Superintendent’s Chat
Richard McClements, Shonto Preparatory School
 
There is a sad and painful history of the first efforts by the Federal Government to take Native American children from their parents and send them off to “schooling.” You should know this history. The following was taken from Indian Boarding Schools: Civilizing the Native Spirit from the Library of Congress. It is a lesson plan for educators across the country. Please check out the following website for more background:
 
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/01/indian/overview.html

In the late 1800s, the United States supported an educational experiment that the government hoped would change the traditions and customs of American Indians. Special boarding schools were created in locations all over the United States with the purpose of "civilizing" American Indian youth . Thousands of Native American children were sent far from their homes to live in these schools and learn the ways of white culture. Many struggled with loneliness and fear away from their tribal homes and familiar customs.  Some lost their lives to the influenza, tuberculosis, and measles outbreaks that spread quickly through the schools. Others thrived despite the hardships, formed lifelong friendships, and preserved their Indian identities.

Through photographs, letters, reports, interviews, and other primary documents, students explore the forced acculturation of American Indians through government-run boarding schools.

“We can end their existence among us as such separate people by a broad and generous system of English education and training, which will reach all the 50,000 children and in a few years remove all our trouble from them as a separate people and as separate tribes among us, and instead of feeding, clothing and caring for them from year to year, put them in condition to feed clothe and care for themselves.  Our experiences in many individual cases in the last few years make it evident that not only may we fit him to go and come and abide in the land where ever he may choose, and so lose his identity” 

Origin and History of work at Carlisle.[ The American missionary./ Volume 37, Issue 4, April 1883]
 

Zitkala Sa/Gertrude Bonnin Photo used with permission of University of South Dakota E. DeLoria Collection

“Late in the morning, my friend Judewin gave me a terrible warning.  Judewin knew a few words of English; and she had overheard the paleface woman talk about cutting our long, heavy hair. Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards!"...... I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit”. School Days of an Indian Girl. [Atlantic Monthly./Volume 85, Issue 508, February 1900]

Sample Daily Routine

Cushman Indian School, Tacoma, Wash.

February 1, 1912

Monday

5:45 A.M.	Reveille.
5:55 to 6:10	Setting Up Exercise & Drill.
6:12	Air Beds.
6:12 to 6:45	Recreation.
6:45	First Call for Breakfast.
6:55	Assembly. Roll Call.
7:00	Breakfast.
7:30 to 7:35	Care of teeth.
7:35 to 7:40	Make beds.
7:40 to 7:55	Police Quarters.
7:55	Industrial Call.
8:00	Industrial work begins. School detail at liberty. The use of this period is at pupils' discretion. The more studious at books; those inclined to athletics make use of this time for practice. Some pupils practice music lessons, etc.
8:50	First School Call. Roll Call and Inspection.
9:00	School.
11:30	Recall. Pupils at liberty.
11:55	Assembly and Roll Call.
12:00	Dinner.
12:30	Recreation.
12:50	School and Industrial Call. Inspection.
1:00 P.M.	Industrial work and School.
3:30	School dismissed. School detail at liberty. Time spent in same general manner as morning detail utilizes period from 8:00 to 8:50.
4:30	Industrial recall. Drill and Gymnasium classes.
5:15	First Call.
5:25	Assembly. Roll Call.
5:30	Supper.
6:00	Care of teeth.
6:10	Recreation.
7:15	First Call.
7:25	Roll Call. Inspection.
7:30	Lecture. This period varies in length. Men prominent in education or civic affairs address the pupils.
8:15	Call to Quarters. Older pupils prepare lessons; intermediate children play.
8:45	Tattoo. Pupils retire.
8:55	Check.
9:00	Taps.

Part 4: A Typical Daily Schedule

A typical daily schedule at a boarding school began with an early wake-up call followed by a series of tasks punctuated by the ringing of bells. Students were required to march from one activity to the next. Regular inspections and drills took place outdoors with platoons organized according to age and rank. Competitions were held to see which group could achieve the finest marching formation.

Everything happened by bells, 'triangles´ they were called. A triangle would ring in the morning and we would all run, line up, march in, get our little quota of tooth powder, wash our teeth, brush our hair, wash our hands and faces, and then we all lined up and marched outside. Whether it was raining, snowing or blowing, we all went outside and did what was called 'setting up exercises´ for twenty minutes. (Joyce Simmons Cheeka, Tulalip Indian School, memoirs collected by Finley) Conformity to rules and regulations was strongly encouraged:

We went from the tallest to the littlest, all the way down in companies. We had A, B, C, D companies. E Company was the Lazy Company, those that just couldn't get up and make it. They had all kinds of demerits for those people. They thought they'd shame them a little bit if they made an extra company and called it the Lazy Company. (Helma Ward, Makah, Tulalip Indian School, from interview with Carolyn Marr)

The foremost requirement for assimilation into American society, authorities felt, was mastery of the English language. Commissioner of Indian Affairs T.J. Morgan described English as "the language of the greatest, most powerful and enterprising nationalities beneath the sun." Such chauvinism did not allow for bilingualism in the boarding schools. Students were prohibited from speaking their native languages and those caught "speaking Indian" were severely punished. Later, many former students regretted that they lost the ability to speak their native language fluently because of the years they spent in boarding school.

Boys hoeing garden, Tulalip Indian School, ca. 1912

Another important component of the government policy for "civilizing" the Indians was to teach farming techniques. Although few reservations in the Pacific Northwest had either fertile land or a climate conducive to agriculture, nonetheless it was felt that farming was the proper occupation for American citizens. So boys learned how to milk cows, grow vegetables, repair tools, etc. and even had lessons on the various types of plows. (2)

The boarding schools had what came to be called the "half and half" system where students spent half of the day in the classroom and half at a work assignment or "detail" on the school grounds. The academic curriculum included courses in U.S. history, geography, language, arithmetic, reading, writing and spelling. Music and drama were offered at most schools. Young women spent either the morning or the afternoon doing laundry, sewing, cooking, cleaning and other household tasks. Older girls might study nursing or office work. The young men acquired skills in carpentry, blacksmithing, animal husbandry, baking and shop. They chopped firewood to keep the steam boilers operating. The work performed by students was essential to the operation of the institution. The meat, vegetables and milk served in the dining room came from livestock and gardens kept by the students. The girls made and repaired uniforms, sheets, and curtains and helped to prepare the meals.

A Student's First Days

An Indian student's first days at an off reservation boarding school were extraordinarily difficult. Suddenly thrust into an institution that their previous experience had given them no way of comprehending they were often in shock. One woman later wrote of the experience,

"My long travel and the bewildering sights had exhausted me. I fell asleep, heaving deep, tired sobs. My tears were left to dry themselves in streaks, because neither my aunt nor my mother was near to wipe them away."

Another student wrote, many years after the experience, that

It is almost impossible to explain to a sympathetic white person what a typical old Indian boarding school was like; how it affected the Indian child suddenly dumped into it like a small creature from another world, helpless, defenseless, bewildered, trying desperately and instinctively to survive it all."

Some students never came to terms with life in a boarding school. Other children did adjust, at least marginally, to this strange new world. Some flourished and did assimilate white values. An example of how Indian Boarding schools affected the pupils who stayed in them can be found by looking at authors who have studied Boarding schools to which Chippewa children were sent. One of these boarding schools operated in Mount Pleasant Michigan, from 1893 until 1933.

The Use of English

English was the official language of all Indian schools. Until the 1920's use of Native American languages would be punished. An Indian caught speaking a native tongue might have his or her mouth washed out with soap or might suffer some other, more severe, penalty. Some children who spent several years at school found that when they returned home to the reservation they had difficulty communicating with their Ojibway-speaking parents.

Many students resisted the loss of their Native tongue. These students employed a variety of ways to maintain fluency in their mother tongue. Child tells the story of one young woman who retained her fluency by silently praying in Ojibway at the compulsory church services. In Mount Pleasant, by the 1920's punishment for the use of Ojibway had become relatively infrequent. Child also notes that in some Indian schools the children were also strongly encouraged to accept a "Christian" name in place of their Indian name. School officials considered Indian names an unpronounceable remnant of a "pagan" past. A student who translated his or her Indian name into English was often mocked by instructors.

Food

The quality of food given the students was a point of considerable contention. Many students recall the food as being at least adequate. The Meriam report, however, was quite critical of the food. The report suggested widespread malnutrition among students and in some cases actual food shortages. The diet at the schools usually focused on meat and starches, with fresh vegetables or fruit rarely served. A typical supper might include bread, stew, or meat with gravy. This problem particularly irked many reformers because most of the schools emphasized the learning of agricultural skills and maintained substantial farming operations. It had become customary, however, to produce cash crops to supplement the schools budget rather than raise crops to feed the students.

The Meriam report estimated that to adequately feed children in the schools the government should allow thirty-five cents per day per student. The report's staff calculated that the government actually spent eleven cents per day per student on food. Students expressed their concern over food somewhat differently. Littlefield records the following ditty, told to her by two former students from the Mount Pleasant School:

Six o'clock in the morning,
Our breakfast comes around.
A bowl of mush and molasses,
Was enough to knock you down.
Our coffee's like tobacco juice,
Our bread is hard and stale,
and that's the way they treat you
At Mt. Pleasant Indian Jail.

There is so much more that you should know. I hope you will go to that website and read the complete text. Please understand that while “schooling” was indeed painful back then, in 2004, it is essential that you learn well and fully. I am embarrassed at what was done. Please know that all of us Caucasians here at Shonto care about you and want to make a positive contribution to your lives.