Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the federal government had taken full custody of indigenous education. While religious groups continued to play a minor role, the federal government now oversaw a three-tiered system of schools such as those at Albuquerque and Sante Fe Indian Schools. John Gram writing for American Indian Quarterly in “Acting Out Assimilation: Playing Indian and Becoming American in the Federal Indian Boarding Schools” noted that despite the racial overtones of many of the Wild West exhibitions the school forced the children to take part in, “They began talking about what it meant to be Indian as well as American.” (Gram 6). These attempts at resistance to harsh and overwhelming tactics to assimilate these children also came in the form of education and activism. These children used theatrical performances to hold on to their traditions as well as tell their stories.

While many Native American youth had a tough time outwardly resisting this forced assimilation, others subtly went along while finding ways to hold on to their traditions. One tradition Celia Haig Brown mentions in her book “Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential Schools”, was tattooing. During the golden age of tattooing in the 1940s students from the Tohono Oodham Tribe were found to still be practicing the art by the Tohono Oodham Agency Child Guidance Committee. One residential student, Linda (a pseudonym) told the story about her friend's fatal experience when she attempted to apply a tattoo on her hand with a needle and ink. Linda then tells how her hands soon began to swell and reports it to one of the nuns. On seeing the girl's swollen hands, she simply sent her to bed where she soon developed a fever and died a few days later (Dawley, Martina M.).   

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As we've touched upon the many ways the legislation, and how it was implemented against Native American from their early education on through higher education settings. We must remember that they aren't simply historical events of a long past we should slip into the background of American history, but rather the foundations of continuing forms of oppression that extend up to the present day. While not as blatant and out in the open it still festers subtley, but actively under the skin of American culture to this day.  What should we take from this article, you the reader as well as myself, the writer? That as long as we view all of this as simply history to get dusty in history books and left to be forgotten ( and get worse for those truly affected) we have to work towards active change.