M3 Academic Journal Blog


The source I reviewed for Module 3 is from an article on “History Today,” which title is “Native Americans and the Federal Government.” It was written by Andrew Boxer. In this article, he “traces the origins of a historical issue still as controversial and relevant today as in past centuries” (Boxer, 2009). 
            At the beginning of this article, it talked about the current situation of the Native Americans. And the author tried to convey the perspective controversy and relevance between the Native American and the federal government today. We all have learned that it the last centuries, the U.S. government had tried all means to expel the Indians out of their homeland and settle down mostly in the reservations. They enforced the Indian children to give up their language and culture and to be like the white man.
Boxer talked about the suffering of the Native Americans, too. But he also mentioned that the federal Indian policy was misguided by paternalism, but more by white greed. U.S. government meant to assimilate Indians into mainstream American society. They wanted the Indians to follow them from the inside out. Not only the Indians should be educated with western clothing and hairstyles, but they also had to speak English and be converted Christianity. This description is the same as what I have watched in the video “Indian Children at Boarding Schools.” “They should be educated not as Indians, but as Americans.” (Films Media Group).
The web resources were selected because these articles and video give readers a clear picture of how American Indians lived and how they related to the federal government in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. They were able to provide a lot of compelling arguments in the article and video because the authors did a lot of research and discussion about this history. History does not lie. For instance, Boxer mentioned the Dawes Act, which put the Indian children into the boarding schools like Carlisle Indian Industrial School., was to ‘kill the Indian in him and save the man’ (Boxer, 2009). It shows that at that time, the white people's outright hatred of Indian culture had reached the point of destroying it. Attempts to subdue other peoples through cultural slavery were not rare in history. But it is crueler than the destruction of nations themselves. “All of the boys in our schools were given English names because their Indian names were difficult for the teachers to pronounce. Besides, the aboriginal names were considered by the missionaries as heathenish” (Films Media Group).
Since we have learned thus far from different books and documents, I do have changed my view of native communities. They should have their land, culture, and religion, especially in this “land of free.” Why shouldn’t they enjoy the free air but be oppressed by those so-called democratic people? “The issue of assimilation hasn’t gone away. The goals of transforming the Indian people – this has been called assimilation. We’re going to change Indian people completely, tip to toe, and assimilate them into American life” (Films Media Group).


References:

1. “Educating to End Inequity.” Films Media Group, 2000, digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=16071&xtid=11505. Accessed 19 July 2019.
2. “Native Americans and the Federal Government.” History Today, www.historytoday.com/archive/native-americans-and-federal-government.
3. “The Geography of Hope: The West, a Film by Stephen Ives.” Films Media Group, 1996, digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=16071&xtid=44416. Accessed 19 July 2019.



Comments

  1. Lawrence S.July 20, 2019 at 7:51 AM

    Forced assimilation of Native Americans is a horrible stain on the United States history. The boarding school was one tool the government used to try to wipe out a people. Students that were forced to attend these horrible schools were not only forced to give up their names, language, and culture; they were exposed to deadly diseases and horrible living conditions (Little).
    On August 7, 2017, the US army started to exhume 3 boys who died at one of the first boarding schools, Pratt’s Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Little). These kids were just three of 200 kids buried at this school (Little). This despicable time in our history was to get rid of the Indians.
    The government started with forcing all the Indians west of the Mississippi, but when white settlers wanted to move west, the government had no place to put the Indians (Little). So they started using boarding schools to assimilate the Indian. This, unfortunately, is just one of many horrible things done to the Indians over the years.

    Works Cited

    Little, Becky. “How Boarding Schools Tried to 'Kill the Indian' Through Assimilation.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Aug. 2017, www.history.com/news/how-boarding-schools-tried-to-kill-the-indian-through-assimilation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. EnriqueJuly 21, 2019 at 1:49 PM

    Hi Chaohan,

    Upon reading your blog entry, it made me recall a section in Nabokov’s literature titled “Half White and Half Indian” where two members of the Northern Cheyenne tribe went to visit the farmer who was teaching them how to grease the wheels of their wagon but prior to doing so, they decided to cut the tops out of the hats and the fronts and backs of the pants. They eventually met the farmer on the way and he almost died laughing at them. The farmer stated “You have ruined the pants” and Big Foot replied with “No. Not for us. We are mixed, half white and half Indian” (Nabokov PG-246). Whether direct or indirect, the white man was laughing at them for their customs and as you stated “they enforced the Indian children to give up their language and culture and to be like the white man”.

    Work Cited

    Nabokov, Peter. Native American Testimony: a Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present, 1492-2000. Penguin, 1999.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MkingJuly 21, 2019 at 5:44 PM

    The first Indian Boarding School was developed in 1860. The schools were meant to convert Natives to the white man’s way. These schools were used to provide a basic academic education, teaching the English language, and teaching of the catholic religion. The main goal being to totally rid these youth of the Indian Culture. Natives were immersed into mainstream American society called an “outing” which had native students living with white families during the summer. The hope was that the Native youth would not return to their reservations but would remain in the white community. Natives saw the boarding schools as a way to rid them of their Indian culture and objected to some of the aspects of the way the boarding schools disciplined the children and resentment grew for taking the children away from their parents (American Indian Relief Council).
    American Indian Relief Council. History and Culture – Boarding Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=airc_hist_boardingschools

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