Tag: assimilation

General History1 Comment

Catholic Education at Grand Ronde Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Federal government’s role regarding Indian people was to figure out what to do with them. Tribes were in the way of American expansion and, removal of the tribes to reservations was not enough, because as reservations increased in numbers, the amounts owed the tribes, collectively, increased. Because of this, the Federal government began to institute policies that would cause the eventual elimination of Native people, because once they were no longer culturally “Natives” they would no longer need federal funds to support them. This policy became called “civilizing Indians.” It was thought that before the Indians could become citizens, … Continue reading Catholic Education at Grand Ronde Reservation

Native Issues2 Comments

Savage System

David G. Lewis, PhD

Often, I address white American attitudes towards native peoples. How historians have ignored whole sections of our history, racism and genocide against native peoples, the lack of education about all of this history. But, recently I was reminded about how many Native people are themselves victims of having the same opinions of their own tribes, of the past, as the white populations around us. Many Native peoples have been separated from their history. They have learned through the same education systems about our ancestors, and they have become immersed in the stereotypes of native peoples that many people have in … Continue reading Savage System

Native Issues1 Comment

Lessons from the Indian Internment at Indian Reservations and Boarding Schools

David G. Lewis, PhD

From the 1830’s (Indian Removal Act) to 1900 most of the Tribal Reservations were established in the United States holding a population of over 350,000 people. The people were moved from their original homelands to make way for white American settlement. For most tribes there was no choice but to remove. Most signed treaties selling all of their lands in exchange for money and a permanent reservation and basic services. Most funding supporting reservations came from the treaties. The tribes signed these treaties because they knew that if they tried to remain in their lands, they would be exterminated by … Continue reading Lessons from the Indian Internment at Indian Reservations and Boarding Schools

assimilation, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians3 Comments

Dispelling the Cloud of Black Eternity: the Willamette School at Grand Ronde in 1857

David G. Lewis, PhD

Once the tribes were removed to the reservations, additional work began to civilize them. The Indian Agents and teachers disregarded the tribe’s cultures and previous life-ways and immediately began a program of education. Adults got their education through changing the ways they used the land. No longer were the tribes allowed to freely travel about and harvest resources from the forests, rivers, lakes, and prairies. In fact, adults at Grand Ronde and Siletz could not own weapons of any type, forcing them to subsist on government handouts of flour, beef, and potatoes, which was supplied at best, inconsistently. At the … Continue reading Dispelling the Cloud of Black Eternity: the Willamette School at Grand Ronde in 1857

assimilation, colonization, columbia river, General History, Kalapuya, Native Issues, Oregon indians, treaties, Willamette Valley1 Comment

Dart’s Instructions of Colonization and Assimilation in 1850

David G. Lewis, PhD

In 1850, the United States passed The Oregon Donation Land-claim Act. This act gave American men 640 acres, one square mile of free land in Oregon, allowed other claims by wives (160 acres), and children, and proved up on the previous land claims of other Americans. A recent manuscript by Julius Wilm (2017) points out that the United States, previous to the Treaty of Oregon (1846), sidestepped the issue of claiming full ownership to Oregon, and risking the ire of Great Britain, and instead tried to pass an act to  “secure the persons and property of American Citizens”  which were … Continue reading Dart’s Instructions of Colonization and Assimilation in 1850