Native Americans During The 20th Century - 1494 Words

Throughout the history of America the thought of assimilation has been fought for and against. Many people, such as the Native Americans, were forcibly stripped of their culture and Americanized. Others, such as the German Americans, willingly assimilated in political views but tried to hold onto their culture. All of these situations lead to hatred from white Americans at some point throughout our history. The Native Americans during the westward expansion, German Americans during WWI, and Japanese immigrants during WWII. Even though some of these people had already assimilated, the fear that remained constant was the belief that people of different races and ethnicities were savages. That other cultures were an affront and could not†¦show more content†¦His belief was that if they accept God and the rules of a civilized community they would become useful members of American life. Pratt spoke to reformers of the time about the importance of citizenizing Native Americans, he believed they were savages but not a lost cause. Pratt talked in detail about the previous misguided attempts to change the Indians. He said that there is no way for an Indian to understand civilized life if they are still living in a savage land (Pratt, 39) and that Native Americans would accept the schooling and give up their savage lifestyle and false gods. He talks about how to integrate the Native Americans, but not how to leave their land alone. Chief Joseph did not seem to want to give up his way of life and only wanted his tribe’s small portion of land. For someone to make real change they must want to change themselves. What Pratt is proposing to do instead is force the Native Americans to assimilate. Pratt points out that you can’t make a German American unless he is in America where he could learn and accept the customs of America (Pratt, 38). This takes away the German’s choice to come to America or not, and the ones who did assimilate still tried to hold onto parts of their culture until WWI. In the same way, what Pratt is proposing takes away the