Indian Assimilation from early 1800 - late 1900 Essay

Boarding School Seasons by Brenda J. Child offers a look into the boarding school experiences of many American Indian students. Child favors unpublished sources such as letters to give an uncensored inside look into boarding school experiences. However, she also includes other sources such as school newspapers, oral history collections, photographs, biographies, United States government publications, and annual reports. Government boarding schools were created to help the American government gain more control over Indians and to push the Natives to adopt the white ways of life such as language, skill, and education. While integration was the ultimate objective, Child sets out “to show that even with the challenges of cultural assimilation and a devastating land policy, American Indian people, even children, placed limits on assimilation and also defined and shaped the boarding school era.” (viii) The boarding schools designed to tear American Indian families apart did not succeed in isolating children from their tribes, but created bonds and

Native Americans have been neglected, abused, and tormented since the 1700’s when their land was abruptly invaded by Europeans. Europeans declared this “unknown” territory to be their property from then forward and did anything and everything to make sure this would happen. This included forced assimilation, where Natives were stripped of their cultural traditions and forced to assimilate to an english speaking, westernized culture (McLeigh, 2010). This included taking children from their families and sending them to boarding school to learn a new language, new cultural traditions, and new religious practices. Starting in 1860 and lasting until 1970, children were taken from their families at a young age and often lost touch with their family

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

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,

The Canadian government enacted an Indian Act in 1876 which outlines their approach towards the elimination of the Aboriginal government, land, religion, and so on. This policy’s central goal was to assimilate the entire aboriginal population into Canadian civilization. The act described how to categorize one as an Indian, how one could lose their Indian status, the abolition of Native traditions and practices, and much more. Through residential schooling, which was administered through the Indian Act, the country was able to force allegiance in mass volumes. The word ‘residential schools’ refers to a schooling system which intends to enforce Euro-Canadian values into Aboriginal youth. After many years of agonizing discrimination and

While the initial objective was for the schools to help integrate First Nations children into the mainstream society they lived in, this integration clearly became an attempt at conversion. The children were removed from their families for extended durations, attempting to ensure Canadian-Christian upbringing. The residential schools original goal drastically changed, with their disgraceful policy regarding forbidding Aboriginal children from any kind of acknowledgement and recognition of their native language and culture. There are numerous reports of physical, psychological and sexual abuse experienced by Indigenous children in residential schools and painful consequences that in most cases last a lifetime (Hanson, E.).

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

Throughout the 1900’s it was common practice for Canadians to place native children in Christian residential homes. In order to attend these institutions native kids we’re forcefully removed from their families and forced to permanently live in residential schools that were often a great distance away from their home and their families. In these schools the goal was simple; reform the native children to adapt more Christian ideologies. As a result native children were not permitted to talk in their native tongue, or practice any of the previous cultural

The Indian Residential Schools were boarding schools that forced students to leave their families and homes in order to go and continue their education elsewhere. They were formulated with the partnership of the United Churches along with the Government. (Laing,2013:53). The Government and the Churches put these schools in place in order to separate the children from their family and cultural customs and values. The goal was to isolate the children from what they are used to in order to “kill the Indian in the child” and have them pick up the new Euro- Canadian culture and values along with the English Language. In addition to being taken away from their families, the

First Nation Peoples within Canada have been facing many injustices in their homeland since the dawn of colonization. The most unraveling point to First Nation assimilation was the formation of the consequential Indian Act and residential schools resulting in a stir of adversity. As racist ideologies within Canada developed, upheaval against such treatment was undertaken as First Nation communities fought back against government land claims and eradication of treaty rights. In attempt to make amends, proper compensations from the injustices within residential schools have been released and the key for the future is allowing First Nation self-government. Ideals with the intent of ultimate assimilation have been standardized unto First Nation

Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).

Once Zitkala-Sa begins her transformation at the missionary, she notices the whitewashing of many Indian girls, “a line of girls who were marching into the dining room. These girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair” (p. 1134). This shows the atmosphere of the school. The description of the girls, was the first instance when Zitkala-Sa experienced culture shock. Zitkala-Sa has never seen something so inappropriate, “I looked at the girls, who seemed not to care that they were even more immodestly dressed than I, in their tightly fitting clothes” (p.1135). This also proves that the missionary was ignorant to understand that it takes time to adjust the children into a culture that they are not familiar with. White missionary used unhuman techniques in order to force an entire civilization into a more ideal one. The significance of the “Shingled hair” plays a huge part in “The Impressions of an Indian Childhood” because it indicates bravery, and honor within Zitkala-Sa’s tribe. When Zitkala-Sa is forced into getting her hair cut, was the final indication of loss of identity. The removal of her

Canada and the US categorized Indigenous people creating a complex paternalistic system because Indigenous people were seen as inferior. The American and Canadian governments sought to control Indigenous people without any regard for their human dignity, nor did they acknowledge the different tribes, languages or customs and instead set about creating a single entity that would stand for the whole group (82). Instead of treating each group differently, the one-size-fits-all approach was taken because it required less work on the governments part and reinforced the message that Natives were not important enough for individual recognition. King shows the assimilation and elimination that Indigenous people endured and how the governments decided that they had to either butcher or civilize the Indians quickly (108). A major assimilation policy were residential schools which targeted children so their culture would die out by the next generation.

Children were taken away from their homes and told everything they knew was wrong. They were sent to boarding schools to change their culture. These boarding schools were run by the United States government. The government's goal was to civilize Native Americans. They sent children to these schools against their will. Native American children were educated like Americans and they had to change their native ways to be more like whites (Cayton 266). Teachers abused their students and beat their native ways out of them. They were not allowed to see their families so they would try to escape, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The United States government’s Boarding Schools of the mid-late 1800s irreparably changed Native American culture.