Module 11: BIA Boarding Schools

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in 1824 to provide services funded through contracts or grants. John C. Calhoun, known for starting the Civil War, was also the Secretary of War and founded the Office of Indian Affairs. In many ways, the creation of this department is an act of war. As any goal of war is to eliminate the enemy, the goal of the BIA is to eliminate all tribal cultures within the United States. In early development, the bureau had very little supervision or regulation. Therefore, federal policy better paralleled the ideals of the white immigrants than the Natives who are trying to preserve both their land and their culture. For example, Andrew Jackson retrieved vital information about the Indian lands through both the General Land Office and the Office of Indian Affairs. Then had the ability to buy out Indian lands for a very low price. Andrew Jackson soon after became President and activated the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This Act allowed the President to forcibly move tribes to land west of the Mississippi out of Indian lands that are within the states. Around 4,000 Cherokees died while being forced to relocate and is now known as the Trail of Tears. 

At the end of the Civil War the goals of the BIA had changed. Since the United States was tired of segregation and lack of unison, congress had decided to assimilate Native people into the white society to eventually become productive citizens and contribute to their communities. This change of focus seems of good intentions originally, none of this could occur if they did not take away the land, the culture, and the children of the Native tribes. The ultimate purpose of the bureau became to integrate American Indians into the white society. In the eyes of the BIA, the best way to assimilate the children of Native people was to create an education system. They created boarding schools all based on the integration methods of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was the pioneer to all Indian boarding school. The school’s purpose was to become the “Ultimate Americanizer” by any means necessary. To assimilate the Native children into the white society the schools would cut their hair to better match that of a white person. Their native languages were forbidden to be spoken and they were given new American names. More recently cases have been found that discover occurrences of mental, physical, and sexual abuse. More importantly, many students died at Carlisle. Since they were exposed to the diseases of the white man such as tuberculosis, hundreds of students have died. This terrible treatment continued until 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act gave rights to Natives as citizens.

Eventually The cruel methods and systems administered by the BIA had been exploited by the Meriam Report. This helped Congress get presented the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 that gave more power to the governments within each tribe. Although it seem progress had been made, congress passed The Indian Termination Act in 1953 that brought more harm to the Native tribes. Although BIA had closed their boarding schools during this period, each state continued to force integration of Natives into their public schools. It wasn’t until twenty years later that Native Americans saw a positive change such as the Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. At this point tribes had the ability to contract with the BIA to have control over their curriculum.

References:

Hunt, Darek. 2012. BIA’s Impact on Indian Education Is an Education in Bad Education. https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/bias-impact-on-indian-education-is-an-education-in-bad-education/

Indian Removal Act. 2017.https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html

Keohane, S. Keohane. 2008. The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870 -1928. http://www.twofrog.com/rezsch.html

THE BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION (BIE). 2017. https://www.bia.gov/WhatWeDo/ServiceOverview/IndianEducation/