The Era of Assimilation: Boarding Schools and the Dawes Act

CrashCourse

This episode of Crash Course Native American History explores the devastating era of forced assimilation policies enacted by the United States government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The video details how, after exhausting military and treaty-based strategies, the government pivoted to a policy of "killing the Indian to save the man." Host Che Jim explains the two main prongs of this strategy: the Indian Boarding School system designed to erase cultural identity in children, and the Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) designed to break up communal tribal lands and enforce private property ownership. The content delves into the harrowing realities of boarding schools like Carlisle, where children were stripped of their names, languages, and hair, and often subjected to abuse. It also unpacks the complex legal and economic mechanisms of the Dawes Act, including the introduction of "blood quantum" to determine competency and citizenship, leading to the massive loss of 90 million acres of Native land. The video highlights key historical figures who resisted these policies, such as Zitkala-Ša and Chief Big Elk, and discusses the long-term consequences like land fractionation and intergenerational trauma. For educators, this video serves as a crucial resource for teaching the "darker chapters" of US history often glossed over. It connects policy decisions to human impact, explaining how bureaucratic terms like "allotment" and "fee simple" translated to cultural genocide and poverty. It provides a foundation for discussions on human rights, the definition of citizenship, institutional racism, and the resilience of Indigenous peoples who are today reclaiming their languages and cultures.