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08 Mar 17
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15 Dec 16
womensstudiesThis NPR story exposes the horrors of American Indian boarding schools and the cultural erasure that came as a result.
native-americans colonization dehumanization essentialism structural-systemic Trauma
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05 Dec 16
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07 Nov 16
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For the tens of thousands of Indians who went to boarding schools, it's largely remembered as a time of abuse and desecration of culture.
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At first, he thought he was on the bus because his mother didn't want him anymore. But then he noticed she was crying
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The federal government began sending American Indians to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870s, when the United States was still at war with Indians.
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"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one," Pratt said. "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."
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In 1945, Bill Wright, a Pattwin Indian, was sent to the Stewart Indian School in Nevada. He was just 6 years old.
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Wright said he lost not only his language, but also his American Indian name.
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"I remember coming home and my grandma asked me to talk Indian to her and I said, 'Grandma, I don't understand you,' " Wright says. "She said, 'Then who are you?' "
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Lomawaima says from the start, the government's objective was to "erase and replace" Indian culture, part of a larger strategy to conquer Indians.
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"They very specifically targeted Native nations that were the most recently hostile,"
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"There was a very conscious effort to recruit the children of leaders, and this was also explicit, essentially to hold those children hostage.
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The idea was it would be much easier to keep those communities pacified with their children held in a school somewhere far away."
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The government operated as many as 100 boarding schools for American Indians, both on and off reservations. Children were sometimes taken forcibly, by armed police. Lomawaima says that's not the only reason families let their children go.
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"For many communities, for a variety of reasons, federal school was the only option," she says. "Public schools were closed to Indians because of racism."
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At boarding schools, the curriculum focused mostly on trades, such as carpentry for boys and housekeeping for girls.
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Do you know what the movie was about? Cowboys and Indians. Cowboys and Indians. Here we're getting all our people killed, and that's the kind of stuff they showed us."
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And for decades, there were reports that students in the boarding schools were abused. Children were beaten, malnourished and forced to do heavy labor. In the 1960s, a congressional report found that many teachers still saw their role as civilizing American Indian students, not educating them. The report said the schools still had a "major emphasis on discipline and punishment."
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"Busted his head open and blood got all over," Wright recalls. "I had to take him to the hospital, and they told me to tell them he ran into the wall and I better not tell them what really happened."
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He worries that he and other former students have inadvertently re-created that harsh environment within their own families.
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Not all American Indians had negative experiences at boarding schools. Some have fond memories of meeting spouses and making lifelong friends. But scathing government reports led to the closure of most of the boarding schools.
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06 Oct 16
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An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. He based it on an education program he had developed in an Indian prison. He described his philosophy in a speech he gave in 1892.
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"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one," Pratt said. "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."
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In 1945, Bill Wright, a Pattwin Indian, was sent to the Stewart Indian School in Nevada. He was just 6 years old. Wright remembers matrons bathing him in kerosene and shaving his head. Students at federal boarding schools were forbidden to express their culture — everything from wearing long hair to speaking even a single Indian word.
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Wright said he lost not only his language, but also his American Indian name.
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"I remember coming home and my grandma asked me to talk Indian to her and I said, 'Grandma, I don't understand you,' " Wright says. "She said, 'Then who are you?' "
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Wright remembers an adviser hitting a student.
"Busted his head open and blood got all over," Wright recalls. "I had to take him to the hospital, and they told me to tell them he ran into the wall and I better not tell them what really happened."
Wright says he still has nightmares from the severe discipline. He worries that he and other former students have inadvertently re-created that harsh environment within their own families.
"You grow up with discipline, but when you grow up and you have families, then what happens? If you're my daughter and you leave your dress out, I'll knock you through that wall. Why? Because I'm taught discipline," Wright said.
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23 Aug 16
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07 Apr 16
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Westerman spent the rest of his childhood in boarding schools far from his family and his Dakota tribe.
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He sang about his experiences growing up: "You put me in your boarding school, made me learn your white man rule, be a fool."
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The federal government began sending American Indians to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870s, when the United States was still at war with Indians.
An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. He based it on an education program he had developed in an Indian prison. He described his philosophy in a speech he gave in 1892.
-
"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one," Pratt said. "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."
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right remembers matrons bathing him in kerosene and shaving his head. Students at federal boarding schools were forbidden to express their culture — everything from wearing long hair to speaking even a single Indian word. Wright said he lost not only his language, but also his American Indian name.
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Lomawaima says from the start, the government's objective was to "erase and replace" Indian culture, part of a larger strategy to conquer Indians.
-
"They very specifically targeted Native nations that were the most recently hostile," Lomawaima says. "There was a very conscious effort to recruit the children of leaders, and this was also explicit, essentially to hold those children hostage. The idea was it would be much easier to keep those communities pacified with their children held in a school somewhere far away."
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The government operated as many as 100 boarding schools for American Indians, both on and off reservations. Children were sometimes taken forcibly, by armed police.
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"Saturday night we had a movie," says Toledo. "Do you know what the movie was about? Cowboys and Indians. Cowboys and Indians. Here we're getting all our people killed, and that's the kind of stuff they showed us."
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And for decades, there were reports that students in the boarding schools were abused. Children were beaten, malnourished and forced to do heavy labor.
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Wright remembers an adviser hitting a student.
"Busted his head open and blood got all over," Wright recalls. "I had to take him to the hospital, and they told me to tell them he ran into the wall and I better not tell them what really happened."
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"You grow up with discipline, but when you grow up and you have families, then what happens? If you're my daughter and you leave your dress out, I'll knock you through that wall. Why? Because I'm taught discipline," Wright said.
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04 Jan 16
Ian Gilbert"A group of Chiricahua Apache students on their first day at Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pa. Bottom: The same students four months later."
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07 Apr 15
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05 Apr 15
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"Language, religion, family structure, economics, the way you make a living, the way you express emotion, everything," says Lomawaima.
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"You put me in your boarding school, made me learn your white man rule, be a fool."
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"Language, religion, family structure, economics, the way you make a living, the way you express emotion, everything," says Lomawaima.
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Wright says he still has nightmares from the severe discipline. He worries that he and other former students have inadvertently re-created that harsh environment within their own families.
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26 Jan 15
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16 Jan 15
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For the tens of thousands of Indians who went to boarding schools, it's largely remembered as a time of abuse and desecration of culture.
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ctivist Floyd Red Crow Westerman was haunted by his memories of boarding school. As a child, he left his reservation in South Dakota for the Wahpeton Indian Boarding School in North Dakota. Sixty years later, he still remembers watching his mother through the window as he left.
At first, he thought he was on the bus because his mother didn't want him anymore. But then he noticed she was crying.
"It was hurting her, too. It was hurting me to see that," Westerman says. "I'll never forget. All the mothers were crying."
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and Indian a
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Bill Wright, a Pattwin Indian, was sent to the Stewart Indian School in Nevada. He was just 6 years old. Wright remembers matrons bathing him in kerosene and shaving his head. Students at federal boarding schools were forbidden to express their culture — everything from wearing long hair to speaking even a single Indian word. Wright said he lost not only his language, but also his American Indian name.
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Wright says he told her his name was Billy. " 'Your name's not Billy. Your name's 'TAH-rruhm,' " she told him. "And I went, 'That's not what they told me.' "
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24 Jun 14
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25 Feb 14
Molly MyersAm looking for examples of injustice in American History - while I know there are many... this one --> http://t.co/2qF6HuzsMu #sschat
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17 Feb 14
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04 Oct 13
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Floyd Red Crow Westerman
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He sang about his experiences growing up: "You put me in your boarding school, made me learn your white man rule, be a fool."
-
The federal government began sending American Indians to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870s
-
An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. He based it on an education program he had developed in an Indian prison. He described his philosophy in a speech he gave in 1892.
-
matrons bathing him in kerosene and shaving his head
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forbidden to express their culture
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wearing long hair to speaking even a single Indian word. Wright said he lost not only his language, but also his American Indian name.
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I remember coming home and my grandma asked me to talk Indian to her and I said, 'Grandma, I don't understand you,'
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the intent was to completely transform people, inside and out.
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"They very specifically targeted Native nations that were the most recently hostile,
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00 boarding schools
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on and off reservations.
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forcibly, by armed police.
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federal school was the only option,"
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At boarding schools, the curriculum focused mostly on trades, such as carpentry for boys and housekeeping for girls.
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Some have fond memories of meeting spouses and making lifelong friends.
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One school that remains is Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif. — the same boarding school Toledo attended.
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But this year, the federal government made a budgeting change that reduces funding to the off-reservation boarding schools. And their future is in doubt.
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24 Jun 12
Colleen WorrellNPR story and podcast in the lingering impact of the Native American boarding school movement.
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13 Dec 10
Katella .This website gives you information on the lives of children in the Indian reform schools. You can also listen to a NPR broadcast on the American Indian Boarding schools and the beliefs on it. Within this site it tells you all about why the American government decided to do this to the Indians and how they came to the decision of creating the reform schools. There are also excerpts form articles and reports on the Indian reform schools that give you ideas of what other people thought about the schools. This site can really help you to understand the changes that these children had to go through to survive the American government. This site gives you great insight into the lives of Indian reform movement.
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25 Nov 10
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Tucker Hbording schools
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10 Jan 10
Tiffanee BrownThe U.S. government operated 100 boarding schools for American Indians on and off reservations. One expert says the schools were part of a strategy to conquer Indians. Students who attended them were required to talk and dress as mainstream Americans."></meta><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Race" href="/rss/rss.php?id=1015"></link><style type="text/css" media="screen, print">@import "/templates/css/news/common.css";</style><style type="text/css" media="screen, print">@import "/templates/css/news/story.css";</style><style type="text/css" media="print">@import "/templates/css/news/print_story.css";</style><script type="text/javascript" src="/templates/javascript/generated/newsStory.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://community.npr.org/ver1.0/Direct/DirectProxy"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://community.npr.org/ver1.0/Direct/FacebookProxy"></script><script type="text/javascript">document.domain="npr.org
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12 May 08
L TNPR "Morning Edition" two-part story about American Indian boarding schools
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