1. 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?
2. 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
3. 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.
4. Expulsion, 1830-1887
• 1831: Andrew
Jackson
ignores
Cherokee
Nation v.
Georgia
• Allows the
Five Civilized
Tribes to be
driven west
(Trail of
Tears)
5. The Dawes Act, 1887
• Privatization of
reservation land
1881 Indians held
155,000,000 acres
1890 they held
104,000,000
1900 they held
77,000,000
Allotment & Assimilation, 1887-1945
7. “Kill the Indian and Save the Man”
- Captain Richard Henry Pratt
Stated 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.”
8. 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
9. 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-
nches of bangs were kept as a “handle” to
ab 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
10. 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.
11. 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
12. 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
14. 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.
15. 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.
