Native American Boarding Schools

Editor's Notes

• #3: Boarding school has proven to be a widely shared formative experience for Native American children throughout the last 120 years. Attendees at these institutions, both historically and modernly, have suffered greatly, whether physically, emotionally, or culturally. Of the attempts to destroy Native American culture, the impacts of these boarding schools seem to have an unwavering longevity, penetrating the very essence of their lives today. Historical abuse has rippled outwards in these cultures, at the fault of the United States, with no apology or reparations. In order for these peoples to heal, we must internalize the struggles of Native Americans and own up to the past, as well as educate the public on the transgressions that occurred in these institutes.
• #4: In 1870, Congress set aside funds for schools to be run by churches and missionary societies. These facilities were then built on Indian reservations, and attendance at the schools was encouraged. In 1879, Richard Pratt founded Carlisle, which was the first off-reservation boarding school. Pratt believed that his school would be more effective, since children from schools on reservations could easily run away from school to their families, essentially reversing any efforts to assimilate Indian children. By 1909, 25 off-reservation boarding schools were operating and over 100,000 Native children were forced into these schools. On the left, we see children before and after boarding school. On the right, the girl’s dormitory at Tulalip Indian School.
• #5: The forced removal of the children’s hair caused a dramatic change in their appearance, as well as a removal of familiarity. This was the first step the schools would take to control of the bodies and minds of the Indians, and to assert their control over them. Children that attended the boarding schools were used as labor mules to sustain the livelihood of the boarding school, doing menial tasks and chores that the staff themselves did not want to do. Pictured are a couple of images of transitions from Native American to white. It seems that they have even changed the skin tone in these photos somehow.
• #6: The processes of these schools were to separate children from their parents, place the concepts of Christianity and white cultural values into them, and encourage or force them to assimilate into the dominant society, which was the white American society. Over summer, the schools would occasionally lease out the Native children to white homes as menial labor instead of having them go back to be with their families, introducing an awful type of indentured servitude. On the left, we see children praying before bed. On the right, we see a transition from traditional Native American regalia to wedding garments of white Americans.
• #7: With Indian girls specifically, they were taught patriarchal norms and desires, and expected to transfer them back into their community. This was done as a means to remove women from positions of power within Native American culture. On the left, we see traditional women’s regalia. On the right, we see the uniforms they wore to boarding schools.
• #8: Children were not given adequate food or medical care, and they were overcrowded into small spaces with the school. Children would die in mass numbers from starvation and disease. They were also forced to do grueling work in order to earn money for the school that imprisoned them and salaries for the teachers and administrators, who abused them. On the left, we see women sewing. On the right, we see men working in a harness creation shop.
• #9: In Pima, Arizona, twenty girls worked four hours a day, six days a week in the laundry rooms, where temperatures around 120 degrees were common. In order to keep up attendance, children with tuberculosis were kept at the school until the end stage of the disease, then essentially sent home to die. At Ft. Apache Indian School, girl dormitory windows were nailed shut to prevent escapes, depriving the girls of adequate ventilation in their rooms. In the Blackfeet Boarding School, three children were expected to occupy one bed, at the same time, with one pillow. On the left, we see girls working in the laundry. On the right is a photo of a boys dormitory.
• #10: There are currently 72 Indian schools in the United States, all funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These boarding schools house more than 10,000 American Indian children. Though there are many people coming forward to speak of the shock and abuse at boarding schools, there are also many coming forward to defend these schools and vouch for the vital experiences that they had. In personal accounts, some individuals brought up that they were fed better at boarding school than at home. Some perceived that if families had a good home and a good life, they wouldn’t send their children to these schools, implying that only children from broken homes made it to boarding school. On the left, we see an Indian school in Oklahoma. On the right, we see dormitories for a boarding school in New Mexico.
• #11: At these modern boarding schools, neglect manifested in many different ways. Often, it was seen in poor academics, being prevented normal contact with the opposite sex, being separated from siblings, physical neglect, emotional neglect and negligent supervision, cultural abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, abuse from peers, and hazing. A form of neglect that is damaging but is often overlooked is the process of excessive routinization. These are two article headlines, one from the Washington Post, one from the New York times, both from 2014.
• #12: Many students created coping mechanisms to deal with the harsh life at school. Involvement in sports, bonding with peers, maintaining an optimistic attitude, and active socialization were all positive instances of coping. On the darker side of coping is drug abuse, alcohol abuse, depression, and defense mechanisms. This is the Santa Fe Indian School women’s basketball team. On the right is a chart that shows the disproportionate use of drugs by Native Americans, starting at age 12.
• #13: Negative descriptions of these boarding schools speak of the intense loneliness and despair that comes with being separated from family for long periods of time. After boarding school, many Indians were afraid to teach their language and cultural ways, for fear of reprimands from the government. Some were angry for being abandoned, while others appreciated being spared neglect and abuse from their home life. Others were glad they took the burden of caring for themselves off of their household and family by attending school.
• #14: There has been an increase in physical, sexual, and emotional violence in these communities. Unemployment is rampant. Suicide rates are incredibly high, as are the rates of substance abuse. Most Native American communities have lost their native languages and a lot of their cultural traditions. There is increased depression and a large occurrence of PTSD, as well as increased instances of child abuse. After the experiences of abuse in boarding schools, the children who grew up in that environment began to replicate the abuse in their own families, making abuse endemic to Native American populations. On the left is a poster for the prevention of sexual assault, on the right is a breakdown of the Native American suicide rates from the CDC.
• #15: As for the demands of reparations, Native people are reluctant to join a movement in which a common demand is financial compensation on an individual basis, because these movements will not end the colonial relationship that exists between the United States and indigenous nations. The struggle for sovereignty is one of control over land resources, not financial compensation for past and continued wrongdoings. Reparations need to be viewed as a human rights issue, and the United States needs to apologize for the actions of its government. The issue of boarding schools and the fact that they are still successfully running allows us to see the connection between state violence and interpersonal violence. No amount of reparations will assist in decolonization unless we internalize the struggles of the Native Americans as a country and address the oppressive behaviors that we have made the societal norm. The continuing effects of boarding school abuses are ongoing because they have not been acknowledged by the larger society. If they were perceived as human rights violations, it would remove the shame associated with talking about the trauma experienced at these facilities. This would allow these communities to begin healing.
• #16: Most of the dysfunctionality within Native communities that we see today can be traced back to the boarding school era (Smith, 2004). Despite the awful things that have happened to Native Americans at boarding school, they maintain an optimistic view for their future and an uplifting response to their past abuses. They look towards the future, hoping to abolish the effects colonialism has had on them.
• #17: Most of the dysfunctionality within Native communities that we see today can be traced back to the boarding school era (Smith, 2004). Despite the awful things that have happened to Native Americans at boarding school, they maintain an optimistic view for their future and an uplifting response to their past abuses. They look towards the future, hoping to abolish the effects colonialism has had on them.