Education as a Method of Forced Assimilation

For this blog entry, I choose to write about 19th Century Indian Relations with the United States. In a nutshell, this site sums up some of the major the policies and laws enacted by the US government for the sole purpose of systematically destroying the Native American culture and stealing their land.

There are several interesting points throughout the page explain some of the major laws and policies enacted by the government in order to contain the Native American population and to take their land.  Of particular interest to me was the process of assimilation by the forced enrollment of native children in boarding schools.  After removing many tribes from their native lands and forcing them into reservations, it was decided that Native Americans would never fully assimilate and become Americanized as long as they had a place to practice their traditional beliefs.  In an attempt to eliminate the culture, Native American children were removed from their homes and sent to “Indian boarding schools” specifically designed to strip them of their heritage. 

In 1879, the Carlise Indian Industrial School was formed.  At institutions like this, Native American children were stripped of their identity upon arrival; their clothes, hairstyles, and names were changed and replaced with contemporary American ones.  Speaking their native language or engaging in traditional practices was strictly prohibited and punishable by means of harsh physical discipline.  Children were taught academics for half the day and a skill or trade during the latter half; sewing, cooking and cleaning for girls, cobbling, carpentry and agriculture for boys.  Heralded as a success, the non-natives saw these schools as the standard for reform for the Native Americans.The actual result of the forced enrollment in these schools was great losses for the Native Americans. This deliberate and cruel this act of separating the children from their families lead to the severance important cultural and family ties.

Photo of Native American boy before and after 

enrollment in Indian boarding school

As I read the relevant paragraphs I was appalled by the idea of the government using children so blatantly to achieve their self-serving goals.  They best way that I could sum up my thoughts on the subject were that it was a mental and cultural sterilization and was probably the precursor to the nonconsensual medical sterilizations performed on Native American women in the 20^th century.

Greetings everyone, this is SugaPlum.

Sugaplum is my grandchild. She was born about 10 days ago. When I look at her I think of my Grandmothers and all the things they taught me. Their wisdom has carried me through some challenging times. Learning about Native American/ First Peoples is a very important event in my life. Passing on knowledge, wisdom and a love for each other and the environment is one of the main things that unifies mankind. I watched the YouTube video of Faith Keeper Oren R Lyons speaking. He stated: " The seventh generation reminds you that you have responsibility to the generations that are coming and that indeed you are in charge of life as it is at the moment" (O.R.Lyons)

When I look at Sugaplum and my other grandchildren I think about what their generation will inherit and how they will deal with some of destructive things organizations and corporations have done. Mr. Lyons spoke about leadership, responsibility and using our common sense . After watching the video I feel the urgent desire to reinforce the idea in the minds of my grown children to raise their children as responsible leaders, and common sense thinkers. To understand that man does not own the earth but is the caretaker seems to be the underpinning or common understanding for most or all of First People's culture and lives.

In using the “Maps of Native American Tribes in the United States” (http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm). I’m not entirely for sure who created the site, but I think it was created to foster an interest in learning about the Native tribes in one’s area, and possibly even sparking an interest for someone to research their own potential Native ancestry. I focused on the tribes of New York State and actually discovered quite a bit that I never previously realized.  I never realized that I grew up right in the heart of Mohican territory. I remember my high school history teacher specifically saying that the region we lived in really had no permanent Indian occupants, because the area was a disputed area and two larger tribes would fight over the area for control. Those larger tribes he spoke of were the Algonquin and Iroquois.  Close to where I grew up was a place called Cooper’s Cave and it was supposedly the inspiration for the cave in the book by James Fenimore Cooper, “The Last of the Mohicans”, so it really underscores just how many “realities” were interwoven into his novel.  I also never realized just how much territory the Mohawks controlled.  Looking at the New York tribal map really emphasized helped me envision a lot of the information I had picked up as a French and Indian War re-enactor.  It made me think of the Massacre at Fort William Henry, Fort Edward, Fort Ticonderoga (Carillion), and Fort St. Frederick (Crownpoint) and all of the interactions with the local natives that must have ensued in and around those places. Honestly, it kind of also started to rekindle the urge to re-enact again!

As I watched the videos in Module 1, quite a few stood out to me. Some I wrote about in other assignments, but here I chose to focus on "500 years in 2 minutes" by Wab Kinew. This video, as one may guess from the title, goes through the entire Native American history in 500 years, beginning at the very beginning of the white mans entrance into the country, The Video ends with Wab, walking into resembling the office of a psychologists and says, "Step into my office, grab a seat on the big couch, and lets talk". As the video ended, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that this video in 2 minutes summed up more than one learns in their average history course about the "Indians". 

Wab starts off saying "What went wrong? It wasn't always like this when we started down the path... When the settlers first arrived the natives welcomed them." Welcome them they did; with open arms. The Natives continued to welcome the whites over and over again. They welcomed their ideas and ways,  their metals and guns, they accepted their diseased that spread like wild fire through tribes killing many people. When they were told to go to boarding school and act like white people, they did that. Throughout the years the indians were persecuted, tested, and forced to give up their traditions and what not, so that they could be accepted into a country that ultimately boils down to the fact that it really was theirs first! 

One question that I have had for years, is why. Why is it that the white men came, felt the entitlement that it was ok to slowly take over a country that did not belong to them, and reduce the people who had lived in this country for centuries before, to dust. While today it has gotten better, I doubt that the Native Americans still don't have any negative feelings towards the US government.

Recently I heard a story about an argument that had broken out in the US between an immigrant and a white guy. The white guy was yelling at the immigrant saying,  "you people come into our country and take everything; work off the books, pay no taxes, etc..” There happened to be a Native American man standing near by who overheard the argument. He walked over to the 2 men who were arguing, looks the white man in the eyes and says “dude, YOU are the immigrant to OUR country. You people came in, polluted our land, spread disease and persecuted our people. This guy has not done anything different that you and your people”. The Native American turned on his heels and walked away leaving both men open mouthed. 

Every proud american tends to forget that while we may call this our country, there are only a few that can really call it their country. It is those that have been residing here for centuries. The Native Americans.

A couple of great websites!
When I first clicked on the First Nations of Canada link I was taken to a totally different but related site, http://www.johnco.com/firstnat/ instead of http://www.aboriginalcanada.com/firstnation/ . I didn’t realize at first that it was the wrong site so as I was checking it out I was asking why this site was included as it appeared to be just a list of all the different Native American tribes in Canada. Although not very informative, I did enjoy it because I like maps and geography which this site had for each province of Canada. The location of each tribe was indicated and a list of contact information including address and phone # was given. I find this to be very valuable if you need to do research on individual tribes.

The actual site also has a wealth of information including the First Nations of each region in Canada and the 3 main native cultures. The best feature is an extensive list of festivals, sites and events that showcase the culture of the First Nations of Canada. There is something to do for every age group almost year-round. If you are looking for a great vacation you could travel across 1 or more Canadian Provinces, have fun and learn more about Native culture.

This site belongs on the list as it provides opportunities for non-natives to learn more about Native culture in a non-threatening way. What better way to learn than to have fun and excitement while doing so. Actually being involved with these events and sites is better than dry book learning any day, especially when it doesn’t seem like anything more than a great vacation. I may just take my family to Canada to visit a few events!

The web resource that  I found most interesting was the link to the Native American Images (http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/nativeamericans/index2.html).  I found these to be really thought provoking, but more so I really just simply enjoyed the imagery.  Taking the "controversy" out of the equation (or potential controversy of some of the images), it was fascinating to just enjoy these visually stimulating works.  I found that I learned to ask more questions.  This is important because if you don't know enough about a topic to even be able to ask questions about it then you have less of a chance to understand it.  One question that I found myself asking was why did the artists chose to use paint as a media when photography was available (obviously for the painters who did their work when cameras were invented).  Was it because it allowed less "artistic license" for those looking to perpetuate a specific narrative?  Was it because cameras seemed too "technologically advanced"? Was it because photography was possibly considered a novelty and to be taken seriously you couldn't exhibit photographs?  Were photographs not given the nod of approval by academia at the time? To me, looking at if from a viewpoint of someone who grew up with photographs being the norm in society, I wonder if even more could have been learned from these images if they were taken with camera as opposed to paint and canvas?  Then again, would they still inspire the "awe" that they do if they were just old photos?  Definitely, and interesting link, that really gave me the urge to visit an art museum!

Lewis and Clark and the Nez Perce

One of the things that I hope to achieve through this course is to expand my knowledge of the history and cultures of individual Native American tribes.  In keeping with this module’s theme of first contact, I chose to explore PBS Lewis & Clark: the Native Americans and was happy to find that the site included links to pages that recounted Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s interactions with individual tribes.

 Lewis and Clark were appointed the lead explorer’s of President Thomas Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery expedition in February 1803.  The goal of this expedition was to explore the uncharted west. Upon meeting tribal leaders, the expedition was to basically inform them that their land was now the property of the United States and they had a new leader or “great father”, President Jefferson.   This was all accomplished with a great bit of fanfare that included a parade of Corps members with a gun salute, and an exchange of goods and tokens to commemorate the event.

In 1805, the expedition entered the territory of the Nez Perce.  The Nez Perce numbered about 4,000 and were renowned horsemen, but the lacked access to guns and ammunition which left them vulnerable to attack from their enemies.  The Nez Perce welcomed Lewis and Clark and the Corps and the interaction was described as amicable.  Communication, even signaling was difficult due the fact that the Nez Perce “spoke a notably different dialect than many of the Indians to the east.”.  Nonetheless, trading posts and intertribal peace were established in exchange for guns and weapons for Nez Perce. The Corps even enjoyed an extended stay with the tribe while waiting favorable spring weather to continue their journey.

What stood out the most to my in this reading was the mention of the difficulty in communication between the two parties.  When you consider different philosophies of land use and ownership between the Native Americas and settlers, you can imagine that it would have been difficult to convey the message the land was being claimed and the tribe no longer had rights to it.  Throw in the fact that there was no common language or other communication tools available makes the task seem impossible, which makes me wonder if the Nez Perce could have understood that they were losing their stake on the land and helping the government rob them? 

References:

"Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, A Film by Ken Burns." PBS. PBS. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.

I chose to review the source entitled, The Six Nations; Oldest Living participatory Democracy on Earth.  This source provides specific examples that clearly show what influence the Six Nations had on what is now the United States of America. The Six Nations, also called the Iroquois Confederacy, is comprised of the Mohawks, Onondaga, Oneidas, Cayuga’s, Seneca’s, and the Tuscarora. This confederacy of nations was an inspirational example to the representative democracy formed by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Although not mentioned in our history books, Native chiefs were amongst the attendees of the Continental Congress during talks of independence.

                Another major example of the progress that Native Americans made long before the “United States” laid a claim in history, is women’s rights. History books teach us that the women’s suffrage movement and success is a credit to Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  This however, had been established among the Iroquois women centuries before. 

                This source shows us so many examples of how progressive The Six Nations was, long before the influence of Europeans.  The Iroquois Confederacy really is the oldest living participatory democracy on earth. While our history books do teach us a series of events that occurred, it completely leaves out the truth about how established and deeply rooted Native American culture really was in North America. This source provides excellent examples that support this idea.