The book “The Heathen School” is a novel written by John Demos about the story of the Foreign Mission School, or “Heathen School”, located in Cornwall, Connecticut. The school was established in 1817. The school was inspired by the Second Great Awakening and the teachings of getting the gospel out to all nations. The school was lead by Protestant ministers. The goal was to convert, Hawaiians, Native Americans, and any other race deemed to be “heathens” by whites, to Christianity to go back to their native lands and preach the gospel to their fellow natives. The school also integrated white students into their student body. The early years of the school were met with great success. The school went on funding tours with successful pupils to show potential investors that the school was a success. One of its most successful pupils Henry Obookiah. Henry was a Hawaiian native who worked on a Chinese trade boat called the Triumph. “For Obookiah did reach New Haven at some point during the Summer of 1889, following his arrival in New York, with a certain …show more content…
Since the school had been open, only about a quarter of the students had been converted to Christianity. This just further engrained in the locals mind that the “heathens” could not grasp the concept of Christianity. Others became frustrated that when students went back to their “heathen” ways. As far as in the school itself, most students felt too homesick to do well. Soon uneasy feelings and tensions arose in the school.
The Mission Board was starting to question the direction of the school. They started looking for a reason to shut down the school. They found their opportunity when two students , John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, married two white local women. The public did not take particularly well to the news that the students were intermingling with their white women and a public outlash insued. Ridge and Boudinot