world views and harmony versus domination. These two aspects are important in terms of explaining changes (or lack thereof) in

Native American resistance against European assimilation dates back to the colonial period. Governmental pressures for adaptation and eradication of customs, communities, and identities through various federal policies gave Native Americans a valid reason to fight and preserve their culture. During the 1880’s, the United States government managed to confine Native Americans on poverty-stricken reservations with limited resources and supplies (Young, 1990). Although these conditions caused reservations nationwide to suffer, it produced a necessity for movements to end injustice and abuse. Tribal leaders attempted to reassert their independence and create new spiritual

Due to the greed of the Americans, Indians were forced off of their lands by the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830 signed by President at the time, Andrew Jackson.1 The government developed a sly process for the exclusion of the Indians to move them out of the way of the “progress” of the U.S. It began with Coexistence (1789-1828) then moved into Removal and Reservations (1829-1886), then took a shift into Assimilation (1887-1932), then Reorganization (1932-1942), then

Similar to African Americans and women in 1800’s (and arguably now), these Amerindians were minorities that arguably possessed no value nor contribution the cultivation of the United States. Ideas initially encouraged by Christopher Columbus, where he refers to Native Americans as ignorant savage beasts, has been preserved and acknowledged by the Americans where the belief of inferiority resonates with their perspective of the Native Americans. Immoral as this notion sounds, the Americans would then enfranchise to urbanization, industrialization, and acquisition of abundant resources without pondering on the consequences it has on the Native Americans. In 1830, in order to proceed in territorial aggrandizement, newly-inaugurated President Jackson scribed a congressional message promoting the removal of Indians for the vain benefit of the United States. In the intermediary of his message, he states a rhetorical question: What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12 million happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion? (Jackson 1) The inclusion of this rhetorical question is to exclude the care for Native Americans as they are perceived as “savages”, and place more stress on the significant

Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Bro). Here, he proclaims the idea that in order to live a culture must be passed down from generation to generation, growing its roots. When two cultures were fighting for dominance in the U.S., the American government developed a plan to eradicate the First Nations’ roots, buying into the philosophy of Captain Richard H. Pratt when he stated that instead of killing all the Natives it would be of more use to “kill the Indian, and save the man” (“Kill”). Between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the United States government used boarding schools to try to assimilate Native Americans into modern American culture;

Native American’s have always been the aspect that shapes our culture and history today. The rise of the new world started with the discovery of the land of which the Native Americans resided. They are referred to as the indigenous people because they were the people who lived and survived off this land first. The Native Americans have a unique culture that consisted of a bond with nature. They had similar gender roles just like the white population. The men were hunters, warriors, and protectors, while the women tended to the children, their homes, and farmed. While the late 1800 's into the 1900 's and beyond began to bring the struggle to the Native American Indians, they fought a tough battle in pursuit of protecting their land. Throughout history the Native American’s have been oppressed and exploited of their identity.

Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and fundamental way of life stripped from them almost unceasingly for decades. Although they were the real “natives” of the land, they were driven off by the government and coerced to assimilate to the white man’s way. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Natives was primarily based on the prevalent greed for money and power. This past impeded the Native American’s preservation of their culture as many were obviated of the right to speak the native language and dress in traditional clothing. Because of this cultural expulsion, among other

Since the beginning of time, conquering other societies has been a common occurrence. Almost every battle that has taken place has been documented. When stories of past battles are retold, only one side of the tale gets told, the victor’s side. In history, the ones who have been defeated never get to present their perspective of the tragic quarrels. Most never even lived to tell the stories, but the ones who do survive are not thought of as important accounts in history. The Native Americans suffered tyranny far a plethora of years, and still do. When learning about the indigenous people of America, it is taught through the “white man’s” prospective, never through the eyes of the sufferers. By not telling both sides of the story, the facts get skewed, skewed enough to have lies become the truth. So what is the real story behind Native American oppression?

From the onset of Europe 's exploration to the new world, the Native Americans have had the land that they once called their own stolen from them. As history continued to play out, the Indians could never escape the stigma that they were wild savages. This is no more evident than with the Indian Removal acts of the early nineteenth century in which many Indians were sent to their death on the Trail of Tears. Then came the age of reservations which began just before the Civil War, placing Indian Tribes onto land that they were assigned. This is where they have remained for many years because at the time it was just easier to put them aside. Even though the history between the two has been rough their relationship evolved overtime. The United States have become an important ally for the tribes even they were the ones who put them on the reservations in the first place. The United States government should do more to help Indian casinos, domestic violence cases, and poverty and land disputes because of the sovereign nation’s troubles with these issues.

America’s greatest flaw throughout history is how it treats its minorities, especially the Native Americans. From the beginning of European involvement in America, Native Americans have been cheated and mistreated. Even before the United States became a country, European traders would do whatever they could to make a profit, even use the diseases that they carried to begin an epidemic. As shown in the early Franciscan missions, Native Americans were considered heathens that were, at best, simply objects of conversion and at worst subhuman converts that could be used to till fields until they died of disease or maltreatment. Treaties with Native Americans were rarely honored, and they were used as mere pawns in struggles such as the French and Indian War. In “the land of the free”, Native Americans were systematically denied their “inalienable rights,” and the period that most clearly shows this are the 19th and early 20th century. Government policy regarding Native Americans changed from the 1830s to the 1930s, often reflecting the way Native Americans were viewed in that time period.

In post-Civil War America, there were two main groups facing discrimination and hardship, despite the rapid rate of the country’s expansion. These two groups were Native Americans and women.

In the research paper Immigrants and The Economy, the authors analyze the changing composition of American labor. The service industry grew 13% from 1970 to 2000 according to the paper. The service industry ranges from high skilled labor to low skilled labor, immigrants participate in both ends, but tend to take the low skilled jobs much more frequently. The slowing of manufacturing in the US has hurt unions, causing manufacturing jobs to be less appealing to US born workers who are looking for stable jobs. The old wave of immigrants came to work in factories. Now, low-skill immigrants take jobs that are considered too menial for native-born Americans to desire. These types of jobs are in the agricultural, meat-packing, chicken-processing,