Investigation Into Native American Boarding Schools In Indiana | WTHR Documentary

for decades the united states forcibly sent thousands of native american children to off-reservation boarding schools where they were stripped of language customs and culture [Music] many hundreds of miles away from their families and operating inside a structure dedicated to the eradication of their identity the boarding school system used children as pawns in the federal government's overall strategy to destroy indigenous communities through the policy of assimilation indiana played a role in this brutal piece of american history [Music] zika shaw was just eight years old in the spring of 1884 when quaker missionaries came to her home on the yankton indian reservation in dakota territory the well-traveled men spoke of a mysterious far eastern land they called big red apple country and they wanted zika shaw to get on a train and go with them despite her mother's hesitations the men eventually persuaded zakala shaw's mother this would be in her child's best interest white settlers had already begun to encroach on that land in dakota territory and perhaps an education now east would give sikalasha a chance for survival zikalasha not fully aware of what going with the men men begged to go with them soon we were being drawn rapidly away by the white man's horses when i saw the lonely figure of my mother vanish in the distance a sense of regret settled heavily upon me i was in the hands of strangers who my mother did not fully trust when she eventually did set foot on those lands a few days later though icicles clung to bare trees where she had been told red apples would grow within days she faced abuse typical of the boarding school system her clothes were taken from her replaced with the standard uniform everyone else wore when she began to cry over a bowl of porridge an older student whispered in her ear wait until you are alone in the night the next day school officials cut zika shaw's hair growing up she only saw people in mourning or people who had lost in battle cut their hair and she hid under a bed to avoid the violation school officials strapped her to a chair and took it by force anyway i cried aloud shaking my head all the while until i felt the cold blades of scissors against my neck and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids she wrote then i lost my spirit zikalasha's testimony for time at white's indiana manual labor institute detailed in her 1921 memoir american indian stories is one of only a few surviving student perspectives that recounts what brutal conditions hundreds of children endured at that school which is the older of two institutions established in indiana during the off-reservation boarding school era utilizing institutions under the guise of education to strip native americans of identities and culture throughout generations predates the united states as early as the mid 1600s a smattering of missionaries worked to establish religious schools across new england intentionally placing those institutions near indigenous communities in an effort to further spread christianity and destabilize native culture which they viewed as inferior to white culture the federal government having forced thousands of tribes onto reservations in the western part of the united states by the early 1800s through a series of broken promises and faulty treaties already moved fast to adopt a harsher iteration of the assimilation through education framework day schools were set up on these reservations as a way for the united states government to further their influence within native american communities by 1819 the government had officially provided its first allocations for boarding schools with the civilization fund act the alternative to killing them in the wars was just like well let's just make sure that they're just like little robots like they're not worth anything else but government officials were displeased by how close children remain to their families at these locations seeking to further disrupt whole tribes more permanently the government implemented a new strategy for children it was the brainchild of a u.s army sergeant who was charged with overseeing 72 native american prisoners of war at fort marion in florida a great general has said the only good indian is a dead one u.s army captain richard h pratt said in a sense i agree with this sentiment but only in this kill the indian in him and saved the man pratt's common refrain killed the indian save the man was later embedded into the curriculum at the boarding school he persuaded the federal government to build he was a war criminal um his whole idea of killing the indian and saving the man was so detrimental i mean generations of people just generation after generation after generation of people dealing with what he created by 1879 the army barracks at carlisle pennsylvania had been converted into a quote indian school as a way to force children into culturally assimilative practices once within the walls of carlisle indian industrial school children were subjected to physical and sexual abuse forced to convert to christianity and beaten for speaking their own language their heads were shaved they often died from sickness and endured psychological trauma preston mcbride is a researcher whose doctoral dissertation evaluated the health and environmental conditions that children at four of the largest off-reservation boarding schools endured across the united states cemeteries existed at all of these institutions what sort of high school has cemeteries this is not normal um generally children are the healthiest demographic of any population children just don't die um and so something must have been precipitating these deaths um and basically what i found in in that was conditions were not very good [Music] or crowded poor nutrition generally inadequate medical care [Music] institutions often under-reported the deaths of students or intentionally left them out ultimately the federal government doesn't care about the deaths of indigenous children this is all part of number one the belief that indigenous people are going to just die out naturally um kind of the the disappearing indian with the inevitable extinction um but also the fact that these children are acceptable kind of collateral damage for the larger project of assimilation and if some students kind of die on the way of becoming you know american then so be it from the government's perspective when all those kids were getting sent to carlisle it was a military base there are graves still there of kids that never came home and the families don't know they can't find them you know they're just missing these kids are dying and they're getting buried in this graveyard and there's no parents there's they're not i mean it's it was terrible and we even saw where the the jail was the prison was where they would put the kids and it was scary it was so tragic carlisle despite the human rights atrocities that happened there became the standard for other boarding schools across the country it wouldn't be long until the genocidal curriculums implemented at more than 350 other institutions across the country made their way to indiana white's indiana manual labor institute in wabash was established by quaker missionaries three years after carlisle's was founded the white institute board of trustees purchased more than 600 acres of land from the miami tribe upon which to build a school for poor children the first classes began on those premises in 1862. missionaries affiliated with whites the same men who persuaded zakala shah to come to indiana often took manipulative liberties to recruit enough students they needed to receive those government funds and native american parents weren't always properly informed of the terms of their children's enrollment once children were out of school the ability to return home was dependent on school officials even if parents pleaded with white's leaders to return children to their care the agents would quote normally choose to keep the child at the school one historian wrote it's within this context that 27 children 16 boys and 11 girls were brought from their parents arms and into those of staff members in wabash school archival records provided 213 news by white's residential and family services which still exists on the same grounds today as a christian-based residential school affiliated with the indiana department of child services show at least 200 more native american children would attend whites between 1883 and 1895 although there could be more students not accounted for within those records sakhan fox potawatomi modok seneca shawnee ottawa quapa wyandot and cheyenne children were all in attendance at white's the entry roster indicates a majority of the children at whites were lakota and dakota children who came from pine bridge agency if children initially felt unique upon entering whites they were soon given just one identity indian many of their names were anglicized and only english was permitted is it kalasha recalled how her classmate was beaten in the snow by a pale-faced woman for not understanding the word no the poor frightened girl shrieked at the top of her voice when she was hit during the first two or three seasons misunderstandings as ridiculous as this one of the snow episode frequently took place bringing unjustifiable frights and punishments into our little lives a typical term of enrollment at white's was usually three years long throughout which time students would suffer through 10 hour long work days boys were trained to be common laborers girls were trained as housewives despite the missionary's promises of an enhanced education at the facility students spent most of their day performing manual labor and white school officials noted in check-ups with multiple students after their term of enrollment ended that they were afflicted with sore eyes or suffered from poor health mcbride's research aligns with the testimony of zakala shah who recalled school officials were unwilling to compromise these strict schedules for sickness two diseases in particular were very concerning to federal officials tuberculosis and trachoma tuberculosis for obvious reasons trachoma is a debilitating eye disease that often led to blindness and they had all sorts of really really crazy treatments like cutting off eyelids it was nasty it was very very nasty stuff and so students couldn't study because they couldn't read their eyes were going but to the school even though they couldn't study or read you know they could perform work so those sorts of students will be working all day every day so you can't go to school but you know what you can lift up a shovel or an axe you know kalasha recalled how one of her classmates languished within this routine until one day she couldn't lift her head from the pillow at her deathbed i stood weeping as the pale faced woman sat near her moistening the dry lips i grew bitter and centered the woman for cruel neglect of our physical ills but zitka shaw soon found ways to resist ruining a batch of turnips she was made to prepare for dinner or smashing jars or small ways she resisted school officials but during that same year in 1887 another religious order was eyeing plots of indiana land 70 miles south of chicago upon which to establish a boarding school [Music] the goal of that institution would be to sever more children from their cultures but documents reveal the continued resistance of students forced to attend school there that same spirit of revenge that motivated zika shaw through her time at white's institute played a part in its eventual undoing [Music] five years after whites was established in wabash the catholic church was eager to spread its influence in indiana and would utilize the u.s government's exploitation of native american children to do so disturbed by what they saw as the rise of various protestant groups who were creating a foothold in the midwest the bureau of catholic indian missions began to expand its boarding school activities under the direction of an enthusiastic new director from fort wayne indiana father joseph a stefan i cannot sleep i am firmly convinced that this is the best thing we can do it must be done well and commenced at once if we want to succeed and monopolize it this is very important i wish to have it better than carlisle stefan confided to a nun in 1886. that nun sister catherine drexel had more than an unwavering faith in the holy spirit to see the duo shared vision of a catholic school for native american children to fruition she had cash to the tune of some 14 million dollars inherited from her steel tycoon father to purchase a piece of land upon which to build the school it was drexel who provided the necessary funds to build a large barn corn cribs and pig pens on the school grounds in rensselaer catholic recruiters were soon headed to reservations in an attempt to persuade students to get an education in rensselaer at st joseph's at that time normal schools were institution which also trained students to be teachers the intent was that children from reservations would be trained at st joseph's in a variety of trade skills and as teachers then they travel back to their homes and bring catholicism into those communities they would teach their peers in essence how to be the proper white catholic men some of the indian boys overcome with homesickness would watch their opportunity and leave the train at some station and hurry back on foot to the reservation by october 30th 1888 st joseph indian normal school in rensselaer had admitted its first group of students unlike white's institute saint joseph's only admitted male students a demographic that catholic officials believed was better suited to uphold white society's ideals of hard work in the school's first year st joseph's archival records show 12 of the 50 pupils range from ages 18 to 21. the tribes predominantly represented at the school were potawatomi menominee sioux and chippewa the saint joseph indian normal school had two ways of generating income government contracts which could provide a stipend and produce from the farm itself that meant despite the school being initially funded with money from a woman who was an heiress millions of times over for student labor was partially propping up the institution financially a curriculum pamphlet obtained by 13 news shows it favored unskilled labor over trade schooling or formal education and took place over the course of a more than 12 hour work day although students spent over half their day performing manual labor mcbride's research into other institutions found it's unlikely they received proper nutrition you know they're working in very dangerous labor conditions there i can't tell you how many letters and doctors physicians reports that i find of arms legs appendages just being ripped off mangled beyond belief amputations of little girls laundries and burns explosions you know uh there there are deaths from gas explosions and kitchens where just buildings explode from uh and fires and arse you know there's so much death and maiming that goes on essentially because these children are not they shouldn't be there in the first place if school officials ignored the physical toll students endured they could not ignore the emotional one school officials at st joseph's were well aware of the impact indiana's distance from students home was having the greatest drawback of the institution arises from the great distance from the indian homeland for there are no parents who hang with greater tenderness to their children than these indian fathers and mothers and a forced separation appears to them to be a fearful thing a saint joseph superintendent wrote to one of his contemporaries students constantly tried to escape school officials eventually took cruel measures to ensure compliance among the students they slept in the dorms with them or forced them to turn in specific items of clothing like coats in the middle of winter to deter escape one year 16 students tried for an escape and one died while speaking their language and embracing customs they grew up with were banned for students the school set that aside when it came time to raise funds students were made to perform in native regalia for the greater rensselaer community as a form of entertainment and despite the financial troubles at st joseph's school officials were eager to present another face to the world in 1893 at least 30 students from saint joseph's were put on display within a school exhibit at the chicago world's fair exposition to highlight how quote the formerly savage indian was becoming civilized two years later in 1895 the new commissioner of indian affairs informed st joseph's officials that its contract would not be renewed congress had reduced appropriations for contract schools and st joseph was cut off from that funding because of its distance from reservations the travel was too expensive after six years st joseph ceased operation as a boarding school for native american children school officials blamed anti-catholic sentiment in washington as the reason behind the closure but that may not be the whole truth because the children were so persistent in running away from this institution that kept the pupil turnover low enough to make it impossible for school officials to meet their alleged educational goals the resistance of students eventually marked not just the end of the boarding school system in rensselaer but all of indiana white's indiana manual labor institute closed when the indian aid withdrew funding in 1895 and saint joseph's indian normal school ceased operations a year after that students in attendance at either school were sent to other institutions across the country when they closed the pain of going through the boarding school system is one that never left many students including zika shaw she returned to white's institute to teach music and graduated in 1895. she continued her studies at earlham college in richmond singer performed select songs from zika shaw's sundance opera in 2013 and 2015. kind of transported these yankton dakota melodies into the the opera itself you know a miracle that we have writings from a native woman and it didn't get lost and then she was also really critical of boarding schools which was pretty important the melancholy of those black days has left so long a shadow that it darkens the path of years that have since gone by today on the premises of white's institute an aging cemetery a few dozen yards away from the main campus marks the final resting place of at least eight native american children from records we know moses tubals age 16 from pine ridge reservation rosa fast horse age 14 of pine ridge reservation reba white age five from crow creek reservation mary trimmer 12 from santee agency carrie no flesh age 18 from pine ridge reservation theresa bishonet around the age of 18 from pine ridge reservation and city long age 20 all died at white's institute they died many hundreds of miles away from home rosa fast horse's father judge fast horse reportedly lost his life in a desperate attempt to visit his child's grave last summer unmarked graves of 752 first nations children in canada prompted the united states department of the interior treasury secretary deb holland to launch an investigation which partially deals with how many more native american children could be buried across the country but saint joseph's and whites were left out of that federal investigation even though at least eight native american children are buried in wabash and at least two children reportedly died at st joseph's so the indiana department of natural resources put together a team of researchers to look into how many more children could be buried at these sites and so our interest is the cemeteries that are associated with both schools and whether we have the exact size shape and location of those cemeteries dnr researchers plan to employ advanced technology at both locations in the hopes of learning more i know that just because there are five tombstones does not mean there's necessarily five bodies find um how many you know in size and shape is identify as many as you can with the name so that we actually give these children um their part of their humanity back though their final it's not shocking that a school two schools in indiana have grave sites my estimation is that virtually almost every single school run contracted by the federal government has a grave site you know the history is hundreds over a hundred years and we still know so well every boarding school story is going to be different some of them were really well funded some of them weren't some of them are run by native people some of them were religious every single one is different and unique to their area but they're all the same kill the indian save the man many have passed idly through the indian schools during the last decade afterward to boast of their charity to the north american indian but few there are who have paused to question whether real life or long-lasting death lies beneath this semblance of civilization zikalasha wrote those words in 1923 nearly a century later as investigations into these institutions play out across the united states it's becoming more clear which of those two circumstances is true [Music] you

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Length: 24min 8sec (1448 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 04 2022