Zitkala-Sa and Jane Addams Essay Example

There existed a conflict concerning the way Anglo-American society started altering the Native American Culture. It is worth noting that the Native Americans way of life was much more different from that lived by the white community. In response, the white organization desired to change the game and lure Native Americans though schools. Zitkala-Sa and Jane Addams found themselves in the struggle and their contributions have counted much.

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The white society improvised crooked ways of assimilation of the Native American children by the method of forcing them to attend the Indian schools. These schools were designed such that they would end up changing the way of thinking and at the same time blotting out the Native cultures (De & Dayton, 2015). The efforts were aimed at assimilating Native children from the Native culture to Anglo culture. The white society had a strong belief that by making Native children to embrace the Anglo culture, it would have been a good thing for enhancing learning. Even though, Zitkala-Sa who was an educator one of these schools, worked with the system trying to uplift the Native Americans.

My thinking on the term 'tender violence' is that the white society wanted to use a method that would appear as if it were helping the Native American children. Instead, the approach by the white community was not aiming at assisting them but giving strength to their Anglo culture and suppressing the Native Culture. Through this mechanism, they would win over the Native American culture.

The response of civilization has been defined in the perspectives of school craft. On the other hand, there is extinction. The education was being applied in the aspects of economic and religious views. The greatest emphasis was on making the Native American culture to fall. The Indian schools were to base their teachings on religious instruction while placing focus on the ten commandments (Vigil, 2017). In addition to this, the lessons were noted to have the effect of governing gender relations at school. Other means employed in the Indian schools were the implanting sense of guilt and sin in the Sunday schools.

Conclusion

Addams was in support of the efforts that would see the Native American culture being taken care off. Addams reforms were not based on individualism as in the case of the reformers who came up with the Native American boarding schools. It is also worth noting that the reforms of the white society were highly based on the European values that were mainly found in the American culture (Vigil, 2017). Addams had discovered that Native American culture faced a risk of being exterminated. The reformers thought is based on the idea that to deal with the problem of the Indians, was only through making them accept the ways of the white society. In the efforts, the whites pushed for segregation of the environment to implement their wants.

References

De Hart, J. S., & Dayton, C. H. (2015). Women's America: Refocusing the past. Oxford University Press, USA.

Vigil, K. M. (2017). Expanding Interpretations of Native American Women's History. Great Plains Quarterly, 37(2), 131-144.