Analysis Of John Demoss Heathen School - 932 Words

John Demos’s interpretation of the â€Å"Heathen School† illustrates American challenges relating to multiculturalism and assimilation effectively. Demos flawlessly accounts the unforeseen and touchings stories of the missionary project, originating in Cornwall, Connecticut in the eighteenth century. At the same time, Demos details the conversion of â€Å"Heathens†-consisting of young Hawaiian, Native American, Indian, and Chinese men-into Christianity and civilization itself. The Heathen School became a grand scheme to American expansion across the world. However way you look at it, there was a cost to the American dream. Ever since the Second Great Awakening took place, religion became the focal point to spread Christianity all across mankind.†¦show more content†¦Of course, criticism obstructed the school’s progress of assimilation of the native people. A quote from the native author William Apess addresses the conflict distinctly in his 1829 autobiography: â€Å"missionaries have injured us...by degrading us as a people, in breaking up our governments, and leaving us without any suffrages whatever, or a legal right among men.† Certainly, the multiculturalism was ideal to expansion, but even so not even the citizens of America respected their foreign peers. Racial slurs, such as â€Å"a poor Indian† was emphasized by Apess. This implies that Americans looked down and were condescending towards outsiders. Specifically, American citizens made the assumption that indigenous people were â€Å"stupid† or â€Å"slow.† They will point out their bizarre behavior, in the manner like Obookiah-†Walking strangely and flapping his arms†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ignorance of America not only added a new challenge to worldwide diversity, but to indigenous people as well. The key to the difficulty of assimilation and multiculturalism was the downfall of the heathen school. The school accumulated generous amounts of money from generous donations from both ordinary folk and organizations alike. Many of the donations were gifts, sums of money, or given as labor, from as simple as five dollars, a shirt, or tailoring. Consequently, that will soon change with the introduction of interracial marriage. It was evident that discrimination among native peoples was