Novel: Mean Spirit
Mean SpiritWith oil being discovered on Native American property in Oklahoma during the early 1920's, it was a chance for whites to get rich and it was the start of the demise of a stable Native American civilization. As a result of the Dawes Act of 1887, reservations were divided into plots given among the Indians. The plots gave each Indian 160 acres of land, which they were supposed to farm for 25 years and then they would become citizens of America. The land that was left over was to be sold to the public. The plots that were giving to the Indians were discovered to be occupied with enormous amounts of oil that was worth a lot of money. Whites had a huge impact on Native American life by taking their, and land trying to make Indians more " European like." The Indians were giving the land that was filled with oil, and the oil seekers would do anything to get a hold on the oil lands, which had a devastating affect on the Indians. "Between 1887 and the 1930's, Indian landholdings dwindled from 138 million acres to 52 million."(A People and a Nation pg.323) Law's were passed which allowed mixed-blood people on reservations to be able to sell their land not having to obey the Dawes act twenty five-ye
" The government's policy had other harmful effects on Indian's ways of life. Innocent men, women, and children were being murdered are the members of the tribe were be arrested for it. Not only did the American government want to change where the Indians lived; they wanted to change their culture. The boarding school program educated thousands of children, but most returned to their families demoralized and confused. 321) They were put on a certain reservation based on their tribes. " White missionaries and teachers would attempt to force on Native American the values of the American work ethic: ambition, thrift, and materialism. Whites found this the only peace full way of dealing with the Native Americans. Their land, which was very sacred to them was being destroyed by fires by which were set by the white men. 323) Since Indians came from a different culture than the Europeans, they were seen as being " barbaric" and whites wanted to change those ways so Indians would become more civilized. They knew that the older Native Americans could not be changed, so they looked toward the children who stilled had a chance to change.
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Acceptance Essays
