The Indian: Assimilation and Americanization
Land: Segregation or Integration
To better understand how schools became a popular source of assimilating Indians into the country’s population, one must go back in the history just a bit further to know that the reservations where Indians were located were actually a source of segregation (another sociological term). According to reformers, reservations led to Indians continued “attachment to the tribal outlook and tribal institutions”.13 The government’s initial answer to this issue and that of the Indians’ continued dependency on rations was to pass the General Allotment Act, also known as the Dawes Act, after the sponsor, Senator Henry Dawes from Massachusetts. Communal tribal lands were surveyed and divided up into allotments with individual members receiving anywhere from 40 acres (child) to 160 acres (head of household). In doing so, Indians were intended to become landowners (contrary to their philosophy/relationship with the land) and be able to farm leading to self-sustainment. For protection sake, the government held the allotment deeds for twenty-five years during which time the land could not be sold. Indians could become citizens if they adopted the “civilized ways” of living and abided by the laws of the state or territory in which their land was located. Lastly, it allowed for the leftover lands to be sold to white settlers. This type of alienation provided a means for dividing up the Indians in the hope that this would help to civilize them, readying them to be citizens.
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