The American Indians had no immunity to these illnesses. The first century after contact was the most disastrous, between 1520 and 1600 31 major epidemics swept across the land. The Indians died quickly after exposure to these epidemics. The Indian population of North America fell from about five million at contact to three million individuals within 100 years (Mihesuah, 1996). One reason that such epidemics were so destructive was that without any immunity whatsoever the American Indian population was nearly all afflicted or infected by a disease at the same time. Another reason was the inferior medical practices employed by the Indians, such as sweat houses, herbs, and spiritual prayer were grossly inadequate for these Eastern spawned illnesses (Thornton, 1942).
Of the diseases introduced from these Eastern Hemisphere, the greatest early killers of American Indians were smallpox, typhus, and measles with smallpox probably being the most devastating of the three (Thornton, 1942). Europeans quickly learned of Indians susceptibility to diseases, and in 1763 British officers led by Lord Jeffrey Amherst sent blankets infected with smallpox to Ottawa"tms and other tribes in deployment of ea
The discrimination practices by the U.S. Government over the years have taken many forms and many names as relevant in the numerous acts that have been passed and subsequently failed over the years. But the denial of opportunities and equal rights to the Indian people or any people for that matter based strictly on race is racism at its worst regardless of what the government might call it.
Governmental Intervention in Indian Education
In the early 1900"tms for humanitarian and economic reasons the government endorsed policies that encouraged reservation day schools so that youngsters were not separated from their families for long periods of time. However to foster assimilation by increasing the contact between the races, the commissioner opened reservation schools to white children and encouraged Indian children to attend local public schools (Schaefer, 1996). The attempts by the U.S. government to assimilate the American Indians to the white way are not only overt prejudice but also blatant racism of the worst kind.
Without doubt, the biggest factor in the demise of the American Indian is due to diseases introduced from the Eastern Hemisphere (Thornton, 1942). But when these diseases were intentionally employed on the Indian people by representatives of the U.S. Government clearly displays an overt act of racism and an outright attempt at racial formation. Which is a socio-historical process by which racial categories are created and inhibited by the perpetuation of one race and the transformation or destruction of others (Schaefer, 1996).
The first step of assimilation was to cut the children's long hair. For the Lakota Indians, the cutting of ones hair was symbolic of mourning. Many young braves agonized because of their hair lose (Lakota Woman, 1990). The boarding schools were modeled after military life, the boys were issued uniforms, and the girls dressed in Victorian-style dresses. The students were required to wear shoes, as moccasins were not allowed and discipline was strictly enforced (American Experience). The Indian children were given English names, and were severely punished for speaking their native languages or practicing their traditional religions. Many children, not surprisingly, had an extremely difficult time adjusting to their new surroundings, and runaways were a common problem facing administrators (Lakota Woman, 1990).
American Indian suffered substantial population loss due to warfare stemming from European arrival and colonization (Thornton, 1942). The U.S. Government committed wide spread genocide on Native Americans in the name of progress and the good of the people. If the needs of tribes interfered with the needs, or even the whims of the white majority, then the U.S. Government was to be victorious (Schaefer, 1996). This is another outright example of racial formation by the American Government.
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1959 
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