Council of Indians, Pine Ridge, 1881, courtesy Library of Congress
John Collier wrote an article in 1929, entitled “Amerindians,” which used measured language and concrete statistics to paint a sober picture of American Indians’ well-being. According to Collier’s figures, the number of Indians who lived in the U.S. had fallen from approximately 825,000 at the time of America’s discovery by Europeans, to 350,000 at the time of his writing.
Day school was mandated for children aged six to eighteen, and they had to go to boarding schools away from their families if there were no acceptable schools nearby. Collier noted that “the food allowance for the children is eleven cents a day, supplemented in a few cases by provender from school gardens and dairies.”
The 1925 census showed a 62% increase (28.5 per 1,000) in the death rate of Indians over the previous five years. This figure showed that the Indians’ death rate had surpassed their birth rate. The Bureau of Indian Affairs disputed the census findings, but according to the article, admitted that the Indian death rate was about 95% higher than the general death rate.
On the Indian Reservation, courtesy Library of Congress
Graduating Class, Carlisle Indian School, 1894, courtesy Library of Congress
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Hi Mindi,
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reply–I’m not actively posting on this site anymore, so I only open it once in a while. I’m afraid I can’t help you find out more about your grandmother, since I only have information on some of the patients at the Canton Asylum. You would need to find records for Clarinda, which might be held by the state or a mental health agency at this point, and see what they have. Most records are protected under HIPPA privacy laws, but since you are a relative, they may release them to you. I know it’s frustrating trying to dig back into the past like this, and I wish you the best of luck in your search.
Carla
Yes I was looking for more information on my great grandmother, Jane Marie Tannehill. She was a inmate at Clarinda mental hospital for years. In fact I believe she never did get released and died in 1966. My family would never talk about her, other than the that she became crazy after losing another child.