Native Americans have been the target of racial and ethnic abuses since Europeans arrived. In Indian Bureau boarding schools and
schools provided on reservations, English was mandatory and children were severely punished if they spoke or wrote their native language, resulting in the gradual erosion of culture. This policy was an attempt at:_________.
The cultural assimilation of the natives included the assimilation efforts by US change native American culture to European between 1790 and 1920. Henry Knox and George Washington were the first people to propose the transformation of native Americans. They also made a policy to civilise them.
Americanisation policies were based on the idea that if the natives learned US values and customs then it would be easy for them to merge their traditions with American culture and join the mainstream society easily. The traditional religious ceremonies were banned after the Indian wars and Native American Boarding schools were established, the children were forcefully taught English and other subjects and compelled to leave their traditions and attend church.
An enforced strategy of assimilation can be used as an act of oppression against minorities, to reduce subcultures, or as a political tool to establish national unity and to eliminate potential outlets of revolutionary activity. Evident from the Civilization Fund Act of 1819, the federal government the U.S attempted to root out America's traditional cultural identity and replace it with one that Europeans had imported onto the continent. Throughout time, many Native American children have been removed from their families and homelands and put in remote boarding schools, a cycle that has also been painful and humiliating.