The left photo shows some Lakota boys upon arrival at the Carlisle Indian Industrial school.  The right photo shows these same boys after spending some time at the school.

September 14/15 – Quick Write (p. 52)

Would these boys have a better future than their peers who did not attend the school?  What are the possible costs and the consequences (positive and negative) of their attending?

The 5 stages of U.S. Indian policy, 1789-present

• Sovereignty, 1789-1830• Expulsion, 1830-1887• Allotment & Assimilation,

1887-1945• Termination and Relocation,

1945-1961• Self-determination, 1962-

present

Sovereignty, 1789-1830

• The United States federal government managed trade and diplomatic relations that involved Indians and their lands.

• Natives were recognized only as occupants of the land, and not owners.

Expulsion, 1830-1887

• 1831: Andrew Jackson ignores Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

• Allows the Five Civilized Tribes to be driven west (Trail of Tears)

The Dawes Act, 1887

• Privatization of reservation land1881 Indians

held 155,000,000 acres

1890 they held 104,000,000

1900 they held 77,000,000

Allotment & Assimilation, 1887-1945

Education for Extinction: American

Indians and the Boarding School

Experience, 1875-1968

“Kill the Indian and Save the Man”

- Captain Richard Henry PrattStated Purpose of BIA Boarding Schools:

“Assimilate American Indian children into the American culture by placing them in institutions where they are forced to reject their own culture.”

1) Provide Indian children with the rudiments of an academic education, including reading, writing, and speaking English.

2) Indians needed to be individualized, as reformers felt that tribal life placed more importance on the tribal community than on the individual.

3) “Indian education was Americanization.”

Intent of Indian Education

Most Native groups often only cut hair in incidents of mourning.

The hair cutting at school became very symbolic

All but bangs was shaved (including girls). 4-5 inches of bangs were kept as a “handle” to grab when necessary.

• Dead as an Indian - reborn as a white man

• You are no longer the person you were - you are the person “we are going

to make you.”

Haircuts

Do not Contaminate the “Americanization”

Change of dress:

Usually a uniform

Change of language:

Indian languages, customs, and religions were prohibited, and parental visits were discouraged.

Boys and girls were subjected to marching drills, to exterminate their “innate wildness.”

Also subjected to corporal punishment.

Students who resisted or refused to conform to school rules were kept in the school “jail” or “guardhouse.”

Rules & Methods

Children often suffered from either malnourishment, which arose from

extreme dietary changes, or undernourishment, due to limited supplies of food.

Diseases were rampant, because of dietary problems and because of the shoddy construction and condition of the school buildings.

Consequences

Strip them of individuality and identity

Termination and Relocation, 1945-1961

• Less traditional American Indians, congressional leaders, and government administrators developed a policy that they hoped would integrate the Indian population with mainstream America.

• They enacted laws to relocate Indians to the nation’s cities. They believed that once Indians left the reservation, they would have opportunities for education and employment—and assimilation.

Self-determination, 1962-present• In 1968, the Indian Civil Right Act was

passed. It recognized the Indian tribes as sovereign nations with the federal government.• The Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act of 1975, allowed tribes to have more tribal control over federally subsidized programs for Indians.

• The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, granted tribal government jurisdiction over child custody and adoption on the reservation.

Reservations in the U.S. - 2011