Bozeman Magazine

Making Native Kin: Religion, Interracial Adoption, and the Politics of Assimilation in the 19th Century In the nineteenth century, Latter-day Saints adopted Native children who had been displaced by colonial violence in an explicit attempt to quicken assimilation. Although some of the children were treated as family members, others became servants. This talk highlights the experiences of Native children who were adopted into white, Latter-day Saint families and the attempts of Utah’s legal system to regulate those adoptions. It also places the decision to adopt Native children within the larger politics of assimilation.