The Americanization of Indians

As we all should know, we were all derived from different places, and we all have different

customs and beliefs that are important to us, however whether or not we intermingle or accept

these different cultures is a completely different. Through the years the U.S. has integrated

many people and their cultures, and of these people there were Indians, who were not accepted

as they should have been. Americanization of Indians was irrational, and did more harm than

good. To Americanize Indians, we took them from their homelands and converted or assimilated

them into the U.S. culture. No one should have to go through the horrible events that transpired

during these times; it shows how a race can rationalize taking over another race, and make them

their own. People may not realize the damage they are doing when it is current, but after time

passes, they will know whether or not they were doing the wrong thing. Humans are the most

dangerous things you can come across. Americanization of Indians was inhumane, unlawful, and

completely unreasonable.


Americanization of Indians was inhumane. Any person who treats someone else less than

themselves is uncalled for; everyone is equal. One view of the assimilation process is Zitkala-Sa, who

was pulled away from her mother and taken to a school that intended to change her whole being.

She was terrified and no one would comfort her. She felt like she couldn't say anything or do

anything. Indians have their own culture, and for Zitkala-Sa, their culture said long hair was sacred

to them, but this school took it from her in the worst possible way. They "shingled" her hair, in other

words, they took her braids and snipped them off. There was no leveling involved, just a quick snip

from the scissors on the top of her braids, and there went her dignity. When your hair was chopped

off you were considered a "coward" in Indian cultures. White people who actually chose to do this to

Indians were heartless, and if they knew about Zitkala-Sa's culture and what their hair meant to

them, they were even worse. After she was deprived of her hair, no one tried to comfort her, she was

left alone. As she was getting her hair cut off, she said, "I felt the cold blades of scissors against my

neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit....My long hair was shingled

like a coward's." (Goldfield 592) People are terrible, they show no mercy to those their community

doesn't accept, they believe what is socially accepted, not what they think is morally right or wrong.

Everything revolves around societies standards, and if there is one person that is different from the

rest, they are bombarded by criticisms society makes for them. For Maris Bryant Pierce's tribe, white

people would harass and "infest" their lands. They were "hunted by" the white people; the whites didn’t

care about how their actions impacted them (Nardo 55).


Around the 1890s, the Ghost Dance was brought into Indian culture, and it frightened white people.

The Ghost Dance was a new religion that was meant to bring about the white man's defeat(Nardo 103).

One confrontation with the Ghost Dance, was when a man named Miles blamed an Indian named Sitting

Bull for causing trouble with the Ghost Dance. They ordered "Indian police" to go get Sitting Bull without

creating a big commotion, but after other dancers tried to stop the police, everything went into

chaos; Sitting Bull and some Indian police were killed (Nardo 107). People assume someone is

responsible because they have seen their name before. Believing things off handedly is wrong, everyone

should be able to live without being falsely accused.


Another tragic event was the Wounded Knee Massacre. This battle had a terrible and inhumane

outcome, where an Indian settlement was almost completely leveled. It was said that "Black Coyote"

was the first to ring out a shot from his gun. After the first shot, the "soldiers" went into a frenzy and

killed about "three hundred of the original 350 men, women, and children." The soldiers were mainly

hit by their own blows; within the air, there was so much gunpowder that the soldiers would get hit by

their own allies (Nardo 111).


White people take things into their own hands way too often, they abuse their power, and anyone

who gets in their way, they run right over them; it's inhumane for anyone to break people down enough to

where they couldn't possible do anything else.


For the Removal Act of 1830, Indians tried to negotiate, and asked that they could live without worrying

about being removed from their land. The people didn't take their plea too kindly, and so Indians "were daily

subjected to brutalities and atrocities by white neighbors," government officials would try whatever they

could to get the Indians to move, and protection was almost non existent (Nardo 127). The Indians were

left to either accept their fate or face the actions of white people who resided near them.


In 1924, Indians were legal citizens of the U.S. (Deloria xii), which means they should have the same

privileges as any other person in the U.S. Even though Indians were considered citizens, the U.S would

continuously take their lands and move them to different places, such as in Georgia in the 1830s when the

U.S. found gold where the Cherokees were settled. The Cherokees tried to sue Georgia, but the U.S. didn't

accept them as a nation, so they couldn't sue (Deloria 8). The U.S. used the Constitution to keep Indians

from living peaceful lives. These unlawful acts are why white people were looked on as being terrible or

heartless. Another Act that disregarded the Indians was the Dawes Act, which was an allotment of

Indians, or a movement of Indians from their lands. In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed. The "Bureau began

to threaten the tribes with dire consequences unless they agreed to immediate allotment." The Bureau

also threatened tribes in Oklahoma to give up their land and move (Deloria 6). In 1893, the

Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles had a law brought upon them that made them

give up all of their lands for "white settlement." The Curtis Act was the way or plan the U.S. went about

separating the five tribe's land as well as taking away the ability to rule over themselves (Deloria 10-11).

The United States didn't stop there, they just had to go even further and invade their religious beliefs.



It is a right as a citizen to be able to choose what religion you want to practice, not have it forced upon

you by someone else, but for some reason, Indians are bombarded by Christianity. Indians in this time couldn't

practice their religious spirituality without white people thinking it as preposterous or unthinkable. Just

because someone else believes something society does not, doesn't mean they are not allowed to practice it.

When it comes to social acceptance, people of this time were ignorant. Indians acknowledged white men

when they first came on their land, and helped them because they were seeking religious freedom. The

whites accepted the Indians help and gained more footing on land, but they desired more and more land

from the Indians to ease their growing population. The Indians knew that the more the white man grew, the

more land they would want, so they feared the whites would want to expand through all of their land. Even

after white people took over Indian territory, they didn't stop. Indian beliefs were not viewed as being right, so

whites took it in their own hands to bring their own religion in and Indian religion out. Indians knew white man's

religion was recorded on paper, but the only information they actually knew about it was from the people

themselves. Indians only have one religion, but white people have several; a culture with one religion is more

pronounced than a culture with several different religious beliefs. (Nardo 41) Besides religion and laws there

are the actions that were made, and these actions resulted in conflicts that could have been

avoided. People need to understand that their actions are unnecessary, and make things even

more difficult along the way.


Indians went through horrific events that made them dislike white people, and create a wall between any

good relations. They suffered through the Dawes Act, the Removal Act of 1830, the Wounded Knee

Massacre, and they had to convert to Christianity against their will. As the World is now, Indians aren't looked

on as they were, and Indians may have a lighter look towards white people, but everyone is different, and

their opinions vary. Everyone is created to live, but as society advances, moralities change, and expectancies

lower. People aren't as confined as they had been in the past, and more of them think with an open mind.

Americanization of Indians was unnecessary, and when the U.S. interfered with their way of life, they would

instinctively resist, and resent them. Anyone who tries to ruin your life is going to fight you and try to make it

peaceful again, but no one wants to fight if you take everyone that is precious away from them. Children were

taken from their parents so they would be taught a religion that was enforced by white people when they didn't

even want to. If Indians were citizens, don't you think it was wrong of the U.S. to enforce Christianity on

them, and even take away their children to do it? Indians did not have to be Americanized, it was

inhumane, unlawful, and unreasonable for anyone to invade someone else's land and take whatever they

want, it will always lead to bloodshed.





Bibliography :


Deloria, Vine. Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties: An Indian Declaration of Independence. New York: Delacorte, 1974. Print.

Goldfield, David R. The American Journey: A History of the United States. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Print.

Loomis, Harvey B. Through Indian Eyes: The Untold Story of Native American Peoples. Ed. John L. Cobbs, Charles Flowers, and Joseph L. Gardner. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1995. Print.

Nardo, Don. North American Indian Wars. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1999. Print.