Do Now What changed between these two pictures

Do Now: What changed between these two pictures?

What do you notice?

Carlisle School

Assimilation • Native Americans should quickly learn English and adopt all aspects of American culture.

A Native American Explains How the Dawes Act Affected Him “The time came when we had to give up or village because the government wanted us to become farmers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs agent would say, ‘You should take the land. The buffalo is being killed off (the buffalo was very important to Native Americans for food, clothing and furniture), and you must plant bigger fields or starve. The government will give you plows and cattle. Little by little our village was broken up. By the time I was 16 years old, one third of my tribe had left to take lands from the government. In return we had to learn the white man’s ways. We had to abandon (give up) our primitive (old ways of doing things) culture and become more American by the way we spoke, dressed, ate, and acted. ”

A Native American Explains Life on a Reservation “We have chosen not to give up our culture and traditions to learn the white man’s ways! The white man has taken everything from us for centuries. They have lied, cheated, stolen, and killed our people all for money and power. As a result, we were forced to live on a reservation. We will not accept the Dawes Act and sell out our people. The whites think that because they put us on this land away from the public and have taken away everything from us that we can not survive. We have survived for centuries and will continue to survive!!!”