CHAPTER XX. EDUCATION
Shortly after 1850, it became apparent to our authorities that education of Indians was the most important service that our Government could render them. Pursuing this policy, schools and appropriations, both governmental and sectarian (as well as nonsectarian) have increased until most of the Indians have been, or are, in school. I have referred on page [25] to the Honorable Commissioner’s report in which there are but 17,500 Indian children listed as out of school.
Naturally, this tremendous activity on the part of all these good people, has had an effect on the entire Indian body. If there have been retrogressions, it is not the fault of the educational system. This should be understood in the beginning.
The subject is so comprehensive that this entire volume could be devoted to its consideration. But we must needs confine our observations to two chapters.
Between 1850 and 1875 the education of Indian children was confined to various missionary and philanthropic organizations. Indians could avail themselves of collegiate education in the East, notably at Dartmouth College, which was founded for the education of Indian youth. But there seems to have been no systematic, or persistent attempt to educate Indians until 1879, when Captain R. H. Pratt, U. S. A., began the education of Indian boys and girls. In September that year, the Carlisle barracks were transferred by the War Department to the Interior Department for Indian school purposes. By the end of October, General Pratt gathered together 136 Indians. The number steadily increased; in 1905 there were about a thousand; and at the present time the school cares for, during the course of a year, something like 1200 pupils. This remarkable school had up to 1905 admitted 5,170 Indians. Early in General Pratt’s administration, an outing system was inaugurated. Most of the boys and girls were placed in families of prosperous citizens of Pennsylvania, New York or Massachusetts during the summer months. This brought them in direct contact with the best elements of the white race and served a double purpose. It not only taught them industry and proper methods of living, but brought home to the youth of both sexes the vast difference between the life of white citizens in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey or elsewhere, and the frontier element with which so many of the Indians had come in contact. This does not necessarily imply that all persons living near Indian reservations were undesirable citizens. It means that entirely too many white persons by their example did not impress the Indian with any respect for the white race, and that such individuals set a very low standard. This feature of Indian (or white) life has had a tremendous effect on the Indians. Other writers have not emphasized its importance, and its pernicious effect. Beyond question the fact that the Indians came in contact with those who were not “substantial citizens,” as we understand the term, is responsible for many evils, and a general lack of progress, and a widespread inclination to accept merely the veneer of our civilization.
General Pratt’s plans, therefore, were not only sound, but of great benefit in the uplifting of the race. Other schools have followed the excellent example set by Carlisle, and it is now pretty generally recognized that the Indian youth must be made to realize that the majority of American citizens are not of the type of the Indian trader, the grafter, the squaw-man, etc.
The illustrations presented throughout this and the succeeding chapter will give an idea of the various activities followed at Carlisle, Chilocco, Haskell and other schools.
General Pratt remained in charge of Carlisle for about twenty-five years, when he was succeeded by Major William A. Mercer, who was replaced a few years ago by Mr. Moses Friedman. The present superintendent in charge, Oscar H. Lipps, Esq., has had years of experience in the Indian Service, and is maintaining the high standard established by General Pratt and followed through the administrations of his successors.
DR. CHARLES A. EASTMAN, SIOUX (OHIYESA)
Educated at Dartmouth. Writer and Lecturer.
For some years there was a leaning in this school toward the higher education of Indians, but that policy was not carried to any extent and need not be referred to in detail here. It is now recognized that the schools and colleges of the United States afford abundant opportunity for any Indian who is sufficiently bright, and has the energy and determination to win scholastic honors. It is neither necessary nor advisable that the Government should attempt the higher education of Indians. Most of the successful Indians today were originally trained in Government schools, and such as exhibited marked ability, left what might be termed secondary schools and entered colleges. There occurs to me at this moment Henry Roe Cloud, a Sioux, who graduated from Yale a few years ago; Doctor Charles A. Eastman, a distinguished author and lecturer, Dartmouth; Charles E. Dagenett, Supervisor of Employment, United States Indian Service, who graduated from Eastman Business College; Arthur C. Parker, State Archaeologist of New York, Albany, who studied under Professor Putnam of Harvard; Rev. Sherman Coolidge, Arapaho, graduate of Hobart College and Seabury Divinity School; Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Apache, University of Illinois; Howard E. Gainsworth, Tuscarora, business expert, Princeton; Rev. Frank W. Wright, Revivalist, Choctaw, graduate of Union College; Doctor Olephant Wright, Choctaw, Union College; Miss Bee Mayes (Pe-ahm-ees-queet), Ojibwa, educated in Boston, musician; Louis Shotrige, Chilkoot, Chief of his tribe, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania; Nicholas Longfeather, Pueblo, inventor and tree doctor, graduated from Syracuse; Marvin Jack, Tuscarora, horticulturalist, Cornell; Rev. Philip B. Gordon, Chippewa, priest, graduate of St. Paul’s; Mrs. Marie L. Baldwin, Chippewa, lawyer, graduate of Washington College of Law; Dennison Wheelock, Oneida, lawyer, Dickinson College; Thomas St. Germain, Chippewa, business, Yale; John M. Oskison, Cherokee, newspaper business, Harvard; William F. Bourland, Chickasaw, lawyer, graduate of Berkley; Asa F. Hill, Mohawk, minister, Denison; Francis La Flesche, Omaha, author; Angel Deceva-Deetz, Winnebago, artist; Zit-kal-a-sa, Sioux, writer; Elmer La Fouso, California, singer; Tscawina Redfeather, Creek, singer; Jeff. D. Goulett, Sioux, politician; Gabe E. Parker, Choctaw, Registrar of the Treasury, Washington; Charles D. Carter, Cherokee, Congressman; F. E. Parker, Seneca, business expert in New York City.
These all availed themselves of advantages other than those afforded by the Government schools. There is no reason why many Indians should not occupy high positions and become distinguished citizens. I include Honorable Senator Robert L. Owen and one or two people serving in Congress, although in them the white blood predominates. My list is confined to those in whom Indian blood is in excess of white, with two or three exceptions.
The plant at Carlisle has been extended year after year until there are at present fifty buildings. There are upwards of one hundred instructors, clerks, and other employees.
Carlisle produced the first newspaper printed by Indian boys. This, The Indian Helper, became in later years The Red Man. The Indians are trained in every conceivable industry necessary to the welfare of Indian men and women. The following trades are taught in well-equipped buildings: tailoring, carpentry, blacksmithing, wagon-making, printing, dairying, stock-raising, general agriculture, gardening, engineering, irrigation, brick-laying, plumbing, etc. There is also a shoe shop, tin shop, paint shop, etc.
There is instruction in music, and the Carlisle military band is a feature of the parades and entertainments. There is a gymnasium, and outdoor recreation, exercises and athletics have had a beneficial effect on the student body. The football and baseball teams, as well as the track squad, have made Carlisle a formidable rival of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Mercersburg and numerous colleges and schools. The famous athlete, James Thorpe (See page [39]), was trained at Carlisle and at the time of the Olympic games in Stockholm, was awarded first prize as the ranking athlete in the world. The sturdy football eleven has on more than one occasion been pitted against the best football material produced by Harvard, and the West Point eleven, during the annual fall contests. Apropos of these games an interesting story was told me by an interpreter in Minnesota. He had played on the Carlisle eleven many years ago. At that time most of the team was composed of Ojibwa (Chippewa) with a few Sioux and other Indians, practically all of whom understood more or less of the Ojibwa language. The signals were, of course, called out by numbers, but during one of the plays, the quarterback became confused. The play was misunderstood and the opponents gained. He became angry, dropped his numerical system and called out to the other players in Ojibwa what they should do. The succeeding play was a success and from that until the end of the game, the quarterback called out his signals in Indian, and the game was won.
In all schools girls are trained in the domestic arts, and this covers every conceivable duty connected with home-life. Both boys and girls are thoroughly grounded in primary education which includes the common branches, and a sufficient training in the handling of moneys and accounts, the buying and selling of produce, and general mercantile affairs to enable them to cope with the white people in managing their farms.
What is said of Carlisle is also applicable to the great Chilocco school in Oklahoma. Chilocco Indian School was established May 17, 1882, and opened January 15, 1884, with 123 pupils from Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita, and Cheyenne and Arapaho Agencies.
The school is located at Chilocco, Oklahoma, and was established primarily for the Poncas and Pawnees and other Indians of Oklahoma, exclusive of the Five Civilized Tribes. However, the student body has for years included youth from all parts of the country, and since 1910 restricted numbers of the Five Civilized Tribes have been admitted. W. J. Hadley was the first superintendent. A dozen other men held this office, and April, 1911, Edgar A. Allen, Esq., was appointed, and still remains. The school, under his management, has done excellent work.
The maximum attendance at any one time at this school during the past year was 561 and the total attendance 692. Since the school was established in 1884 it is impossible to tell how many students have gone through it, but it is likely that the number would not be fewer than 5000.
In addition to the non-reservation schools conducted by the Government, there is the school at Hampton, Virginia, where both colored and Indian youths are trained. The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was established in 1868 by General C. S. Armstrong. After ten years of success in training negroes, Indians were included. Since that time about 1500 boys and girls have been trained at this place. It is stated that five-sixths of them are industrious and are a credit to the institution. The academic course covers four years. There are normal courses, and business, agriculture, and the trades. In connection with the school there is a stock farm of 600 acres, together with a model farm, dairy, orchards, poultry yards, gardens, etc. The equipment is about sixty buildings. The Government pays $167 a year for each of its 120 Indian pupils. There never has been any discrimination against the Indian on account of his color. This is seen in many of our Eastern institutions where Indian boys are received on the same footing as Whites. But there is a feeling against the negro—not a feeling of hostility, but a general disinclination to associate with him on terms of equality. That is seen in some of the schools. The negro is received as a student, but not as a social equal. I have always thought that the mixing of negroes and Indians at Hampton was unnecessary. Hampton is not a Government school, but is maintained by private subscription and the Government pays a certain sum per pupil for Indians who are there educated. The system has worked satisfactorily, and Hampton has turned out many excellent and worthy graduates. But it would be better, it seems to me, if the Indians and the negroes were educated in separate schools, just as today we do not consider it advisable to educate Whites and negroes in the same school. At Harvard University, colored students are admitted, and in the classes and through the general University life, there is no discrimination made against them, and they are on an absolute equality with the white students. But in the real life of the world there is a line drawn between them, and no man or woman can blind himself or herself to this fact.
The association of Indians and negroes in Oklahoma has not helped the Indian, and a careful study of the situation there would lead one to suggest that the policy be discontinued in the best interests of both the races. The union of the negro and the white is not to the advantage of either, and it is even more true of negro-Indian marriages, according to my way of thinking.
It was found that the boarding-school and the non-reservation school did not entirely supply the needs of the Indians, and so was organized the day school. Mr. Leupp, who made a great improvement in the administration of day schools, hit the nail on the head when he stated:—
“To me the most pathetic sight in the world is a score of little red children of nature corralled in a close room, and required to recite lessons in concert and go through the conventional daily programme of one of our graded common schools. The white child, born into a home that has a permanent building for its axis, passing most of its time within four solid walls, and breathing from its cradle days the atmosphere of wholesale discipline, is in a way prepared for the confinement and the mechanical processes of our system of juvenile instruction. The little Indian, on the other hand, is descended from a long line of ancestors who have always lived in the open and have never done anything in mass routine; and what sort of antecedents are these to fit him for the bodily restraints and the cut-and-dried mental exercises of his period of pupilage? Our ways are hard enough for him when he is pretty well grown; but in his comparative babyhood—usually his condition when first captured for school purposes—I can conceive of nothing more trying.
“My heart warmed toward an eminent educator who once told me that if he could have the training of our Indian children he would make his teachers spend the first two years lying on the ground in the midst of the little ones, and, making a play of study, convey to them from the natural objects right at hand certain fundamental principles of all knowledge. I dare say that this plan, just as stated, would be impracticable under the auspices of a Government whose purse-strings are slow to respond to the pull of any innovation. But I should like to see the younger classes in all the schools hold their exercises in the open air whenever the weather permits. Indeed, during the last year of my administration I established a few experimental schoolhouses, in regions where the climate did not present too serious obstacles, which had no side-walls except fly-screen nailed to studding, with flaps to let down on the windward sides in stormy weather.”[[39]]
The day schools, for the most part, are of simple construction. The teachers’ quarters are built adjoining, or the teacher occupies the ell or detached cottage. There is usually attractive land large enough for a garden. Except in the northern reservations, the day schools are more or less open-air affairs. In many of them the children are provided with a luncheon at noon. Among the poorer Indians, the school luncheon furnished by the Government constitutes the only substantial meal the Indian children receive. Most observers agree that boys and girls six to thirteen years of age should not be separated from their homes during the entire year. The day school surrounds the children during school hours with a wholesome environment and encourages them to work at home in the field and garden and promotes real education, culture and advancement.
The boarding-schools on reservations were considered by Mr. Leupp to be an anomaly in the American educational system. He aptly states:—
“They furnish gratuitously not only tuition, but food, clothing, lodging, and medical supervision during the whole period for which a pupil is enrolled. In other words, they are simply educational almshouses. Nay, though ostensibly designed to stimulate a manly spirit of independence in their beneficiaries, their charitable phase is obtrusively pushed forward as an attraction, instead of wearing the brand which makes the almshouse so repugnant to Caucasian sentiment. Thus is fostered in the Indian an ignoble willingness to accept unearned privileges; from learning to accept them he gradually comes to demand them as a right; with the result that in certain parts of the West the only conception his white neighbors entertain of him is that of a beggar as aggressive as he is shameless. Was ever a worse wrong perpetrated upon a weaker by a stronger race?”[[40]]
The boarding-schools have somewhat changed their character, and they are certainly reduced in numbers since Mr. Leupp’s administration. His successor, Honorable Robert G. Valentine, recommended their restriction, and the present administration has still further curtailed them. The day schools are far preferable, also are the non-reservation schools. Indians who are exceptionally bright need not attend reservation boarding-schools, but will find opportunity to study under better conditions elsewhere; like Eastman at Dartmouth; Roe Cloud at Yale.
Of Indian education at the present time there is little criticism to be offered. The tendency seems to be toward agricultural training with a sufficient grounding in primary and secondary education to enable the pupils to write intelligent letters, keep accounts and become familiar with American history, etc. This is all that need be expected of the Government schools, and advanced learning may be obtained in the colleges.
While all this is true, we must record, that in the early years of Indian education grievous mistakes were made. These have had their effect on the Indian body at large. Chief among these were the contract schools established years ago by act of Congress. These were schools located either on the reservations and known as boarding schools, or at a distance.
CLASS IN AGRICULTURE JUDGING CORN, CHILACCO INDIAN SCHOOL
Years ago, when the Government was pushing allotting and educating of Indians to the exclusion of pretty much everything else, there sprang up a pernicious system, which I am happy to say has been abolished. Schools were erected in a number of localities, and agents were sent hither and thither to gather Indian pupils. The Government allowed quite a sum of money per head for the support and education of these Indian children. I have forgotten whether it was $200 or $400 per capita, but it was quite a sum. One of the reasons tuberculosis and trachoma became so prevalent was on account of these schools and the crowding of the children into small quarters. The more children, the larger financial returns to those conducting the school. Extensive enrollments were regarded with great favor at Washington and so, the system continued to expand until the Government officials awakened to its distressing effect.
Honorable O. H. Lipps, supervisor in charge of the United States Indian School, Carlisle, writes me regarding these contract schools as follows:—
“Referring further to the inquiry in your former letter, I might add that when I took charge of the contract boarding-schools in the Five Civilized Tribes four years ago, I found in some of those schools conditions that were almost shocking. For instance, in the school near Okmulgee, Oklahoma, not only were two and three sleeping in one bed, but the beds were double-deckers and pupils were packed in almost like sardines in a can. The same was true in some of the other schools. It is needless to state, however, that this condition was immediately remedied so that those schools are now among the best boarding-schools we have in the service. The contract system was abolished and the superintendents are now bonded officers and under the direct supervision of the Indian Office.”
It is unnecessary to go into details, and we should not blame the authorities at Washington. The whole matter of education was largely an experiment; and mistakes must needs be made.
A great deal of the tuberculosis and trachoma is, beyond question, due to the crowding in these schools. There is absolutely no excuse for such system and it is surprising that it continued as long as it did. The fact that children came home from these schools to die, or to become permanently disabled, had a deterring effect on the Government’s educational policy. It was quite natural that Indian parents did decline to send their children to school under such conditions. No white parent would send his son or daughter to a school if by so doing that child contracted disease. Yet we were expecting the Indian to cheerfully accept a scheme of education which we would not countenance among ourselves for a moment.
I have tried to ascertain the number of children sent away to school who came home and died. It has been impossible to secure any reliable statistics. Miss Caroline W. Andrus of the Indian Record Office, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, under date of September 2d, 1911, writes me that:—
“The death rate was high among our Indians for the first few years, but no physical examination was then required before they left their homes, and a good many died within a few weeks or months after they arrived. Homesickness probably had a good deal to do with it, but some were certainly far gone with tuberculosis when they reached here. Any statistics we might get together would be for so small a number that I think they would be useless, particularly as we have never used large dormitories, but have an average of two students in a room, and therefore no over-crowding.”
In a table of statistics presented in a later chapter will be observed that under Question IV, “In your opinion has there been a high percentage of deaths among children suffering from tuberculosis sent from schools to their homes the past ten years?” we addressed a great many persons, including teachers, and asked their opinion. Many of these can give no accurate information, having been recently appointed. Others think that the death rate has not been very high, whereas others claim that many Indians returned from school merely to die from consumption or to become blind from trachoma. It would have surprised all of us, I think, could statistics be compiled with any degree of accuracy. For instance, during the long period that Carlisle has been maintained, it would be illuminating to place before the public in tabulated form how many of the Indians are living and how many have died. Charles F. Lummis, Esq., of California, who has devoted a great many years to the study of Indian problems, is of the opinion that in the early years of our educational system we made almost as many consumptives as educated Indians. He has uttered this opinion in several of his articles in past years. Be that as it may, at present the physicians in charge of the schools and physicians on the reservations are doing all humanly possible to end this evil.
But the opposite still obtains in some quarters. We have been properly ambitious to keep the schools free from disease and we have promptly sent to their homes children who are not strong or healthy, with the result that disease was disseminated on the reservations. While this was good for the school, it was very bad for those who lived at home.