American Indigenous Studies: The Assimilation Era Of The 1940s

Killian Weston AIS 100, Spring 2024 Section 303 Current Events Reflection Leaving home to begin on an endeavor of educational prowess is no easy task for any teenager; In, “Despite college aspirations, Native American students find it hard to leave home” by CAL MATTERS, a non-partisan California news outlet, many Californian Indigenous teens are currently finding it quite difficult to leave home because of past injustices and real trauma. Rightfully so. In American Indigenous Studies, I have learned that countless Indigenous tribes were exploited and hurt during an entire era in American history, this era is best known as the Assimilation Era of the 1940s. Boarding schools were placed throughout the United States in an attempt to civilize Indigenous

One example being the White Pine Treaty of 1837, when the United States Government made a treaty with the Ojibwe for their land. However, most promised goods and services traded to the Ojibwe by the U.S. government were never received. Although most of the treaties and acts that I learned that had been broken are not current, many of the consequences still linger (Pyle 2024). In the article by CAL MATTERS, the author interviews a Quechan woman; The Quechan woman goes on to say that there is still a large mistrust between the Quechan and the government (Jones 2024). This mistrust can be similarly intertwined with the mistrust of public and private colleges. The Morrill Act of 1862 is another example of mistrust and coercion by the U.S. government (Pyle 2024). Many teenage indigenous people are afraid to attend college as many colleges are land grab universities, meaning they reside on land that was ceded by native nations and flipped into colleges to rake in an immense amount of profit. There is hope for Indigenous teenagers hoping to attend

I learned in American Indigenous studies that many other states are beginning to follow suit in the same attempt to reverse the notion that Indigenous people are not attending college; For example, UW-Madison will cover the full cost of tuition and fees for students from Wisconsin Native Nations ensuing fall 2024 (Pyle 2024). There is more hope for Indigenous students and all indigenous people, as California is also instilling Native American history into the K-12 curriculum. Education is the most crucial aspect to building community, and battling falsehoods and stereotypes. I have learned a plethora of new Indigenous information by taking AIS 100 to the point that I wanted to test other students' knowledge. I surveyed 5 of my Wisconsin native, neighbor friends in Witte Hall at UW-Madison, the question being “Did you know that UW-Madison resided on Ho-Chunk Land (Did you know this prior to Jan. 1). 2023)?”. 100% of my friends did not know that UW-Madison resided on any land. However, thanks to the UW-Madison curriculum and our acknowledgment statement, my 5 friends do know that we reside on Ho-Chunk