Exploring Sherman Indian School Cemetery, Riverside, CA

here in the middle of suburban Riverside stands a reminder of a complex and painful chapter of American history when the Sherman Institute opened its doors in 1903 it was one of several off-reservation boarding schools in the country whose mission was to assimilate Native American children into white society boys and girls ranging in ages from four to twenty years came to Riverside from across the country they were su Ojibwa crow Arapaho Potawatomi Shoshone Blackfeet Mandan Cherokee and more but those identities would be stripped away as they were instructed in a broad range of vocations from farming to housekeeping the adopted curriculum was modeled after Richard Pratt the founder of the Carlyle School in Pennsylvania whose Maxim was kill the Indian and save the man [Music] many children spent 10 or more years living in campus dormitories without seeing home or having contact with family tragically some would never see home or family again from the Institute's earliest days illnesses and accidents cut short the lives of dozens of students and when they died they were buried here come walk with me into the distant past as I explore Sherman Indian School Cemetery in Riverside California the Institute took its name from New York Congressman James Schoolcraft Sherman who with the urging of Riverside's first citizen and promoter Frank Miller secured federal funding for the school Sherman would go on to serve as vice-president under William Howard Taft when the Indian schools were established they were lauded as great humanitarian causes and the public had no reason to believe there were anything but a total success the Sherman Institute student band was widely celebrated and gave sold-out concerts across the state and it's football teams exploits on the field are splashed across the sports pages from San Diego to San Francisco but the public was blind to the school's early practices that have since fallen under criticism for a wide range of abuses that painfully sought to strip away their students proud culture and ancient identities no matter how well Native Americans assimilated they had little hope of fitting into a bigoted white society in 1904 when the Los Angeles Herald wrote about Sherman's first graduating class it couldn't help itself from reminding students that they had been born barbarians by the 1940s Sherman was fully accredited by the Western Association of schools and colleges in 1971 it changed its name to Sherman Indian high school and continues to serve grades 9 through 12 to the present day the policy of assimilation is now thankfully long over the old mission style campus that was once a tourist attraction has also been replaced with a modern edifice but the tiny graveyard for the 65 known students who passed away at the school between 1901 and 1955 is still here the children's bodies remain for various reasons some of them were economic or religious or owed to the fact that their families homes were far too remote to reach or that many of them were orphans when they arrived at the school that became the only home they ever knew for decades their unmarked graves had forgotten and unattended until the 1970s when a plaque was laid a few years later a monument bearing the school's mascot and the names of the deceased was erected [Music] now the cemetery is looked after by the current students of Sherman high as well as local chapters of the Boy Scouts may 3rd has been declared Indian flower day where the cemetery grounds are cleared of weeds and flowers are placed on the graves these measures cannot right the wrongs of the past but they do offer a bit of dignity to the noble spirits of these lost young ones who never knew it in life may they all rest in peace [Music] I want to send special thanks to great effects pleurae shion's viewer Martha for suggesting this location and as always thank you for watching and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe to my channel for more Grave explorations

Channel: Grave Explorations

Views: 48,753

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Id: vht4gSPJeEo

Length: 5min 22sec (322 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2017