19th Century Indian Culture
Native American Culture Put To the TestWhen the white Americans began migrating to the Great Plains in the 19th century, the lives of Native Americans dramatically changed, forever. The new emigrants who came to the land of the Indians brought with them many diseases and bacteria that the Natives were not immune to. An Indian chief remembers, "the white people came, they brought with them some good, but they brought the small pox, and they brought evil liquors; the Indians since diminish and they are no longer happy" (p.5). Diseases such as smallpox, cholera, measles, and scarlet fever wiped out an enormous amount of Indians. The white man brought another type of disease with him, the disease of war. White Americans and Native Americans fought many battles over the ownership of the Indian's land. In 1851, the Americans and the Indians made the Treaty of Fort Laramie that said Indians accepted American proposals that they recognize tribal boundaries. However, a few years later more fighting broke out. A misunderstanding about the loss of an emigrant's cow in 1854 resulted in the killing of Lt. John Grattan and his command by Brule Sioux. Retaliation on an Indian village at Ash Hollow by General William S. Harney set
The boys left with some vocational and manual skills and the girls left with maid skills, but none left with any real knowledge of what was in store for them. The government implemented policies on the Indians that forced them to abandon everything about their Native American culture and convert into Americanized Native Americans. An enormous effort was put forth on transforming the Indians into model American citizens. After the defeat of the Indians, the United States dedicated a vast amount of energy and resources to making the Indians just like the white Americans. When their boarding school days were done, many Indian students left with no real training or preparation for life in American society. Although many Indians did not survive the United States attack on Tribal culture, some still found a way to adapt and even succeed in this new world. The American armies engaged in total war with the Indians in hopes of confining them to reservations where they could become "civilized" to American standards. I felt that I was no more Indian, but would be an imitation of a white man" (p. They left their designated boarding schools, which were designed to assimilate them into American culture, with a complete loss of identity. Far from their families and far from the influences of Indian society, Indian children had to adapt to the militant discipline of the schools. As battles continued for almost twenty years resistance became weak, and the Indians who survived were placed under the control of the American government.
Common topics in this essay:
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Indian Commissioners,
Bear Indian,
Civil War,
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Eastman Dakota,
Laramie Indians,
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Standing Bear,
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boarding schools,
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charles eastman dakota,
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luther standing bear,
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Acceptance Essays
