Native Americans and Forced Assimilation

The film , In the White Man 's Image , detailed the ways white Americans tried to assimilate Native Americans into the accepted white culture that was taking over the United States . At first , white men tried to transform Native American men

In 1875 , Richard Henry Pratt , a U .S . soldier , took charge of the Cheyenne warriors that were being held captive . The captives were sent to Fort Marion in St . Augustine , Florida . While there , the captives were taught to speak English , were taught the Christian gospel , and were forced to partake in manual

labor to learn the value of work . After their time at Fort Marion , some of the captives were truly changed , and when they all were freed , most returned to their families

After a lesson learned with the Cheyenne warriors , Pratt thought that if he was going to be a success at transforming the Native people , he had to start with Native children . In 1879 , Pratt took the Native children to a special school in Pennsylvania where they learned academics for half a day , and worked the other half . Of course learning Christianity and English were important components of the curriculum

The children were not allowed to visit their homes and visits from family was limited . Any child that misbehaved was punished . In the end , Pratt 's school was a success . After a decade , the school had 1 ,000 students and 25 more schools were added nationwide . Native American education became policy . In the instances of trying to assimilate...