“It was 1902. The government was unhappy that Indians were acting like, well, Indians, with their own customs and ways of life. The government wanted to make the Indians white, or what they called “civilized,” so they would stop causing trouble with all of those “unacceptable ways.”
So on January 11, 1902, the Department of the Interior, Department of Indian Affairs, issued a letter instructing that Native people should cut their hair (males), stop painting themselves, start wearing white people’s clothes, stop wearing Indian clothes and blankets, and stop having dances and feasts.”
Eliminate your culture – or else.
My son has long hair and people give me grief about it.
No one gave me grief about my daughter’s long hair.
See on nativeheritageproject.com
