The policy of assimilation reached a low point with The Dawes Act of 1887. “If we can assimilate these Native Americans into the dominant culture then they have no need for reservations, they’re going to migrate into urban areas and there will be no need to maintain tribal lands, because they would have lost their culture, the language, all ties to what they held so sacred…and that was the land.” “Early assimilation policies were to steal Native American land,” says Christy Abeyta, Superintendent at the Santa Fe Indian School. “And it was the last option to go for the children.” “I think that was a time when the government really felt like they could deal with the so-called ‘Indian problem,’" says Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo who is a social worker from Arizona. The famous quote “Kill the Indian, save the Man,” is attributed to Pratt. history when the policy toward Native Americans was usually one of forced removal and even extermination, the idea of assimilation, was considered progressive. ![]() In essence, they were being groomed to resemble their white captors in an effort to “civilize” them. Upon arrival, the captives were forced to cut their hair, dress in military uniforms, and learn English. Together they captured 72 men from the Caddo, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa Nations, and transported them to Fort Marion, Florida. The boarding school concept can be traced to Civil War Army Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt, who led a unit of Buffalo Soldiers near Oklahoma. ![]() The school also shows a potential path forward from a troubled past. One school in particular, the Santa Fe Indian School, today serves as a microcosm of American Indian education and the history of tribal culture since before the Civil War. ![]() Somewhere along that spectrum is the story of American Indian Boarding Schools.
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