The Indian Culture: A Forceful Transformation

Six young Native American children huddle together on the grass. They are traditionally dressed in animal fur and appear to be enjoying themselves. These children have not been Americanized- at least yet. Their treasured Indian culture is still apparent, and they have not been transformed into little, white European-American children whose backgrounds have been demolished and replaced. This photo also captures the unity of the Indian people, all huddled together, the older children seemingly looking out after the younger ones. The simplicity of the photo leads the eye to the expressions on the children’s faces, which are all unique. In this image, the tallest, oldest-looking child is standing above the group with a serious expression on his face, while the younger children display faint smiles. It almost seems as if the older-looking children are aware of the inconsiderate, disrespectful, and selfish intentions, and for this reason appear to be solemn, and almost pensive.

This young Native American girl’s culture has been completely erased. Her short hair and formal European-American apparel give her a completely transformed appearance. Her new Americanized look is most likely due to the Boarding School Movement, that worked to completely replace the Native American culture of young children and assimilate them into white American society. In this picture, she is standing with an older white woman, who seems to be a lot happier than she is. Although the young girl’s melancholy expression could possibly be due to her unfamiliarity with cameras, her sadness seems to go deeper than that. Her unhappy scowl contrasts with the white woman’s smile, symbolizing the feud between the white settlers and Native Americans who want their culture to remain in tact.

White Americans and Native Americans seriously clashed in the West during the early 20^th century. The Caucasian settlers had moved to the West hoping to claim the land as their own, and completely disregarded the Indian community that had been settled on that very land for a long period of time, way before the settlers had arrived. The whites started the boarding-school movement (including the Carlisle Indian School), which took young Indian children and worked to expose them to white American culture, and to transform them into European-based Americans, like the settlers. These two images show the contrast between the two types of Indians: Traditional, non-Americanized natives, and Americanized natives who attended a boarding school. The traditional Native Americans were united as a community and embraced their sacred, unique culture. The Americanized natives had been changed into completely different people against their will, and their unhappiness is evident, even in photos. Young children were ripped away from their parents and put into schools where their hair was cut, their attire was changed, and the embracing of their heritage was strongly discouraged. The dramatic changes that took place harshly disrupted the unity and harmony of the Native American tribes of the Western plains.

The pictures are not working so here are the links!

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/displayPhoto.pl?path=/award/iencurt/cp20&topImages=cp20001r.jpg&topLinks=cp20001v.jpg&m856s=$fcp20001&displayProfile=1&dir=ammem&itemLink=S?ammem/curt:@FIELD(SUBJ+@od1(+children+))

^Traditional Indian children

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf2p30086n/?brand=oac4

^Young Americanized Indian girl