Carlisle Indian School was only one of many Indian boarding schools designed to assimilate the indigenous people of the United States (Landis, 1996). Native Americans were see as others throughout American history, the ideas of land ownership was a foreign concept, and many tribes were hostile toward settlers and the expansion of the United States. Boarding schools were a way of both assimilating the young Native Americans and keeping their parents in check on the reservations by essentially holding their children for far away from the reservations “ransom” (Public Broadcasting Station, 2006). However, these boarding schools mostly closed decades ago, closed down by the scathing government reports of abuses and misuse of power (Bear, 2008). Perhaps, these closures show a progression of the American perspective on Native Americans and their cultural identities and ownership of their land. Sioux Nation The Sioux Nation, although they all share a common cultural background, is split into three main linguistic groups: Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota (Edwards, 2012); the Lakota are then subdivided further into seven groups including the Oglala, Itazipcho, Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Sihasapa, Santee, and Oohenugpa. Although all of these subdivided groups share common language and culture, they have their own unique experiences and histories among themselves. The Sioux Nation is a controversial and hypothetical area of land where the Sioux lived prior to contact with settlers, which included much of the modern states of South Dakota, North Dakota,
Carlisle Indian School was only one of many Indian boarding schools designed to assimilate the indigenous people of the United States (Landis, 1996). Native Americans were see as others throughout American history, the ideas of land ownership was a foreign concept, and many tribes were hostile toward settlers and the expansion of the United States. Boarding schools were a way of both assimilating the young Native Americans and keeping their parents in check on the reservations by essentially holding their children for “ransom” far away from the reservations (Public Broadcasting Station, 2006). However, these boarding schools mostly closed decades ago, closed down by the scathing government reports of abuses and misuse of power (Bear, 2008). Perhaps, these closures show a progression of the American perspective on Native Americans and their cultural identities and ownership of their land. Sioux Nation The Sioux Nation, although they all share a common cultural background, is split into three main linguistic groups: Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota (Edwards, 2012); the Lakota are then subdivided further into seven groups including the Oglala, Itazipcho, Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Sihasapa, Santee, and Oohenugpa. Although all of these subdivided groups share common language and culture, they have their own unique experiences and histories among themselves. The Sioux Nation is a controversial and hypothetical area of land where the Sioux lived prior to contact with settlers, which included much of the modern states of South Dakota, North Dakota,
SILENCING%20THE%20FIRST%20NATIONS.docx