Cultural Assimilation

With waves of the American population moving westward, government attempted to assimilate, or integrate, Native Americans into American society. Their goal was for Native Americans to live and behave like white Americans, and for them “to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Doc 9). Children were sent to boarding schools where they were given new clothes and haircuts, and taught English, Christianity, and American ways of life (Doc 13). While many Americans believed this would be good for the Native Americans, it effectively destroyed their culture and identity. By forcing them to learn English, they were unable to communicate the concepts, beliefs, and ideas their languages were based on. Americans did not consider the fact that English could not substitute for Native languages, because they are based on different realities, histories, and cultures (Doc 3). Assimilation turned the lives of Native Americans upside-down, forcing them to give up ideas and beliefs they had been practicing their whole lives, without any say. Slowly, Native American culture and lifestyle faded until it was nearly

By 1860, there were 60 missionary schools which were not known for most American societies because they were not mentioned in the U.S. history, and there were 6200 Native Americans children in it. Cultural assimilation is the process of taking in, fully understanding and absorbing information or ideas. There are two factors which hindered Zitkala-Sa assimilation to the European American culture. The first factor is how people from different cultures inhabit different nonverbal sensory worlds, and the second one is judging people based on their own culture and standards. The story of the song “ten little Indians” started in a missionary school in the U.S. where Zitkala-Sa choose to study at. She was a writer, teacher, violinist, and activist for Native American rights. She was one of the Native American who suffered through her childhood in the missionary school, and she was treated badly from European American in a forcing way to accept the new culture and do what they told her to do. However, the text was categorized in three main sections each of which is describing her life in the missionary school. Overall, Zitkala-Sa did not assimilate completely to European American culture because of misinterpreting of non-verbal signs and symbols and having the tendency to evaluate.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

Zitkala-Sa’s The School Days of an Indian Girl is an autobiography that was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1901. The autobiography in detail describes her experience in her community, the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota as a child and later her journey ravelling with European-American missionaries to attend a Quaker Missionary School that teaches speaking, reading and writing in English. Upon her arrival at the missionary led school, Sa felt ostracized, fearful, and terrified of every little adjustment or ordeal that appeared to be foreign or unknown to her based upon her cultural identity and heritage. Her trauma often led to many nights where she would sob and cry herself to sleep. Her daunting experiences of having her heritage ripped away ensued when Sa caught word that her “long and heavy” hair was to be cut (314). From the teachings from her Mother, Sa understood that “only the unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy” (314). She cried and shook her head with anguish but as her thick braids were cut she then “lost her spirit” (315).

Throughout all of Minnesota’s history, assimilation of culture has been present. In Minnesota’s early history (pre-1880), the assimilation of culture was sometimes voluntary and sometimes involuntary. This same trend continues in the modern history of the state (post-1880). For the Native Americans in the state, assimilation was involuntary and mandatory for them, and especially for the young Native Americans. One example of forced Native American assimilation is the “Indian boarding schools” for young Native Americans (Laliberte, Natives, Neighbors, and the National Game, 2010). These purpose of these schools was to ‘civilize’ the Native Americans and force them to adopt western culture, like English and Christianity (Laliberte, Natives, Neighbors, and the National Game, 2010). The process of assimilating Native Americans picked up intensity during the 1880s (Laliberte, Natives, Neighbors, and the National Game,

During Westward Expansion, white settlers saw the Indians as a hindrance to civilization. Therefore the mindset of settlers were to convert Native Americans into white culture. To begin assimilating, the government should, “cease to recognize the Indians as political bodies,” adult male Indians should become a citizen to the government, Indian children shall be taken away and “be trained in industrial schools,” and Indians should be, “placed in the same position before the law.” Assimilating Indians wasn’t a simple teaching of a new culture instead, it was brutal. The boarding schools were merciless towards the Indians, mainly because they wanted to force Indians to drop their culture. Native Americans were obligated to change and lost their

The American desire to culturally assimilate Native American people into establishing American customs went down in history during the 1700s. Famous author Zitkala-Sa, tells her brave experience of Americanization as a child through a series of stories in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.” Zitkala-Sa, described her journey into an American missionary where they cleansed her of her identity. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” Zitkala-Sa uses imagery in order to convey the cruel nature of early American cultural transformation among Indian individuals.

For immigrants in America, two radically different choices of culture exist. First, the immigrants can choose to stay loyal to their ancestral roots and deny mainstream culture. Instead of contributing to the melting pot of opinions present they isolate within themselves by refusing to learn both the English language and American culture as a whole. Because they cannot communicate with a majority of the population, they don’t maintain any amount of control over American ideals including both politically and socially. The second opportunity available would be to embrace this new found culture, no matter how foreign it is to them, and develop a sense of unity with America. If immigrants wish to break the currently controlled system of power and privilege in America and truly become a part of American customs, they must learn to assimilate culturally.

Understanding the Allotment and Assimilation Era is extremely crucial in being able to understand todays standings with American Indian policy as well as the current welfare of the Indigenous peoples. This idea of welfare incorporates societal views, economic well-being, social structures, and cultural standing for American Indians. The Allotment and Assimilation Era is one in which combines two drastic policies that being, Indian land allotment and assimilation into the American culture. It is critical to recognize how these previously implemented structures determine the functionality of society. Understanding why these policies occurred and how they occurred are necessary for comparing their impacts both then and now.

The Native Indian history of violence and debasement changed their views and self-image as well. This change later affects how they adapt to American culture and education after being dissuaded from embracing their own for so long. The violence and indifference shown towards the Native Americans during the “Trail of Tears” contributed greatly to this change. In this dreadful journey, Natives of all kinds were forced off

As more Americans arrived there was less room for those that didn’t conform. Indians were expected to change overnight, to forget their old ways and make themselves over in the image

There was also another good things about the forced assimilation they could help each other in a more elaborate way than before. During WWII (World War II) Indian men and women served in a manner that they would be recognized by government leaders (Assimilation). Pointed out in the text 350,000 Native Americans lived in the USA in 1941, and 25,000 served in the armed forces (Assimilation). About 40,000 Native Americans worked in some sort of war related job (Assimilation). This involved permanent move to the cities and the will, to assimilate to white culture (Assimilation). Another difficulty that was help was that Mirabella was acting like a wolf and disturbing all of the other girls that where doing well with their rehabilitation (St. Lucy’s).

Latino immigrants have always had many obstacles when coming into the United States, the difference between the American and the Latin cultures is what has caused a huge hurdle that immigrants have found hard to overpass. This obstacle has caused many generations to go through cultural assimilation. Mize et al. (2012) explain that cultural assimilation is the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar cultural patterns, which include language and the value systems of other cultures. In order for immigrants to be successful in another country, which is not of their origin; they need to learn how to assimilate to their new homes. Immigrants have learned that they need to adapt in order to get to experience new opportunities and also to learn from new cultures that are not theirs (Mize et al., 2012). Immigrants have learned that they are not leaving behind their own believes and norms, but mixing their norms, this gives them the opportunity to create and mix their culture with the new. Cultural assimilation can be hard to achieve because in one hand it is important to change in order to live within a different culture, but on the other hand it is important for a person to maintain their identity regardless of where they live. At times immigrants find it difficult to achieve a balance and for many families it is a struggle over generations. There are different levels of assimilation, some immigrants come to the

Norman Heard presents a comprehensive analysis of white assimilation into Indian society. He takes into account a wide variety of factors, from home life to location of captivity to age. Indeed, any factor that could possibly be supposed in have bearing on assimilation is held up against the narratives themselves, thus enabling him to form his conclusions. This bases on the accounts themselves lends on objectivity to his suppositions and strengthens his arguments. His deductions are more valid for relying on the actual testimony of those who experienced capture by Indians. By presenting the reader with examples of some of these stories, the reader is able to see for himself whether or not there is a bases for Heard’s conclusions.

Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, on the Nonexistent "American", using the example of ethnic labels may disappear in our society but have not due to group identity. After 2 generations of being in America, it is true that their language and customs had changed due to the influence of American culture, but the group identity had not disappeared to reflect just being American. The groups are different, and the impact of assimilating trends affected the groups in different ways depending on their country of origin due to cultural differences. Color is still a defining way to look at any one group's identity in America.