“Kill the Indian and Save the Man”: Native American Representation, Assimilation, and the Erasing of Culture | N. Scott Momaday

Learn about the impact of US government policies of assimilation, relocation, and urbanization on Native American identity and culture in this series of videos from the American Masters film Words from a Bear: N. Scott Momaday. Years after many Native Americans were removed from their homelands onto reservations and to what would become Oklahoma, the United States used other approaches like boarding schools in the early 20^th century and relocation to urban areas after WWII, to push for assimilation, to “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man.”

Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn led to the breakthrough of Native American literature into the mainstream and a recogniztion of the value of the representation of indigenous voices. While it may be valuable to look to history to help understand Native American culture, tribes are still very much alive and have redefined themselves as a living culture. Students are asked to think about stereotypes held about Native Americans and to research and learn more about a Native American tribe today. Support materials also include a close reading activity comparing a passage about identity from Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968) and one from Tommy Orange’s book There, There (2018).