During the time of Zitkála-Šá and Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte’s life, there was a push for the assimilation of indegenous people as a form of survival, a policy popularly known as Americanization or “kill the Indian, and save the man.” Some of these actions and policies are now seen as having been forms of “forced assimilation,” a way to erase American Indian communities and culture.

Assimilation is defined as, “The process by which a person or group adapts to, or absorbs the culture and language of another group or nation. Full assimilation occurs when members of a society become indistinguishable from members of the other group.” Based on this definition, use the chart below to jot down positive and negative consequences of this approach to the mixing of different cultures and people.