Tag Archives: BIA

Understanding the American Indian Girl

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Cree Indian Girls, 1871, courtesy Library of Congress

In 1928, the Department of the Interior put out a pamphlet entitled “The Social Heritage of the Indian Girl.” Prepared at the request of the commissioner of Indian Affairs, the information in it was an attempt to help the pamphlet’s audience (mainly educators) see that the problematic behaviors of female Indian students had much to do with culture, rather than active misbehavior or backwardness.

What is the Indian girl like? asked the narrator, and went on to list the questions many “interested” parties typically asked about them. Some of these were:

— Why are Indian girls so often silent when they could explain if they would?

— Why can we never depend upon them to do things on time?

— Why are they so slow?

— Why are they always borrowing others possessions and giving theirs away?

— When will they ever learn to reason things out instead of just following their impulses?

To counter these questions, the pamphlet went through each one and gave sometimes patronizing explanations. It explained silence, for instance, by commencing with a hypothetical situation in which a little reservation girl first came to a classroom. When the teacher asked her a question, the little girl couldn’t speak. To think that an important person representing the Great White Father wanted information from her! Instead of replying, the little girl could only hang her head.

Some information contained in the pamphlet was useful, particularly a discussion concerning the importance of the group (clan or tribe), rather than the individual, within Indian society.

Puyallup Woman, Minnie Richards, 1899, courtesy Library of Congress

Paiute Indian Girls, circa 1914, courtesy Library of Congress

 

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The BIA Field Matron Program

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Field Matron, Arizona

Field Matron, Arizona

Between 1890 and 1938, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employed women as Field Matrons. Their job was to go into Native American homes to teach domestic science (sewing, cooking, hygiene, etc.) according to middle-class white standards. This was a relatively peaceful way for the BIA to continue its work of assimilating Indians into white culture; they destroyed Indians’ old habits and ways of doing things and replaced them with the white man’s way.

Matrons taught mainly on reservations, since the feeling was that Indians still living in teepees or roaming the land wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the matrons’ lessons. Besides sewing and other practical accomplishments, matrons taught Indian women to decorate their homes, care for their animals and children like whites, and teach their children sports and Anglo games. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Cato Sells urged matrons to stress the importance of legal marriage to Indians, and to try to increase their desire for material goods so that lazy Indians would work harder to provide them.

Typical Indian Home (Flathead Reservation, 1909), courtesy Library of Congress

Typical Indian Home (Flathead Reservation, 1909), courtesy Library of Congress

Interior of Teepee (1905-1907?), courtesy Library of Congress

Interior of Teepee (1905-1907?), courtesy Library of Congress

Field matrons were charged with “civilizing” Indians in their own homes. Though heavy-handed, it was preferable to tearing families apart and sending children away as the BIA’s boarding school program did. Though the BIA applauded their efforts, eventually devastating health problems among Indians prompted the agency to replace field matrons with nurses.

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A Range of Responsibilities

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Hubert Work (center), 1928, courtesy Library of Congress

Hubert Work (center), 1928, courtesy Library of Congress

The Indian Service, or later, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) fell under the department of the Interior. The Interior department had a wide range of responsibilities, including the provision of medical services for various groups under its control.

In 1927, Secretary of the Interior, Hubert Work, tried to show the range of  just the Interior’s medical services:

— It had a floating hospital on the Yukon in Alaska (a territory at the time) and supported territorial Boards of Health in Alaska and Hawaii.

— It safeguarded the health of visitors within the National Park system.

— Trained nurses and field matrons went to remote areas of the country, teaching hygiene and sanitation.

— The department’s Geological Survey investigated ground water supplies.

— Its Bureau of Education investigated the status of physical education and hygiene in colleges and reported on the health of teachers

— Through its Bureau of Pensions, conducted physical exams and medical rating boards for veterans.

The department supported more than 100 hospitals providing over 2 million days of hospital care; the Indian Bureau maintained 91 of them. More than 30,000 Indian patients were treated in these hospitals in fiscal year 1926.

BIA Health Officer

BIA Health Officer

Tulalip Hospital, Tulalip Indian Reservation, 1910, courtesy Library of Congress

Tulalip Hospital, Tulalip Indian Reservation, 1910, courtesy Library of Congress

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Kill the Indian, Save the Man

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“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one[….]In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” –from a paper read by Carlisle Indian School founder, Captain Richard H. Pratt, at an 1892 convention.

Pratt’s words sound terrible to us today, but in his own time, his theory that Indians could be assimilated into American culture–rather than massacred out of it–was more humane than many of his contemporaries’ ideologies.

Pratt was an Army officer in the 10th Calvary,who commanded a unit of African American “Buffalo Soldiers” and Indian scouts  in Indian Territory after the Civil War. In 1875 he escorted 72 Indian warriors suspected of murdering white settlers to Ft. Marion in Florida. Once there, he took off his prisoners’ shackles, put them in uniforms, and drilled them like soldiers. Curious locals offered to teach them English. Pratt agreed, feeling that he was “civilizing” his charges. Eventually the Indians’ military guards were dismissed and trusted prisoners were allowed to act as guards, instead.

Pratt’s accomplishments drew positive attention and he gained permission from the Secretary of the Interior to establish a school that would take Indian children far away from their homes and immerse them in American culture. He got permission to use the Carlisle Barracks at a deserted military base to begin his experiment in civilizing the Indian nations through their children.

Richard H. Pratt

Richard H. Pratt

Richard Pratt With Prisoners, Ft.Marion, 1875

Richard Pratt With Prisoners, Ft.Marion, 1875

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Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic–Not

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The BIA, of course, knew what was best for Indian children–vocational training that would help them become useful members of society. Before they began their lessons, though, students had a host of chores to perform (cooking, cleaning, weeding the garden) that helped keep the school running.

After chores were out of the way, the children had a chance to learn academics like English, music and U.S. history. Children also participated in sports like football and baseball, which many enjoyed. However, they marched to class, marched to their meals, marched to inspections and roll calls, marched to wherever they needed to go, and always by the regimented ringing of a bell to tell them when to go.

Since the government considered education a primary way to help its Indians wards earn a living, the emphasis was put on vocational training. Girls learned nursing and office work, while boys learned animal husbandry, carpentry, blacksmithing, or shop. In addition to formal classes, students swept and scrubbed, painted, sewed, milked cows, maintained gardens and buildings, and performed an abundance of unpaid labor.

Chiricahua Apaches Four Months After Arriving at Carlisle Indian School, 1886, courtesy Library of Congress

Chiricahua Apaches Four Months After Arriving at Carlisle Indian School, 1886, courtesy Library of Congress

Wood Chopping at Tulalip Indian School, circa 1912

Wood Chopping at Tulalip Indian School, circa 1912

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Other Indian Prisons

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Indian School at Pine Ridge, courtesy Library of Congress

Indian School at Pine Ridge, courtesy Library of Congress

Commitment to an insane asylum would be a horrific experience for any Indian, but fortunately that happened to only a few within the population as a whole. What happened far more often, and affected more people, was the BIA’s invasion into Indian family life. Continue reading →

Movers And Shakers

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William A. JonesCongress created the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1832, when the “Indian Office” (the common name for the Bureau of Indian Affairs) still fell within the War Department. Its first commissioner was  Elbert Herring.

William A. Jones (Sept. 27, 1844 –  Sept. 17, 1912) became Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1897 and continued in the position until 1905. One of the last armed conflicts between Native Americans and U.S. troops occurred at Sugar Point on the eastern shore of Minnesota’s Leech Lake in 1898. Ojibwe Indians had been angered by what they considered unfair treatment and the too-frequent arrests of Ojibwe men. When U.S. troops tried to re-arrest Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig (Hole in the Day) after he had escaped a U.S. marshal, they got into a skirmish that left them with six dead and ten wounded. The Ojibwe suffered only one injury.

William Jones arrived at Leech Lake and held council with the Ojibwe leaders. He later condemned “the frequent arrests on trivial causes, often for no cause at all.” Jones said that the Ojibwes would now go home and live peaceably if the whites would treat them fairly, and added that the spirited stand the Ojibwes had taken had taught the white people a lesson.

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The Bureau of Indian Affairs

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Issue Day at Agency Building, San Carlos AZ

Issue Day at Agency Building, San Carlos AZ

The U.S. government was concerned early on with Indian affairs, and placed responsibility for them under the War Department. In 1824, the current Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, created the Bureau of Indian Affairs and appointed a commissioner. During its life, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was also called the Indian Office, the Indian Service, the Indian Department, and the Office of Indian Affairs. Its official name was adopted in 1947.

In 1849, jurisdiction over Indian affairs was transferred from the War Department to the newly created Department of the Interior (9 Stat. 395, March 3, 1849.) which also administered the General Land Office, the Patent Office, and the Pension Office.

The BIA controlled almost every aspect of Indian life, and operated on the assumption that native cultures were inferior to white culture. The BIA removed Indians to reservations, sent agents to oversee and control affairs on the reservations, provided medical care and distributed supplies, and created “assimilation” policies that were often harsh and cruel. Indian agents gained great power over the years, and it is often one of these men who decided that an Indian was insane.

A brief history of the BIA