In the early 20th century, the US government tried to fully assimilate the Native Americans into mainstream American culture in which they would forget about their culture and be English-speaking Americans like other immigrants.
While this fantasy continued through most of the century, Indians did not compromise on their culture. As Americans entered into the period of growth and prosperity popularly known as the Roaring 20s following World War I, Indian tribes and Indian people continued to exist, usually out of sight of non-Indians.
These stunning photographs of American Indians from the 1920s are beautiful, but often also very sad faces.
