ipl-logo

Examples Of Native Americans In The Age Of White Oppression

780 Words4 Pages

The Plight of Native Americans in the Age of White Oppression Through the years that White Americans expanded to the west, Native Americans faced much discrimination and oppression on their culture and way of life. Native Americans were pushed further west from their homelands as Whites continued to expand and take over the North American continent. In this time, many Whites came to the realization that they were mistreating Native Americans. As a result, they established reserved lands for Native Americans called reservations. Additionally, they established boarding schools for young Native American children to teach the ways of White culture and to assimilate them into their society. Whites believed that what they were doing was beneficial …show more content…

Forced assimilation was a product of the good intentions from White Americans, which ended with negative effects heaped upon Native Americans. White Americans believed that in teaching Native Americans their own culture, they would secure a better future for when the United States became more modern. In doing so, they forcefully took away the unique culture of Native Americans and replaced it with that of Whites’. The way they achieved assimilation was very forceful and oppressive. Whites used boarding schools as a place to teach school children the culture and ways of Whites. They taught these children the English language, how to farm, and to forget and disregard their native culture through mentally abusive methods which included the restriction of their own thinking. They were governed in their time at the school and resulted in the extinction of independent thinkers. (Marr, Carolyn J) Many children ran from these institutions in fear of forced assimilation and oppression. The others ended with having a drastically changed lifestyle that did not resemble that of their parents. The Native people at the time saw the actions of the Whites as imperious, however, Whites saw themselves as saviors of the Native American culture. With the forceful assimilation of White culture, they dismantled the unique Native American …show more content…

In this time, they were mistreated by westerners, boarding school educators, and the government. Native Americans faced physical and social mistreatment which included the forced cutting of hair, replacement of traditional clothing, forced English speaking, and the stripping of their Indian names, cultural pride and identity. (Reese, Debby) Most often, there was little health care on both the reservations and schools, which led to the deaths of countless Native Americans. The Native Americans faced several European diseases such as tuberculosis and small pox, which the Whites did not treat them for. In addition, many suffered from sever stress caused by the separation of their family. Many often escaped, but countless others died at the schools. (Landis, Barbara) Native Americans faced social and physical mistreatment by whites in this time due to the feel of superiority and supremacy. Whites saw no injustice for causing the deaths of Native Americans because their ultimate goal was to remove them from the

Show More
Related
208 Words | 1 Pages

1. Pratt opposed reservations because Jefferson’s treaty agreement meant the Great River would be the border between them and the whites. Indians would be isolated and not a part of the American life. 2. Schools would “kill the Indian and save the man” by introducing them to the life of an American.

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

Dawes Severalty Act De Juan Evans-Taylor Humboldt State University Abstract The Dawes Act of 1887, some of the time alluded to as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 or the General Allotment Act, was marked into law on January 8, 1887, by US President Grover Cleveland. This was approved by the president to appropriate and redistribute tribal grounds in the American West. It expressly tried to crush the social union of Indian tribes and to along these lines dispose of the rest of the remnants of Indian culture and society. Just by repudiating their own customs, it was accepted, could the Indians at any point turn out to be genuinely "American."

Read More
1196 Words | 5 Pages

The creation of the boarding schools at the start of the 20th century was used to “Civilize and Americanize” Native children so that they could function in American society. (Little Elk) They wanted to culturally transform the Lakota children and make them civilized to American customs. The education they received in boarding schools was also encouraged cultural assimilation, where the Lakota children did not speak their native tongue but English. The Lakota children were only trained to function in specific fields.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

The main difference that we see between both racial ethnic groups is that white Americans believed that they could strip Native Americans from their culture and civilize them while “nurture could not improve the nature of blacks” (67). Although some Native Americans did try to live under the laws of white Americans, they were eventually betrayed and forced to leave the

Read More
1314 Words | 6 Pages

They see Native Americans as uncivilized people and very unstable, as they might attack the Whites at any times and act like barbarians. Native American could not enforce their goals to preserve their culture and beliefs by being suppressed by the Whites and receiving racism. “There is not among these 300 bands of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the government or of white settlers…” (Document 6) This gives an idea that among every group of Native Americans, all has experienced the cruelty from the government and white

Read More
368 Words | 2 Pages

While I was reading chapter two I wasn't surprised with how the whites were treating the Native Americans I was just shocked with what they did to them. First they were told which half of the bay to live in. The whites wanted the area that was farmable to be for them while the Native Americans lives in the swaps, but that didn't seem to stop the whites for eventually wanting that land too. The whites would steal the land from the Native Americans because they would just happen to forget to write who the land belonged to down. This happened more on purpose so that the whites could get more of the land.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

The Allotment Act The Dawes Act and its supporters sang a very similar tune to southerners who justified slavery as their patriarchal and christian duty. The Dawes Act allowed the President of the United States to survey the reservations Indians lived on and allot its land to heads of households, single persons over eighteen, and to orphans. This meant that the President went into reservations and redistributed the land, upsetting the system Native Americans had previously. Slave owners of the Antebellum South believed that the Black men and women needed to be enslaved, for they could not function without a patriarchal master. Westerners too saw the Native Americans as inferior, and felt that they had to help the tribal people be free of

Read More
65 Words | 1 Pages

The native americans had two options. Leave their homes to the west or die (primary source). Some might argue that the whites gave the native Americans two years to leave but the problem was that whites couldn 't except native Americans. The native Americans gave up their culture for the white’s way of living so they wouldn 't be forced to leave (Cherokee nation in the 1820’s).

Read More
272 Words | 2 Pages

The American government of the late 1800’s adopted the policy of assimilation because they were influenced by the desire to expand westward into territories occupied by these Native American tribes. All Native American tribes, lived to the west of the Mississippi River. These American Indians, some from the Northwestern and Southeastern territories, were confined to Indian Territory. The Native Americans had endured nearly a century of forced removal westward.

Read More
1176 Words | 5 Pages

They killed off herds of animals that were the Indians food source, they took their land, and greatly affected what was first their home land. Indians due to resources, food supply, and terrible condition after wars and battle with the white men, had no choice but to accept their fate.

Read More
1707 Words | 7 Pages

Between 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions.

Read More
967 Words | 4 Pages

In the late 19th century the United States put a plan together to have policies against the American Indian people of North America. Although Indian Boarding schools ended, many of our Indian children never

Read More
847 Words | 4 Pages

Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

The Native Americans and white people never got along ever since the time the first pilgrims arrived. After losing many wars to the white men Native Americans soon became controlled by these white men to the point where their children were forced into boarding schools. The government stated that the schools would civilize the native children and fix what they called the indian problem. They saw Native Americans as if they weren’t also part of the human race, as if they were less. That wasn’t the worse part either in the boarding schools where the native american children attended they were mistreated and malnourished.

Read More

More about Examples Of Native Americans In The Age Of White Oppression

Related Topics

Open Document