US Assimilation Policy Impact on American Indian Mortality

What is it about?

A centerpiece of US policy toward American Indians, the Dawes Act of 1887, caused substantial economic harm to American Indians. We find that US assimilation and allotment policy increased the American Indian child mortality ratio by about 15%. In secondary analyses focused on total mortality, we find increases among young American Indians of nearly one-third (implying a decline in life expectancy at birth of about 20%, loosely comparable to the effect of World War I on young men in France and to the effect of Spanish Flu on residents of the United States).

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Photo by The Oregon State University Collections and Archives on Unsplash

Photo by The Oregon State University Collections and Archives on Unsplash

Why is it important?

By the time of its repeal in 1934, American Indians had lost two-thirds of all Native land held in 1887 (86 million acres) under the Act—and nearly two-thirds of American Indians had become landless or unable to meet subsistence needs. However, little is known about its consequences for American Indian mortality. These results provide new evidence about the harmful demographic effects of the Dawes Act on American Indians, in addition to its damaging economic impacts.