Tag Archives: assimilation

Jobs for Indians

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Pueblo Indians Working in the Indian Service School, Taos, New Mexico, courtesy Library of Congress

When Dr. Harry Hummer found himself understaffed as a result of the manpower shortage created by WWI, he asked the Indian Office to approve higher wages to help him fill positions. (See last post.) Otherwise, he would have to look at hiring Indian workers. For him, Indian staff was a last resort; for the Indian Service, hiring Native American workers was becoming much more commonplace. One of the most important reasons for hiring Native Americans was the hope that it would make the process of assimilation (submerging Indians into white culture as a way of “killing the Indian” without actual bloodshed) quicker and easier. Indians’ employment within the Indian Service itself seemed a perfect way to give Native Americans a stake in white culture and for them to serve as role models for others on their reservations.

Before the Civil War, not many positions were filled by Native Americans, but the government pushed employment for them after the war. Employment within the Indian Service’s education department went from 15 percent in 1888 to 45 percent in 1899. By 1912, Native American employees made up nearly 30 percent of all regular employees in the Indian Service, not just in its education department. (There aren’t statistics that break down employment in every job category for this period.) Teachers were still mainly white, but the number of Native American teachers had risen from 0 in 1888 to 50 in 1905.

Yakama Indian Employees and School Children, Fort Simcoe, Washington, circa 1888, courtesy Library of Congress

Hospital Staff, Tulalip Indian School, circa 1910, courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Special Collection Division

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Friends of Indians

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Image of a Vanishing Life, courtesy Library of Congress

Image of a Vanishing Life, courtesy Library of Congress

Not everyone bore animosity toward Native Americans, and there were several groups who were willing to try to help them. An early group called the Indian Rights Association (IRA) was founded in 1882. Their mission was to “bring about the complete civilization of the Indians and their admission to citizenship.”

The problem with a group like this is that it assumed  Indians wanted to be “civilized” into the white culture in the first place, or that they wanted to be American citizens. What was worse was the group’s belief that the only way to effect this civilization was to destroy Indian culture. That meant erasing Native Americans’ religions and languages, and doing away with tribal ownership of land.

The group was founded  after a number of bloody confrontations between whites and Native Americans, and hoped to bring about needed reforms. Ultimately, it failed. The IRA supported the allotment process brought about by the Dawes Act, which stripped away most land from Indians and reduced many to poverty.

View of Farming Land, Mescalero Indian Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

View of Farming Land, Mescalero Indian Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress

IRA Pamphlet, courtesy Library of Congress

IRA Pamphlet, courtesy Library of Congress

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One Big Family

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Six Indian Chiefs at Roosevelt's 1905 Inaugural Parade, courtesy Library of Congress

Six Indian Chiefs at Roosevelt's 1905 Inaugural Parade, courtesy Library of Congress

Beginning shortly after the Civil War, the U.S. government realized that it needed to solve the “Indian Problem.” Debate raged for years concerning the capabilities of Indians, but eventually the consensus was that Indians could be assimilated into American culture.

Many people sincerely believed that Native Americans would be best served by adopting white culture. That meant owning their own land, farming and raising their own food, going to school, learning a trade, and learning English.

Assimilation also meant giving up spiritual practices, tribal customs such as communal ownership of land, and leaving behind traditional ways of dress, speaking, and relating to the greater world. Native Americans were pressured to join the U.S. culture, but only on its terms.
Learning Carpentry at Haskell Indian Junior College (1900-1924) courtesy Library of Congress

Learning Carpentry at Haskell Indian Junior College (1900-1924) courtesy Library of Congress

Indian Boys Doing Laundry, Carlisle School, 1901, courtesy Library of Congress

Indian Boys Doing Laundry, Carlisle School, 1901, 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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A New Life

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Graduating Class, Carlisle Indian School, 1894, lcourtesy Library of Congress

Graduating Class, Carlisle Indian School, 1894, courtesy Library of Congress

A host of cruel practices were committed in the name of “civilizing” Indians. Though many children endured a hardscrabble life growing up on reservations, many others went to government boarding schools. Sometimes children were forcibly taken from their parents and put on trains without any preparation for leaving.

When they reached their schools, children were both brainwashed and miserably treated, because boarding schools had a mandate to cut the ties students felt to their homes and families.  They were told that their race was inferior to the white race, that their practices were savage, and that even their religion was worthless.

Children were often not allowed to go home to visit their families. The schools were purposely far away from reservations so that it would be a great hardship for families to visit their children. By the time some of the students came home, they had forgotten how to speak their own language.

Boys often wore uniforms and learned to march. Showing homesickness was forbidden. Letters were sometimes intercepted and destroyed or censored. Runaways were a problem, so many children were locked in their rooms at night, or their windows were nailed shut.

Children who conformed to the new way of living  were called “good Indians.” Those who resisted, ran away, spoke their native language, or complained were called “bad Indians.”

Indian Children on Flathead Reservation, 1907, courtesy Library of Congress

Indian Children on Flathead Reservation, 1907, courtesy Library of Congress


Three Lakota Boys Arriving at Carlisle, courtesy National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian

Three Lakota Boys Arriving at Carlisle, courtesy National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian


The Same Three Boys Beginning Civilized Life at Carlisle, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian

The Same Three Boys Beginning Civilized Life at Carlisle, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian

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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 →