Even prominent Black leaders framed Black acceptance through assimilationist anti-Indian comparisons

Evidence

Frederick Douglass was also wary of Stowe’s embrace of colonization, though he did not criticize her portrait of the “soulful” Uncle Tom. He sent off an assimilationist, anti-Indian letter to Stowe explaining why Blacks would never accept colonization. “This black man (unlike the Indian) loves civilization,” Douglass wrote. “He does not make very great progress in civilization himself, but he likes to be in the midst of it.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 520

Categorization

• XREF: Douglass’s anti-Indian assimilationist framing mirrors a recurring pattern where colonized groups are ranked against each other — connects to comparative settlement histories and the way oppressed groups police each other’s assimilation.
• DEFINE: A vivid example of assimilationism: Blacks coded as civilization-loving (good, assimilable) against the Indian as resistant (bad) — exactly the kind of placement the reader wants to practice.