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Native American Boarding Schools: Past Trauma And Ongoing Legacy

783 Words4 Pages

Nicholas Martinez
Professor Weber
HIS-102
12 May 2023
Native American Boarding Schools: Past Trauma and Ongoing Legacy Native American Boarding Schools are a bleak and dark chapter in the history of the United States, often being overlooked or disregarded. The federal government created these schools in the late 19th century to assimilate Native American children into white American culture. In doing so, Native Americans were forced to adopt Christianity, speak English, and abandon their traditional ways of life. The boarding schools were seen as a means of civilizing the “savage” Native Americans and eradicating their cultural heritage. By 1926, nearly 83% of Indian school-age children attended boarding schools. By 1925, 60,889 children …show more content…

White Americans believed that their way of life was superior to that of Native Americans and that assimilation was necessary for the “progress” of Indigenous communities. A horrific but telling example of this was given by a quote from Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of Carlisle Indian Industrial School, “In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indian in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.” (“Struggling with Cultural Repression”) The boarding school system was part of a broader policy of forced assimilation, which included land dispossession, relocation, and termination of tribal sovereignty. The boarding schools also controlled and subjugated Indigenous peoples, who were seen as a threat to American …show more content…

“Historical trauma coupled with ongoing present-day traumas such as anti-Indigenous racism and a lack of clean drinking water has had a massive negative impact on Indigenous communities, resulting in (and combining with) issues such as addiction, limited education, incarceration, violence, abuse, suicidality, homelessness and poverty” (Seto). The effects of boarding schools are evident in the high poverty rates, unemployment, substance abuse, and suicide among Native Americans. The boarding school system has also contributed to the erasure of Indigenous languages, cultures, and knowledge systems, which are essential for the well-being of Indigenous communities and preserving their unique and beautiful ways of

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The Carlisle Indian School was part of a large effort in the US to Americanize Native Indians by assimilating them into American culture. The Carlisle Indian School greatly impacted the assimilation of Native Americans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Carlisle Indian School completely changed the trajectory of Native life and represents the consequences of forced assimilation tactics during this time in history. The Carlisle Indian School was founded by Captain Richard H. Pratt in 1879. The school significantly propelled the assimilation movement and directly reflected the assimilationist ideology which aimed to strip Native Americans of their cultural and linguistic practices as they taught them to adopt Western culture.

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The government made the “Indian children go to boarding schools run by white”, “...stopped Indian religious rituals and encouraged the spread of Christianity and the creation of Christian churches on the reservations”. (Brinkley 398). This way the government slowly but ultimately declined what was left of the Native Americans and their

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This paper will review the first five chapters in J.R. Miller’s book Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. These chapters examine the events that took place before residential schools were made, as well as looking into the historical context of Canada during this time period. The first chapter of the book explains the way in which indigenous communities educated their children before contact by the European settlers. The educational systems from these indigenous communities were much different than the European educational systems, in the sense of a formal, rigid, institution.

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Within the assimilation policy in the residential school system, native are forced to get rid of their language, culture and society through mental and physical abuse. Consequently, every aspect of European life which includes language, behaviour and belief has deeply impressed Aboriginal children where. In the article “Indian Princess #134: Cultural Assimilation at St. Joseph’s Mission,” Jennifer Mitchell presents a specific example about her mother’s experience in the residential school in Where. She also provides some clues that Aboriginal people have been compelled to throw away their own lifestyles, otherwise they would be punished by missionaries. According to the vivid description of the life at St.Joseph’s Mission, Mitchell draws a

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These schools have been described as an instrument to wage intellectual, psychological, and cultural warfare to turn Native Americans into “Americans”. There are many reports of young Native Americans losing all cultural belonging. According to an interview with NPR, Bill Wright was sent to one of these schools. He lost his hair, his language, and then his Navajo name. When he was able to return home, he was unable to understand or speak to his grandmother.

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One of the first boarding schools was in Pennsylvania, Carlisle Industrial school. Children were stripped of their culture, the boys' hair was cut off, their names were changed, they were put in traditional European attire, couldn't speak their language or they would be punished, and couldn't practice any other religion besides Christianity. ‘’Kill the Indian, save the man.’’ This was said by Captain Richard Henry Pratt while giving a speech. The quote is saying get rid of native culture and convert into a white man

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The creation of the boarding schools at the start of the 20th century was used to “Civilize and Americanize” Native children so that they could function in American society. (Little Elk) They wanted to culturally transform the Lakota children and make them civilized to American customs. The education they received in boarding schools was also encouraged cultural assimilation, where the Lakota children did not speak their native tongue but English. The Lakota children were only trained to function in specific fields.

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Those kids got the message that no matter what they learned at home in their tribal cultures, it was wrong. The worst part was, some of the people teaching and working at those schools abused them”(Pearson et al. 11). The adage is a adage. It was clear that the goal of these Native American Boarding Schools was to assimilate young generations of indigenous people and erase their cultures from American society. To add, the “educators” themselves were complicit in even violating the law.

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This practice had a devastating impact on the children, their families, and the tribes (Goldsmith, 2002). This practice of forcing American Indian children to attend boarding schools was prominent from 1880 to 1930. By 1930, about half of all American Indian children that attended school were attending a mandatory boarding school. These boarding schools were oftentimes hundreds of miles away from their homes and the children that attended were forbidden from speaking their native language or engaging in their own cultural practices (Evans-Campbell, Walters, Pearson & Campbell,

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Indian Boarding schools were created in the 1800s to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” They achieved this by transforming the natives looks, culture, language, and teaching them a certain way so they would be able to function in a “european society”. Indian boarding schools taught students both academic and “real world” skills, but they did so while ripping the indians from their culture. Most indian boarding schools were the same with their tactics in transforming the native man into a white one.

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Languages,culture,and religion were gone when the children returned home. Boarding schools strict military enforcement not only caused Native American children to lose their culture but also make them sick. American Indians have been educated in Euro-American style education for hundreds of years. Boarding schools were created in an effort to assimilate the American Indian into a the white man’s culture through education. Boarding schools for American Indians still exist today, though they are losing popularity as public and tribal school enrollment increases.

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The government believed that if the children remained with their parents the problems would only increase, with the boarding schools it would make it easier to cut off their culture and religions. They decided it was best to christianize the children making almost every boarding schools either christian or catholic. The Native American kids were forced into going to church two to three times a day. It was against the

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Mental and Physical Health of Boarding School Students and Their Parents The boarding school experience in the U.S. and in Canada affected both Native students and their families in destructive ways and had terrible impacts on their mental and physical health. The practice of removing children from their parents led to numerous problems in families, while children in boarding schools suffered from the loss of their identities, as well as from different forms of abuse (Barton et al. 296). Moreover, students both in American and Canadian boarding schools often became sick during the school year and carried various diseases home to the reservations (Barton et al. 296; Child 79). Separating children from their parents had detrimental effects on their families.

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