Children of the Indian Boarding Schools

2001-01-01 Juvenile Nonfiction

Author : Holly Littlefield
Release : 2001-01-01
Genre : Juvenile Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 674/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Children of the Indian Boarding Schools by : Holly Littlefield

Download or read book Children of the Indian Boarding Schools written by Holly Littlefield. This book was released on 2001-01-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the experiences of the Native American children who were sent away from home, sometimes unwillingly, to government schools to learn English, Christianity, and white ways of living and working, and describes their later lives.

Education for Extinction

1995 Education

Author : David Wallace Adams
Release : 1995
Genre : Education
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Education for Extinction by : David Wallace Adams

Download or read book Education for Extinction written by David Wallace Adams. This book was released on 1995. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last "Indian War" was fought against Native American children in the dormitories and classrooms of government boarding schools. Only by removing Indian children from their homes for extended periods of time, policymakers reasoned, could white "civilization" take root while childhood memories of "savagism" gradually faded to the point of extinction. In the words of one official: "Kill the Indian and save the man." Education for Extinction offers the first comprehensive account of this dispiriting effort. Much more than a study of federal Indian policy, this book vividly details the day-to-day experiences of Indian youth living in a "total institution" designed to reconstruct them both psychologically and culturally. The assault on identity came in many forms: the shearing off of braids, the assignment of new names, uniformed drill routines, humiliating punishments, relentless attacks on native religious beliefs, patriotic indoctrinations, suppression of tribal languages, Victorian gender rituals, football contests, and industrial training. Especially poignant is Adams's description of the ways in which students resisted or accommodated themselves to forced assimilation. Many converted to varying degrees, but others plotted escapes, committed arson, and devised ingenious strategies of passive resistance. Adams also argues that many of those who seemingly cooperated with the system were more than passive players in this drama, that the response of accommodation was not synonymous with cultural surrender. This is especially apparent in his analysis of students who returned to the reservation. He reveals the various ways in which graduates struggled to make sense of their lives and selectively drew upon their school experience in negotiating personal and tribal survival in a world increasingly dominated by white men. The discussion comes full circle when Adams reviews the government's gradual retreat from the assimilationist vision. Partly because of persistent student resistance, but also partly because of a complex and sometimes contradictory set of progressive, humanitarian, and racist motivations, policymakers did eventually come to view boarding schools less enthusiastically. Based upon extensive use of government archives, Indian and teacher autobiographies, and school newspapers, Adams's moving account is essential reading for scholars and general readers alike interested in Western history, Native American studies, American race relations, education history, and multiculturalism.

The Thomas Indian School and the "Irredeemable" Children of New York

2016-04-19 Social Science

Download The Thomas Indian School and the

Author : Keith R. Burich
Release : 2016-04-19
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 581/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Thomas Indian School and the "Irredeemable" Children of New York by : Keith R. Burich

Download or read book The Thomas Indian School and the "Irredeemable" Children of New York written by Keith R. Burich. This book was released on 2016-04-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Thomas Indian School has been overlooked by history and historians even though it predated, lasted longer, and affected a larger number of Indian children than most of the more well-known federal boarding schools. Founded by the Presbyterian missionaries on the Cattaraugus Seneca Reservation in western New York, the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children, as it was formally named, shared many of the characteristics of the government-operated Indian schools. However, its students were driven to its doors not by Indian agents, but by desperation. Forcibly removed from their land, Iroquois families suffered from poverty, disease, and disruptions in their traditional ways of life, leaving behind many abandoned children. The story of the Thomas Indian School is the story of the Iroquois people and the suffering and despair of the children who found themselves trapped in an institution from which there was little chance for escape. Although the school began as a refuge for children, it also served as a mechanism for "civilizing" and converting native children to Christianity. As the school’s population swelled and financial support dried up, the founders were forced to turn the school over to the state of New York. Under the State Board of Charities, children were subjected to prejudice, poor treatment, and long-term institutionalization, resulting in alienation from their families and cultures. In this harrowing yet essential book, Burich offers new and important insights into the role and nature of boarding schools and their destructive effect on generations of indigenous populations.

Popular eBooks

Children of the Indian Boarding Schools

Education for Extinction

You may also like...