Native American Boarding Schools

During the American Colonial period, the primary focus of colonists was to establish their own settlements in order to survive in the new continent. However, many of them believed that it was their responsibility to Christianize and civilize Native Americans. The educational institutions they established became the forerunners of the boarding schools which arose later in the 19th century both in the United States and in Canada (Stout 1). The aim of these schools was to resolve the so called “Indian-Problem” and to assimilate American Indians by separating Native children from their families and teaching them the American or the Canadian way of life (Trafzer, Keller and Sisquoc 14). Children in boarding schools were taught to be ashamed of and to reject their cultural heritage, ancestors and spiritual traditions (Chansonneuve 43). Moreover, boarding schools were usually underfunded, which had a negative impact on numerous aspects of school life and on the health of children (Daniels, 151). Therefore, with their harsh discipline and poor living conditions, boarding schools had damaging effects on Native people’s lives, and they contributed to many of the problems Native Americans have to face the present-day both in the U.S. and in Canada.

“....I believe in immersing the Indian in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.”, said Richard Henry Pratt. Richard Pratt founded the United States’ first indian boarding school. Carlisle Indian Industrial School was established in the year of 1879 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Indian Boarding Schools were created to decimate traditional indian culture, and replace it with white, american culture. There were a plethora of indian boarding schools established in the United States. For instance, Concho Indian Boarding School in Concho,Oklahoma , Sante Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or or Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nevada. These schools spanned all over the United States. In these schools, Native American children, taken from their homes and families, were taught mathematics and english, as well as trivial subjects such as farming and sewing. These schools served as a way to eliminate the culture of Native Americans.

Americanization and Indian Boarding School The history of Native Americans was full of violent, cheats and sadness. From Spanish conquerors, English settlers to U. S Government, Native Americans lost their battles against these parties with greater power. As a result, their home lands, people and culture were consistently threatened by different societies.

The goal of the United States was to use educations to erase Native American culture and assimilate indigenous students into European-American society (Boarding School). “Kill the Indian, save the man” stated Richard Henry Pratt—key figure in developing the Native American Boarding schools (Carlisle Indian School). The white folk saw the indigenous people as a problem. Therefore, they attempted to solve the problem through assimilation. Many indigenous people were forced to—at times—to attend the boarding schools (Boarding School).

The transformation first started with getting rid of outside signs that were generally associated with being native, which included: long hair, outfits, and names. They were no longer allowed to speak their native language and had to learn english. Students were often treated very poorly, being put into a building too small for the amount attending the school, disobedient students would be beaten, as long as

government on the Native society was boarding schools that began in the late 19th century. Native children, as young as five years old, were taken from their families off the reservations thousands of miles away to boarding schools. One of those boarding schools was the Carlisle Industrial School, which opened in 1880, founded by Captain Richard Harry Pratt. The sole purpose of these schools was to assimilate the next generation of Native’s into the Anglo society. The boys were taught mechanical and agriculture skills, while the girls were taught domestic lessons such as sewing and cleaning.

Throughout assimilation, there was a cultural barrier between the Indians and the teachers. At the core of this barrier was the idea that one culture was more civilized than the other. This idea can be seen in both Native American boarding schools and at St. Lucy’s. As stated in Sarah E. Stone’s dissertation, the teachers at Native American boarding schools were not “culturally familiar” (57) with the students and, as a result, treated them differently. Similarly, at St. Lucy’s the nuns saw the wolf girls as barbaric people and treated them accordingly. The teachers and nuns believed that since they were the civilized culture, they must assimilate the more savage people into their way of life and help them become as stated in Karen Russell’s

Losing one’s cultural knowledge, and therefore the reality of their culture, allows others to have control over their collective and individual consciousness as well as their destiny. In this case, it is clear that the United States government has had the dominant relationship over the Native

Residential Schools was an enormous lengthening event in our history. Residential schools were to assimilate and integrate white people’s viewpoints and values to First Nations children. The schools were ran by white nuns and white priests to get rid of the “inner Indian” in the children. In residential schools, the children suffered immensely from physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual abuse. Although the many tragedies, language was a huge loss by the First Nations children.

For decades in Canada, officially beginning in 1892, children were taken away from their families and put into schools that would change and take away their views and beliefs, initial knowledge, image, and identity. In the earlier stages, these schools were referred to as Industrial Schools for Indians. Today, we call them Residential Schools with Aboriginal survivors who are able to tell their stories. Aboriginal people suffered while there schools were running. This essay will compare the knowledge in a recent article to primary sources that were written while Industrial Schools were in action.

Over the past few decades, there has been many distinct perspectives and conflicts surrounding the historical context between the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Canadian Government. In source one, the author P.J Anderson is trying to convey that the absolute goal of the Indian Residential School system in Canada has been to assimilate the Indian nation and provide them with guidance to “ forget their Indian habits”, and become educated of the “ arts of civilized life”, in order to help them integrate into society and “become one” with their “White brethren”. It is clearly evident throughout the source that the author is supportive of the Indian residential school system and strongly believes that the Indian residential School System

As the wild west opened, so did new opportunities for American to strike it rich. But with the wild west opening up for the Americans, Indian lands were being encroached for railroads and homesteads. Indians were being pushed into reservations, their children sent to assimilation schools such a the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. In the horrors of American assimilation targeted at young Native American children, many children would face the struggle of losing their identity or face punishment of resisting assimilation. In the assimilation stories of Zitkala Sa’s Impressions of an Indian Childhood and Sherman Alexie’s Indian Education, tells the tale of their childhood experience being integrated into “American culture”.

This story of the Seminoles’ struggles for identity and sovereignty is a microcosm of the true horrors inflicted on Indian nations by the federal government. The Seminoles remarkably defied federal, state, and local government pressures of removal in the early nineteenth century. They also disputed Creek insistence on tribal consolidation, and other Indian nation claims to their property. Among the federal tactics were the illegal removals, and treaties that meant little to the federal government when land, as part of Manifest Destiny, and wealth the federal government sought entered the equation. The Seminoles also endured the paternalism, coercion tactics, and pressures from Bureau of Indian Affairs agents who made promises to them that were frequently broken.

During one of his powerful speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.” Scholars talk of what happened to the Indians as a great tragedy, but never anything further. We deny what happened to the Indians, particularly the Cherokees. During the 1830’s, the United States government set out to remove all Cherokee individuals from their homes and relocate them west. Relocation meant ending up on a land foreign to them, and presented with environmental conditions that posed difficulties for human living.

In “St. Lucy’s” and the Native Americans one and the other were forced into a new culture, but had no say in this event. In some cases Native American children were kidnapped and taken to boarding schools far away from their family 's. Likewise “St. Lucy 's” had basically the same issue as the Native American children people came and took them away to a new culture they did not particularly like. Presented to Brenda J. Child author of “Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940””American Indian children who often went to school quite a distance away from home, often suffered homesickness and their parents loneliness.”.similarly the girls were also homesick and desired to see their parents. Guy B. Senese claims that “Many