Richel Aratari Chad Ostler History 1700 024 4 November 2013 Americanizing the Indian In 1887 the government

t started a program to Americanize Native Americans by separating Native American children, sometimes by force, from their parents, and putting them into boarding schools. Richard Pratt explains why he thinks Native Americans should be Americanized while Zitkla-Sa tells about an experience she had while in a boarding school. Richard Pratt, the founder of Carlisle Barracks boarding school, believes that Native Americans should be Americanized instead of being in reservations. Pratt is very condescending in his explanation. He tries to make it seem like Americanizing is doing the Indians a favor but his tone is very demeaning and rude. For example, he begins his statement by agreeing that a good Indian is a dead Indian. That the Indian should be killed in him and save the man. Pratt also says that it is sad when Indians are killed by the countries troops but it is more sad for them to be affected by the treaty that has the country giving them large annuities and protection in reservations. He is implying that it would be worse for the Native Americans to be protected in reservations than killed. He tries to justify that by saying the Native Americans are being separated from the rest of the country. It is interesting that Pratt feels that it is wrong to feed Americas civilization to the Indians and instead it should be Indians fed into American civilization. He sees it like immigration, that people from another culture be brought into Americas culture and conform to it. That America cant go into someone elses culture and change it. This is interesting because the Native Americans were in America first; the colonies

were the ones to immigrate onto their land and stole it from them. The goal of Carlisle Barracks is to plant the idea of treason to the tribe and loyalty to the nation. As I was reading Pratts opinion of Americanizing I sensed that he wasnt interested in doing what was best for the Native Americans. He was more interested in controlling them and killing their culture. Zitkla-Sa tells a heart-breaking story of an experience she had in a boarding school just like Carlisle Barracks. The school was forcing the children to cut their hair against their will. Little did the school know, or they just didnt care, this was a very degrading and shameful experience. The Native American children were taught that unskilled, captured warriors had hair shingled by the enemy. In their Native American culture short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair was worn by cowards. So in these childrens minds they were being made into cowards captured by the enemy, the school, and would be viewed that way in their cultures eyes. Resentment can be heard in Zitkla-Sas story when she tells her friend she will not submit and that she will struggle. She also makes sure to include that her moccasins were replaced with shoes. Zitkla-Sa uses horrific descriptions to describe the even. She explains that she was carried down, kicking and scratching, and tied down to a chair. She says that the scissors gnawed off he braids and she had lost her spirit. Zitkla-Sa compares herself to a puppet or an animal. She is a child that is forced to be a part of a culture that is not her own and the school has no respect for her own culture. She is treated as if she doesnt matter as an individual. All that matters is the end result of conforming the Native Americans into the American culture. After reading the two different pints of view you can see how little the boarding schools actually care for the children. The schools didnt comfort them when they were upset and they didnt care to know that their actions were affecting how the children viewed themselves. It is

that America takes pride in their freedom but that freedom doesnt extend to those that are different from the white man.