Native American Boarding Schools In The 1800's

Native American boarding schools were established in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s to educate and assimilate children of Native Americans to conform to American standards. Assimilation was meant to make all Native Americans speak English as their primary language, for them to be Christians, to stop wearing their native clothing, wear their hair as the Americans wear their hair and most importantly, to think like Americans. So the best method of assimilation was to focus on the children of these reservations. Most schools started on the reservations by Christian missionaries, their goal was to Christianize Indians so they wouldn’t believe in Wakan Tanka. Their hope was “that an education grounded in Western training and stern discipline would detribalize Native American children

During this time there were some well-known critics of the Indian boarding schools. Critics such as Henry Ward Beecher and Sitting Bull.

The life and work experience of Henry Ward Beecher contributed immensely to his stance against the Indian boarding schools. Henry Ward Beecher was a preacher and abolitionist of the 1800’s. He shared views that were consistent with those of Sitting Bull regarding the Americanization of the Native Americans. These views stemmed from his hatred of slavery, which he fought for many years. Henry Ward Beecher in my opinion was a supporter of the Native Americans; he helped with the Compromise of 1850, which was between anti-slavery and pro slavery forces. The compromise banned slavery from California