Assimilating the American Indian into Civilized Society

The word assimilate has multiple meanings ranging from "to consume and incorporate (nutrients) into the body after digestion", "to make similar; cause to resemble" or "to absorb (immigrants or a culturally distinct group) into the prevailing culture." It was the absorbing of the American Indian into the prevailing white culture that initially drove the Indian education efforts from the1880s through the 1920s. During this period it was the Federal government's policy to relocate Indian children from their families and educate them in government run boarding schools. One of the first such boarding schools was Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, founded by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in 1879.

An overview of the reservation boarding school system, authored by Sonja K. Keohane, provides a perspective on the system's rationale, a look at the Carlisle Indian School and the system's failing.

To view the article click on The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870 -1928.

Sources:

Yahoo Dictionary: Definition of Assimilate

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