In a speech given at the 1892 session of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, Richard Pratt proclaimed, “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” Pratt continued to express that assimilation through complete immersion into the white man’s world was the only way to annihilate the Indian race. Many children soon found themselves forcefully removed from their reservations and placed in institutions that were designed to destroy their identity. Their hair was…show more content… To recruit students, officials would address the benefits of education by claiming it could remove tribes from the rampant poverty that many faced. In March of 1891, a compulsory attendance law was passed which enabled officials to ensure proper attendance of Indian children to boarding schools and ultimately powerfully remove students from reservations. In addition, two years later Congress soon authorized the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to withhold rations of food and clothing from families that refused to send children. This left many parents with no choice but surrender their school aged children. The families relied on government assistance rations to support and feed remaining household members. It was also common for parents to send children to boarding schools because they could not financially take care of them. Caregivers believed that the boarding school life would provide sufficient clothing, a regular diet, and a stable place to
