Wahpeton Indian Boarding School Analysis

In the perspective of an Indian (which includes Navajos), going the the government/church operated boarding schools are a rough experience because it is when their culture is ripped away from them and they were being constantly abused. From being separated from their families for up to four or more years and giving up their hair, language, name, clothing and culture, they were very enforced with Christianity. The children’s self esteem had gone very low as they were taught that anything of their kind is inferior and useless, and were humiliated.
These are Floyd Red Crow Westerman’s (a performer and Indian activist) experiences being in Wahpeton Indian Boarding School in North Dakota:
He mentioned that the mothers were in pain and crying when
This quote was given during a philosophy speech in 1892, “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him and save the nam. “ This shows the mindset of many white Americans at the times and this philosophy has been well-known for over 50 years.
This is another experience of Bill Wright, who was only the age of 6 when he was forced to the Stewart Indian School in Nevada, along with many other children. At first, many Native American parents have to send their children to boarding schools against their will in order to adapt of white society. Later, it turned to a choice because the Indian boarding schools were the only schools available due to the oppressive racism. Bill Wright mentions that because of the extreme desecration of Native American culture, he ended up forgetting not only his native tongue but also his original birth name. Indian to her and I said, ‘Grandma, I don’t understand you. ‘ She said, ‘Then who are
There have been many recounts of poor food quality, overcrowding manual labour in kitchens, fields, and boiler rooms, poor healthcare and uneducated teachers. The Indian boarding schools were very militaristic, as they had strict rules followed by harsh discipline, and the children had to wear uniforms, have their hair cut and learn to march in formations.
The start was when the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) found the first Indian boarding school in Washington on the Yakima Indian Reservation. The plan was made by eastern reformers Herbert Welsh and Henry Pancoast, who had an original good-intentioned goal for Native Americans to “assimilate” (which means to understand fully) the “American way of life.” In the schools the Native Americans would be taught the importance of private property, material wealth and monogamous nuclear families. As well as that the reformers wanted to ‘civilize’ Native Americans and adjust to the white man’s cultures and beliefs. They believed