Forced Assimilation

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell is a great example of the different impacts of forced assimilation. Through the contrast between the dynamic character of Claudette (the protagonist of the text) and the static character of Mirabella, Russell is able to showcase how assimilation has a negative impact, causing people to hate their true identity and force others to assimilate in order to be truly accepted. At the beginning of St. Lucy’s, all of the girls are ignorant and unaware of the changes about to happen to them. They are truly being authentic to their identities and it shows how ‘chaotic’ they are being. The text states “All the promises we’d made to be civilized and ladylike, couth and kempt.”

The more days went by, the more they became Americans through and through. Assimilation was never by design, choice or any predetermined action. It was shaped through day-to-day conflicts and through interaction with other ethnic groups. Having a good advantage in English as their first language, they were able to participate in various activities that later shaped their destiny. Their children were able to attend schools. A number of various professionals were found in various economic sectors of the country. There were numerous policemen and women, preachers and teachers- a sign that clearly indicated that they were coming of age and that they were slowly overcoming the challenges that had bent them downwards. Soon they started making it into elective post. This was partly because of their improved economic status and partly due to their personality. Barrett noted that these people were activist and had embarked on various activities that benefited the community.

During Westward Expansion, white settlers saw the Indians as a hindrance to civilization. Therefore the mindset of settlers were to convert Native Americans into white culture. To begin assimilating, the government should, “cease to recognize the Indians as political bodies,” adult male Indians should become a citizen to the government, Indian children shall be taken away and “be trained in industrial schools,” and Indians should be, “placed in the same position before the law.” Assimilating Indians wasn’t a simple teaching of a new culture instead, it was brutal. The boarding schools were merciless towards the Indians, mainly because they wanted to force Indians to drop their culture. Native Americans were obligated to change and lost their

No one in either of the situations had a good reason for changing the lives, personalities, and cultures of these people. The goal of the enforcers was not to rid them of their culture, but to shape them into citizens beneficial to society. Although this was their intention it did not pan out just like they said. The government was harsh on the little Indian children not letting them speak their own language and the wolf girls were not allowed to act like wolves anymore which is all they knew how to do. In the late 1870’s the reformers tried something new which was reservation boarding schools, schools that were fairly further away so the children would live there all week. But this did not work, some of the parents still attempted to see the

The Assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the process of removing children from their families. The aim of this policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society and their way of life. The idea of assimilation began around the 1930’s. However, it was not adopted as an official government policy towards the Aboriginal people until the 1950’s. This policy also extended to all foreign migrants.

Another reason this was more direct was the direct loss of land. This loss was disastrous for tribes that solely relied on the resources. The boarding schools’ policy of this era had a longer lasting legacy on the tribes. Ultimately this is because the assimilation process took a greater amount of time to fully come into effect and really factor into the lives of the Indians. The culture loss and language loss is still in effect to some extent today, however there are methods of trying to reverse this.

For almost as long as European settlers have interacted with the native peoples of the Americas, they have had a notion: what many call ‘assimilation’. To Europeans, assimilation of native peoples meant for their culture, which they believed to be superior, to be accepted over time by the natives. And as they grew more and more European in language, religion, customs, organization, morals, and behavior, they would slowly shed off all of their old culture which the European culture would be replacing. The Europeans believed this process was for the best for the natives and that they would be happier living ‘civilized’ lives as opposed to practicing their own traditions.

American Indians underwent several different eras of federal policy, each one varying on where the government stands when dealing with American Indians. One era of federal policy in particular is referred to as the “Allotment and Assimilation Era”, characterized by the policies regarding allotment of land and the process adapting American Indian children to an Anglo-Saxon society. While both aspects of the Allotment and Assimilation Era had a tremendous effect on American Indians, forcibly enrolling American Indian children into boarding schools, in an effort to “civilise” them, not only had a greater impact on tribal communities at the time, but it also had the most significant lasting legacy.

The Assimilation policy (1961) has impacted on Indigenous Australians within their physical and mental state and identity present in today’s society. Australia is commonly considered to be free and fair in their culturally diverse societies, but when the Indigenous population is closer looked into, it is clear that from a social and economical view their health needs are disadvantaged compared to non-Indigenous equals. In relation to this, the present Indigenous health is being impacted by disadvantages of education, employment, income and health status. Even urban Indigenous residents are being affected just as much as those residing in remote and rural areas of Australia.

Assimilation of the native Indians occurred in different phases. The United States in the early years adopted an Indian policy that they used to build good relations with the bordering tribes which helped politically and in trading with the natives. However, they reserved to stop the good relationships in order for them to acquire more land as the moved west to expand their territory. (Keller,1983)

Immigrants foster innovation and increase the well organized labor market in the way it increases the economy of the country. As stated in the article “A Review of Benefits and Costs Imposed by Immigrant Population on the U.S Economy” written by Jeremias Ramos, immigration is often strongest in relation to the entry of highly-skilled immigrants into the United States of America labor marketplace (203). For instance, people who admitted to come to the United States of America by Diversified Visa (DV) Lottery are selected by considering the education level. This helps to have educated people in the country who can be innovators or educated workers. As the educated people workforce increases the economic growth, the country changed faster because

From the 1800's to the beginning of World War II, approximately 5 million Polish immigrated to the United States. Their reasons include escape from compulsory military enlistment and religious persecution. Some left to seek new opportunities (Reisner). This group was called the za chlebem, or “for bread”, because they were primarily peasants who came to America for the sole purpose of making money (Pacyga 2005). However, all immigrants gradually assimilated into American culture to some degree.

In the late nineteenth century, the effort to ‘civilize” native Americans entailed removing children from their families and placing them in boarding schools where they were forced to adopt European culture. They were forbidden to speak their traditional language and were forced to abandon their religious beliefs in favour of Christianity.

First of all, the Plains Indian were great travelers that roam free throughout the lands and were great fighters who used guerilla tactics. With time, came the genocide of the of the buffalo, this was because the Americans would just kill them for sport and leave the meat to rot. Another issue that came was the creation of reservation. As you know the plain Indians were always free to roam the land and all of the sudden the Americans tried to restrict them to one place, which could not have happened since the Indians hatted farming. In addition, you cannot forget the creations of boarding school which were founded by Francis Pratt. At the schools they tried to persuade the American way of life such as religion, clothing, and language. If a Indian spoke their native language they beaten for not

In the 17th century, European settlers came to Canada with imperial colonialism and they want to assimilate First Nation people into their civilization. (“Canadian Indian residential system”, 2017). And Indian residential schools are the tool for colonists to implement an assimilation policy. In the above picture, the first impact of colonization is that it causes Indigenous children to lose their identities. Obliviously, the class is taught by an old white teacher who might come from Europe and has no connection with the territory. Particularly, her responsibility is to educate the students European culture and teach them in English or French. On the black board, there is a lesson written in English. Indeed, “Language is a powerful, potent