The “Vanishing” Indian

Manifest DestinyThe frontier had been closed with Euro-American

expansion into every area of the country- Many white settlers believed it was their god- given right to inhabit North America

Social DarwinismThe theory that cultures battle with each other

in which one is destined to overcome the other, and the other fades into extinction

Why did Edward Curtis think Native American culture was

disappearing?

By the early 20th century white settlers were living from east coast to west coast and everywhere in between Frederick Jackson Turner – 1893 American Frontier had closed In doing so Native Americans were forced off their lands and suffered extreme hardships - no land, no bison, no traditional way of life

Violence and disease caused some tribal communities to lose as much as 90% of their populationAt the time of Columbus’s arrival there were

approximately seven to ten million American IndiansBy 1900 there were approximately 250,000

Proof?

Indian WarsMassacres at Wounded KneePlains Indian wars

Small pox

Chicken pox

Yellow Fever

Measles

Whooping cough

Alcoholism

Diabetes

And more

Introduction of new diseases

CaptainRichard Henry Pratt

“Kill the Indian and Save the Man”

Pratt believed that to claim their rightful place as American citizens, Native Americans needed to renounce their tribal way of life, convert to Christianity, abandon their reservations, and seek education and employment among the "best classes" of Americans.

Established the Carlisle Indian Industrial School1879Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Pratt’s Claim to Fame

Between 1880’s and 1930’s – official government policy

Separated familiesForced lost of cultureTried to turn Indians into farmers

Some tribes had never farmed beforeMost were forced onto land that was unfarmable

Assimilate = to adapt, absorb or integrate (people, ideas, or culture) into a wider society or culture

Forced Assimilation

I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor…but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die…we die defending our rights.

Sitting Bull

Even those

American

Indians who

succeeded in

white terms by

giving up their

connections to

their homeland

and

communities,

and learning

trades and

professions were

forced out of

American society

because of their

skin color and

perceived lack of

intelligence

Racism

Wild West ShowsPortrayed re-enactments of recent warsReinforced the notion that tribal culture is only

in the past

Nostalgia for an “Almost Extinct Civilization”

YMCA – Indian Guides ProgramSchools - Indian MascotsRailroads /National Parks– Images

sold tourist vacationsMuseums /Exhibitions – Live Displays

1893 – last chance to see the “noble red-man” before annihilation

Ethnologists tried to collect as many artifacts as possible

All of this added to the idea that Indians were no longer a part of American society, but rather a thing of its past.

“An Oasis in the Badlands”

“Portrait of Geronimo”

Curtis’s pictures helped perpetuate this vanishing myth by depicting American Indians as they were in the past

Indian culture was badly damaged, but somehow managed to survive