Missions and Missionaries
At a glance:
- Series: American Indians Ready Reference
- Categories: Religion, Ethics, Social Science, Civilizations, Cultures
- Subcategories: Native Americans, American Indians
- Curriculum: American Indian History
- Geographical Location: Massachusetts, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Quebec, Tennessee
Article abstract: Missionaries and their missions provided American Indians with their first concentrated contact with white culture. Missionaries helped implement the policies of assimilation, agrarianism, and cultural extermination
From the 1500’s, when Spanish and French explorers brought Roman Catholic priests to North America, until the 1950’s, missionaries influenced both American Indians and U.S. policy toward Indians. Missionaries taught English, built schools and churches, and created pantribal connections. They also, however, spread disease and...
[The entire page is 1179 words long]