American Indian Education: The Reservation Schools, 1870-1900

This work studies the growth af the Indian school system, 1870-1900, and the attempt of the federal government to use the school as an instrument of Americanization. In chapter I it is argued that after the Civil War United States' Indian policy changed direction. Previously an effort had been made to keep the Indians separate and apart but from 1870 an effort was made to incorporate them into American society, and federal funds were spent on education to fit the Indian for life in America. In chapter II it is demonstrated that nineteenth century Americans relied on well established racial theories to explain Indian behaviour and to plan Indian education programmes. The Christian churches 'were vital to the early work, although the Bureau of Indian Affairs slowly took over control of the schools. Chapter III places Indian education within the context of general educational developments in America, and analyses the type of "schooling given to other minorities. Chapter IV examines the history and culture of tribes on the six reservations which are used as examples in the thesis. Chapter V argues that while all Americans who worked to Americanize the Indian had a similar goal in view, different racial theories led to the development of a variety of different educational programmes. In chapter VI it is argued that although Indians were placed on reservations to be civilized, reservations were peculiar units: .geographically isolated, legally separate and administered from Washington by a hierarchical bureaucracy, they were unlike any town or community in the United States. Chapter VII shows how the distinctive characteristics of reservation society shaped the development and functioning of the school. Chapter VIII examines the Indians' own methods of education and analyses how these conflicted with the demands of the reservation school