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Indigenous Boarding Schools
Indigenous Boarding Schools
In the Nineteenth century, the United States Government started funding “boarding schools” for Indigenous children, which aimed to “eliminate traditional American Indian ways of life and replace them with mainstream American culture.” ("Struggling with Cultural Repression” 2020) Native children were removed from their tribes and families and brought hundreds of miles away from home. They were forced to cut their hair, speak English, and learn how to be “good” American citizens. The primary goal of these schools was to assimilate Indigenous children into American culture, stripping them of their native traditions, languages, and cultural practices. The United States Government “adopted an Indian Boarding School Policy expressly intended to implement cultural genocide through the removal and reprogramming of American Indian and Alaska Native children to accomplish the systematic destruction of Native cultures and communities. The stated purpose of this policy was to ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man.’” ("Kill The Indian, Save the Man" 2020) The underlying motivation behind these schools was rooted in the belief that Indigenous people were inferior to white Americans, and needed to be eliminated. Isolation from their culture was key to America's goals to erase the Indigenous people from “American” soil.
Native American boarding schools have been around for a very long time, with the first boarding school being opened in 1801. Hundreds followed, supported by federal agencies such as the Department of Interior and the Department of Defense. These schools were put into the care of religious groups, with the intent of “christianizing” these children.
Children as young as five years old were taken from their families and communities and placed in these schools. The curriculum prioritized English language learning, Christian education, and Western cultural practices. Students focused on becoming good Christian American citizens. Boys were taught to build and do other physical labor like farming, and girls were taught how to cook and clean.
Boarding schools were underfunded, overcrowded, and lacked many of the resources required to completely care for these children. They had harsh living conditions, leading to neglect, malnutrition, and disease being incredibly common. On top of the physical conditions, many Indigenous children faced incredible physical and psychological trauma while attending these schools. Not only from being separated from their families, but facing physical and psychological punishment from educators when they broke rules, refused to speak English, or tried to fight against their oppressors. Children were beaten, starved, and punished for their attempts to stay true to themselves and their cultures.
Children in these boarding schools were isolated from their cultures and communities, making it easy for white oppressors to further control future generations of Indigenous people. By assimilating them into the “superior” culture, they would be easier to control, and less likely to fight back.
"Kill the Indian, Save the Man"
"Kill the Indian, Save the Man"
The phrase “Kill the Indian, Save the Man” was first coined in 1892 by Captain R.H. Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle Indian School, when he said: “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” (Pratt 1892) The impact of this speech has had devastating effects on the Indigenous community, as well as creating a culture of expected assimilation for Indigenous people and children.
Carlisle Indian School was not the only school that focused on the cultural whitewashing of Indigenous children. Many different Boarding Schools throughout the late 19th and early 20ths centuries used this phase as a baseline for their curriculum. White lawmakers and those running the schools believed that if Native children could be removed from their tribes and families, they could be assimilated into American culture and society. The United States government and those in power used violent techniques to isolate Indigenous peoples from their families, tribes, and cultures to make them easier to control. They cut their hair, changed their names, and forced them to speak English, further removing them from their heritage and assimilating them into American culture. They attempted to “kill the Indian” in these Indigenous children in order to “save the man.”
Carlisle School: Past and Present
Carlisle School: Past and Present
In the United States, all children are required to have schooling of some sort. For most, this is an educational, happy experience. However, history reveals a darker side, as exemplified by the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Established in 1879, it aimed to assimilate Native American children into white European/American culture, becoming a model for similar institutions. Spearheaded by Richard Henry Pratt and guided by the slogan "Kill the Indian, Save the Man," the school forcibly separated Native children from their culture, imposing harsh measures such as cutting their hair, prohibiting native languages, and enforcing Christianity.
Beyond punitive measures, students faced dire living conditions, illness, malnourishment, and even suicide. The school's outing program sent students to work for white families during summers, underpaying them while managing their finances. Despite these horrors, the school also featured sports and clubs, notably fostering an influential football legacy.
Over time, similar schools were created, leading to a decline in Carlisle's enrollment. A government investigation, World War I, and decreased enrollment prompted its closure in 1918. The facility transitioned into a rehabilitation hospital for wounded soldiers and later became a War College.
The legacy of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School is one of cultural genocide, illustrating the dark consequences of forced assimilation on Native American communities. Its historical significance lies in the acknowledgment of the atrocities committed against Native American children in the name of education and assimilation.
There are many ways to make this right, the first of which has already been started, which is to bring the bodies of children back home to their native tribes for proper burial. This helps give many families a sense of closure that they have been waiting decades or over a century for.
Public Perception
Public Perception
The integration of Native American children into mainstream American society was the goal of the early Carlisle Indian Boarding School, established in 1879 by Captain Richard H. Pratt. Publicity efforts performed by the school were crucial in influencing the general population and gaining support for the school's objectives. The examination of the methods used by the Carlisle Indian Boarding School highlights its claimed achievements and how it sought to emphasize the teaching of traditional gender roles to Native children
The school created an organized push to showcase the successes of its assimilation initiatives through PR campaigns. The main goal was to show how children had supposedly assimilated into Western education, society, and professions. Newspapers, brochures, and photos were just a few of the media Carlisle employed to tell the story of Native children who had undergone a transformation and were now socially acceptable members of civilization
Images were essential to this story since they frequently showed children pursuing academic goals, training for careers, and dressing in Western attire. The fact that these photos were deliberately shared helped to support the notion that assimilation benefited Native American students by providing a visual depiction of the said school's accomplishments.
Following the gender norms of Victorian-era America, Carlisle's curriculum for girls included domestic skills like cooking, sewing, and child care. Images of girls participating in these household activities were frequently included in publicity materials, which served to reinforce the idea that assimilation also meant conforming to predefined gender norms. Whereas the boys received training in trades like farming, blacksmithing, and carpentry. The intention was to conform them to the dominant masculinity stereotypes by training them for manual labor jobs. Pictures of the boys participating in these activities were extensively shared to demonstrate how the school had been able to shape them into hardworking, independent men.
In short, the assimilation mission of the Carlisle Indian Boarding School was greatly aided by the public perception that was shaped by the school's publicity efforts. The school wanted to project a picture of success and change, but it's important to understand that one of its objectives was maintaining traditional gender norms. According to the school's publicity, the assimilation process involved embracing Western culture and adhering to gender norms, which reflected the complicated cultural context of the time.
Connecting the Dots...
Connecting the Dots...
The institution adopted the assimilationist philosophy as its foundation and declared its mission to "kill the Indian and save the man." There are several areas of the Carlisle Indian School's operation wherein cultural genocide, whitewashing, and publicizing have been utilized and used to further support agenda-perpetuating ideologies that in the end suppressed and put large numbers of individuals under life-altering effects.
Cultural Genocide -
Forced Assimilation: the Carlisle Indian School's main objective was to assimilate Native American students into the general American culture. To do this, their native languages, customs, traditions, and ways of life had to be suppressed and eradicated. Forced Haircuts and Uniforms: students had to wear uniforms according to the Western style and were forced to undergo haircuts. The goal of these actions was to encourage conformity to Euro-American norms while eradicating any visible traces of their Native identity.
Whitewashing -
Identity Changes: rather than using the names they originally had, Native American students frequently received identities from European Americans. To further the idea of assimilation, this practice was intended to break off ties to their cultural and family identities.
The curriculum at Carlisle was developed to advance values, beliefs, and historical perspectives that are primarily Eurocentric. The educational material was designed with a Western worldview in mind, prohibiting the integration of native languages and cultural teachings.
Publicizing -
Public Relations Campaigns: to generate more support for the school, Captain Pratt took an active role in public relations campaigns. He emphasized the achievements of the school as confirmation that assimilation policies succeed. The purpose of this publicity was to support the assimilationist agenda politically and financially. Exhibitions and Demonstrations, Pratt organized gatherings where students demonstrated to the public their newly learned abilities and Westernized behaviors. These incidents served to support the notion that Native American cultures were inferior and were in desperate need of change, as well as to show the effectiveness of the assimilation process.
Understanding how the Carlisle Indian Boarding School's cultural genocide, whitewashing, and publicity are related to one another. This looks at how each of these variables worked together to further assimilate goals, continuing a cycle that supported the erasure of Native American identities and cultures. Examining the complex relationships within genocide of culture, whitewashing, and media coverage of the Carlisle Indian Boarding School, develops an understanding of the difficulties that Native Americans have historically endured concerning preserving their sense of cultural self and resolve in the face of racist policies.
Considering the Carlisle Indian Boarding Schools lasting legacy and the impact that it had on Native American communities. The significance of identifying and protecting indigenous cultures is emphasized as it discusses present efforts to acknowledge and undo the historical injustices perpetrated at the school.
Why is this important?
Why is this important?
In today's world, we can still see the effects of the boarding school era. At its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds and thousands of children were forced away from everything they ever knew, and it had a lasting impact on the native communities in many ways.
The harsh treatment endured by Native American students in these schools left deep emotional scars, contributing to a spectrum of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. These afflictions, rooted in the trauma of the boarding school experience, can be genetically transmitted across generations, compounding the challenges faced by Native American families. Today, we consistently see mental health issues in native communities that are traced back to the generational traumas faced by those who went to boarding schools.
The trauma experienced in boarding schools also reverberated through parenting styles and family dynamics, creating challenges in trust, communication, and emotional expression. Many people emerged from these trials in their lives with attachment style disorders and trouble expressing their emotions. This stems from them not having parental, loving figures around in their childhood, which is the basis for secure attachment styles. This intergenerational impact perpetuates cycles of trauma within Native American communities, which hinders holistic healing.
Boarding schools disrupted not only individual families but entire Native communities. The loss of significant numbers of children led to a rupture in the transfer of cultural knowledge, weakening the overall fabric of tribal traditions, ceremonies, and practices. Many languages were lost completely, or have only a few speakers. This stems from children at the schools being beaten and punished for speaking their languages. After that happened, when they were adults they did not teach the language to their children, out of fear that their children would go through the same thing. The concept of generational trauma underscores that the trauma inflicted during the boarding school era continues to influence the psychological well-being of subsequent generations.
Acknowledging and understanding this historical trauma is crucial for addressing the challenges faced by Native American communities today. Efforts toward healing and cultural revitalization are underway, with a growing awareness of the need for trauma-informed approaches. Native American communities are actively engaged in reclaiming and revitalizing their cultural identity through language revitalization programs, cultural education initiatives, and community events that reconnect individuals with their tribal heritage.
An ongoing initiative to bring the bodies of children back to their native tribes for proper burial symbolizes a step towards closure for families who lost children in horrific circumstances. This process represents a collective effort to provide answers and acknowledgment of the painful experiences endured by Native American communities during the boarding school era. As of June 4, 2023, 29 students have been returned home and properly buried, contributing to a sense of peace and justice in a peaceful resting place. It is our duty as citizens to understand and learn about these processes, so history never repeats itself. Culture is such an important part of our lives, and everyone deserves the opportunity to experience their own culture and grow up surrounded by it.
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