1. Dawes severalty act- 1887 Attempts to transform Indians into farmers
Ends reservation policy- marks shift in Indian policy
Provisions
Dissolves many tribes as legal entities
Wiped out tribal joint ownership of land
Individual family heads given 160 acres of land
Full title ownership given in 25 years if behaved
Leftover reservation land sold, money used to educate and “civilize’ Indians
Missionaries and teachers sent to reservations to Christianize and teach women to sew and keep house

2. “Kill the Savage, Save the Man”
Indian schools
Apache children at their arrival at the Carlisle Indian School (PA)
The same children 4 months later

3. Failure of the dawes act
Why do you think the Dawes Act Failed?
Few natives had the training or enthusiasm to farm
Many sold land to white settlers, further reducing the size of the reservations
By 1900, Indians had lost half of the land they had held 20 years earlier
Dawes act remained basic framework for Native relations until 1934
Later changed to Indian Reorganization Act- tried to restore native culture