ave been absorbed by the dominant culture of the United States, leaving behind only isolated traces of their heritage and traditions. Certainly, the historical aspects of the treatment of Indians at the hands of the cultural majority has had a great affect on the rate of acculturation and assimilation of the American Indian. Yet, following all the turmoil of the civil rights movements of the 1960's and early 1970's, when Blacks made great advances, the processes of acculturation and assimilation continue to proceed slowly for the American Indian.
Thus, this paper will focus upon the cultural values of the American Indian which affect their acculturation and assimilation. Naturally, the historical background of the Indian can not be ignored but an emphasis will be placed upon modern factors that affect Indian acculturation and assimilation.
For the purposes of this paper acculturation is "a broad process defined as change in formerly autonomous cultures that come into contact." Assimilation is a more specific process consisting of "structural and organizational absorption of formerly autonomous institutions or members of one society by another." It must be remembered that there can be substantial assimilation without an accompanying marked acculturation. The converse is also true. There can be acculturation without extensive assimilation.
Most anthropologists agree that there is a slow rate of acculturation and assimilation by the American Indian to the dominant culture of the United States. However, their reasons for the slow rate of change vary. Evon Z. Vogt writes: "By the mid-twentieth century it has become apparent to social scientists studying the American Indian that the Indian population of the United States is markedly increasing and that the rate of basic acculturation to white American ways of life is incredibly slower than our earlier assumptions led us to believe." Writing of the Indians of the Am...