Georgia McDonald

Cooper

AP Lang 3

12 May 2018

Reflection Essay

Ever since the first European set foot in Americas, there has been countless numbers of

conflicts involving Native Americans. Land disputes between Natives and Europeans filled the

course of history as eager Europeans continued to chase more land. There were periods of peace,

but they were only short lived as the economic opportunity in the west of North America drove

these settlers into Native land. Broken treaty after another, the Natives were pushed farther and

farther west off their land until there was no place to go. That is when the U.S. decided that they

must attempt to assimilate the Native Americans to American culture. Assimilation is the process

by which people acquire the social characteristics of a different cultural group. This process took

place all across the U.S and even all across the world as tribes were stripped of their culture. The

effects of this assimilation took a toll on tribes everywhere as their lives were then changed

forever. Some of the processes employed by Americans to assimilate Natives were missions,

boarding schools, violence, and employment. The effects ranged as some native tribes

disappeared completely while others simply lost fundamental aspects of their culture.

The first aspect of my question has to do with the initial assimilation attempts of Natives

by the U.S. A lot of what I learned about this part of my question came from my group’s IBL

project. In this project I was assigned the specific topic of studying and writing about the

boarding schools that were created by the U.S government to help convert the Natives to U.S.
culture. In these schools, Native children were taken away from their families and prohibited

from speaking their native language as they were taught the ways of the American people

(Millich). This is one of the most recognized attempts made by the U.S as it was a brutal act of

the U.S government to establish these. Another one of the most heavily debated acts of

assimilation of Natives in U.S. history was the Cherokee Removal Act of 1830. I learned about

this even through my history class as we did a mock debate replicating the debate that actually

took place almost 200 years ago. This act helps to answer my question because it provides a

specific example of the steps taken to assimilate these Natives. This event is often referred to as

the Trail of Tears because of its unsympathetic actions directed at the Natives. This event is one

that physically forced Natives off their land and farther away from their culture. Another

example of this assimilation was located in the workplace environment. This was demonstrated

by the placard that we saw on the Southwest Trip at the Nuclear History Museum. On this

placard, it mentioned that many Navajo people worked in the uranium mines during the rush for

nuclear weapons (Eppink). This shows a great example of assimilation as the Navajos were

immersed straight into American jobs that were very different from the jobs previously done in

their culture.

The second aspect of my question focuses less on the initial assimilation of these Natives

and more on how the affects of these attempts are seen today. This was much easier to see first

hand as it focuses less on the past and more on the present. My question was best answered this

year through the firsthand experiences I faced at the To’hajiilee tribe in New Mexico. One of the

biggest observations that everyone made was the fact that pretty much all of the students spoke

english and in the classroom, their schooling was taught in english. Their Native language is
dying out as the students grow up learning English in school. If it weren’t for the interference of

the U.S on their culture, English wouldn't be spoken at all but now there lives have changed

drastically. I also noticed the clothes that the students were wearing clothes that had spiderman

or state colleges on it. This is also a huge change as the Natives went from having little to no

association with the U.S to picking up their entertainment industry and enrolling in their schools.

On a similar note, the short story “Superman and Me” mentioned a positive way that the

Americans impacted Native life. It tells the story of a Native who was given an American comic

book and then actually learned how to read just from the comic (Alexie). He reflects on how this

skill actually ended up helping him later in life and it would not have happened without the

efforts of the U.S to blend cultures. During the Southwest trip I also noticed a positive effect that

came out of the U.S’s attempts. This came to my realization when we were at Acoma Sky City.

In the City, we took a guided tour around the area and there were several breaks in the tour to

purchase pottery that was being sold by the people who lived there. There were stands outside

almost every home where they were selling their handmade pottery. That is how they make a

living and it is largely dependent on the tourism industry. Without the U.S. interfering with their

life, it would have been much harder and less efficient to make a living. The U.S’s involvement

actually helped that village of Natives.

Overall it is hard to fully describe the attempts made by the U.S to assimilate these

people and it is hard to fully grasp the effect that was later seen. Just from my experiences this

year though, I have learned some of the major causes and effects. The Native boarding schools,

violence and employment served as some of the major attempts to assimilate while the effects
were summarized by the loss of cultural elements such as language and the economic help that

were created.
 Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. 11th ed.

McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Eppink, Jason. ​The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. ​2011. Atlas Obscura.

Millich, Gretchen. “Survivors of Indian Boarding Schools Tell Their Stories.” ​WKAR: Public

Media from Michigan State University,

http://wkar.org/post/survivors-indian-boarding-schools-tell-their-stories#stream/0.

Accessed 29 January 2018.