Destruction of the Native American Identity
As if taking the Native Americans’ land wasn’t enough, the United States also wanted to destroy their identity. The destruction of their identity took time to accomplish. Since the Native Americans were outnumbered most of the time, the United States ultimately got its wish. Slowly, but surely, the Whites lowered the Indians’ resources, seized their land, acre by acre, and even went so far as to kill them – all this leading to their destruction. Their identity would inevitably be lost. To begin, the buffaloes in the Plains were of great importance to the Native Americans. The buffaloes provided many of the necessities the Native Americans needed to survive. For a Native American, the buffalo’s “‘skin gave him a house, its robe a blanket and a bed, its undressed hide a boat, its short, curved horn a powder-flask, its meat his daily food, its sinew a string for his bow, its leather a lariat for his horse, a saddle, bridle, rein and bit. ... Under the act, the Indians “had to ‘anglicize ’their names” (Dill) in order to gain the allotments made by the government among many other things to Americanize them such as practicing the Protestant religion and wearing American outfits. ... The Dawes Act threw the Indians off their land, and on the side removed a major portion of their Native American identity. What better way to destroy the American identity than by destroying the Indian. ... destroyed the Indian identity was by eliminating them in any way possible. ... Ways they were Americanized in the reservation are listed below: “Native Americans had to leave their traditional ways and build European-style homes and farmsteads… Some tribes of Indians were forced to give up their native names and language. Children were forced to go to American schools to learn about the “white culture” (Rettke). This furthermore destroyed the Native American identity. Lastly, there was a mass sterilization of the Native Americans.