assimilation

What happened

Assimilation was a goal written into federal law. The Civilization Fund Act of 1819, as quoted in a 2024 Interior Department report, aimed at "introducing among them the habits and arts of civilization." The Dawes Act of 1887 tied allotment to citizenship: an Indian who took up residence apart from a tribe and "adopted the habits of civilized life" was declared a citizen of the United States.

The Supreme Court has tied allotment to assimilation as well; the allotment record quotes its words.

Boarding schools were another tool. In July 2024 the Department of the Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative released the second volume of its investigative report. Its introductory letter says that, for the first time, the U.S. Government is accounting for its role in operating Indian boarding schools "to forcibly assimilate Indian children." The report identifies 417 institutions across 37 states or then-territories, and confirms that at least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died while attending them.

These are the Department's findings about its own predecessors' policy, as published. Native nations' own accounts of boarding schools are theirs to tell and are not summarized here.

Good to know. The 417 schools and 973 deaths are the Interior Department's own findings in its 2024 report, and its report says its list of deaths and burial sites is not complete.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error