Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press Read online

  Writing more than thirty years later, long after Pratt was forced to resign from Carlisle in the wake of increasing criticism of his approach to Indian education, John Milton Oskison (Cherokee) praised Carlisle and other boarding schools for what they were doing for Indians.16 In “The Indian in the Professions” Oskison challenges the notion that Carlisle graduates return to the blanket by offering examples of how educated Indians have entered a number of professions, including “teaching, nursing, the law, the diplomatic service, the ministry, medicine, politics, dentistry, veterinary surgery, writing, painting, acting.” Furthermore, he writes, “The professions are wide open to us. We have the strength and the steadiness of will to make good in them” (Oskison, “The Indian in the Professions,” this volume). For Oskison and others, an education at Carlisle, and better yet, a degree from a college or university, “could be a means to do what he and the SAI urged the Indians to do: take their future into their hands and speak for themselves as Indian individuals and Indian peoples” (Larré, “John Milton Oskison,” 11).

  Several writers in this collection argued for higher education for Native Americans. For example, in an address Charles Eastman delivered at a Carlisle commencement and which appeared in the February–March 1899 issue of the Red Man, he narrates the story of how he became an educated Indian.17 Eastman, who graduated from Dartmouth and earned his medical degree at Boston University, writes, “[S]ome twenty-five years ago, I took my blanket and my bag and started from Sioux Falls, in South Dakota, to the Santee Agency up above Yankton on the Missouri River, some one hundred and thirty miles, on foot in search of education” (Eastman, “Address at Carlisle Commencement,” this volume). Although it begins with his account of schooling, Eastman’s address is not merely an account of his success as a model boarding school graduate. Rather, Eastman uses his audience’s interest in him as an educated Indian for his own purposes. Unlike Pratt and other school authorities who opposed higher education for Native Americans and imagined a future in which they were absorbed into white culture as landholders and farmers, Eastman articulates an alternative vision. He envisions a future in which educated Indian leaders with “purer and higher ideals” would “press steadily onward and upward, that we [Indians] may some day take a distinctive part in the great civilization of this western nation.” Echoing the rhetoric of uplift commonly associated with African American public intellectuals like W.E.B. Du Bois, Eastman reveals that he believed strongly that a higher education would prepare Native Americans for their future roles as leaders of the race.

  Also believing in the advantages of higher education, Arthur C. Parker (Seneca) argues for an Indian college or university. In his essay “Progress for the Indian” Parker writes, “The great need of teaching the Indian to appreciate and measure his own culture in the full knowledge of others is apparent. To this end the writer strongly believes in the necessity of an Indian college or university. In such an institution graduates of the higher schools might be trained in the art, literature, history, ethnology, and philosophy of their people” (Parker, “Progress for the Indian,” this volume). In their periodical writings, Oskison, Eastman, and Parker, among others emphasized the importance of higher education to an indigenous future.

  For most of the writers in this collection, being an educated Indian meant challenging the notion of the vanishing Indian with their own counter-representations of Indians as capable of change. Elizabeth Bender represents her people in a moment of transition in “The Land of Hiawatha,” an essay that appeared in the June 1907 issue of the student-edited Talks and Thoughts of the Hampton Indian Students.18 She subtly disrupts the discourse of the vanishing Indian celebrated in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha” by representing the Chippewas not as disappearing culturally but rather as capable of change. Her negotiation between a desire to preserve Ojibwa traditions and an embrace of cultural change becomes more complex toward the end of the essay as she mentions the inevitable passing of “old ways,” meaning hunting and gathering, and praises “civilization, with cozy homes and well kept farms” (Bender, “Land of Hiawatha,” 4). Bender embraces the transformation of a hunter-gather culture to an agricultural one and speaks positively of her tribe’s transition to farming: “Most of the Chippewas are engaged in farming, and are quite industrious. The reservation life has somewhat retarded their progress, but in spite of obstacles and hardships they are making a brave struggle” (Bender, “Land of Hiawatha,” 4). By emphasizing that Indians could change and were changing, Bender challenges the myth of the vanishing Indian, while at the same time she insists that Chippewas are retaining their cultural ties.19

  Other writers featured here also challenge representations of Indian cultures as vanishing by showcasing how indigenous traditions like storytelling, dancing, and art remain important to Native communities. Students like Harry Hand, Joseph Du Bray (Yankton Sioux), and Anna Bender (White Earth Chippewa) transcribed oral traditions into English and then preserved them in print in Talks and Thoughts. Hand’s illustrations also accompanied some of his writings. The students’ retold tales often depict how stories are passed down from a revered storyteller to the younger generation. By retelling oral traditions in boarding school newspapers, these writers contribute to the efforts of more well-known writers like Francis La Flesche (Omaha) and Gertrude Bonnin (Yankton Sioux), who sought to preserve oral traditions for future generations of Native Americans while educating white readers about the value of their tribal cultures.20

  Bonnin often portrayed Native traditions positively in her periodical writings. For example, in her 1902 article “A Protest Against the Abolition of the Indian Dance” she likens Native American culture to a frozen river waiting to “rush forth from its icy bondage” (Bonnin, “Protest,” this volume). Meanwhile, white assimilationists hack away at the ice, hissing “immodest” and “this dance of the Indian is a relic of barbarism.” Bonnin rails against the notion that the Indian dance is “barbaric.” Turning a critical gaze upon the dominant culture, she challenges white readers to see their assumptions and values reflected through the eyes of an educated Native American woman writer. She suggests that “the yellow-haired and blue-eyed races” who wear corsets in their evening gowns as they dance to orchestral music may in fact be “barbaric.” She then writes, “In truth, I would not like to say any graceful movement of the human figure in rhythm to music was ever barbaric.” In this way, Bonnin seeks to humanize Indian dancers in the minds of her white readers. At the same time, she argues against efforts among assimilationists to destroy Native cultural traditions by abolishing the Indian dance. She suggests that the Indian dance still has value in tribal culture, especially among the older generation.

  Fig. 3. Harry Hand’s illustration on the front page of Talks and Thoughts, March 1893. General Research Division, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

  Like Bonnin, Eastman and Angel De Cora argue for the importance of Native cultural traditions in their respective writings published in the Red Man.21 For example, in his essay “‘My People’: The Indians’ Contribution to the Art of America,” Eastman comments on the study of Native arts and crafts in boarding schools. He explains that without this instruction, most students would “grow up in ignorance of their natural heritage, in legend, music, and art forms as well as practical handicrafts” (Eastman, “‘My People,’” this volume). He goes on to praise the work of De Cora and her husband, William Deitz (Sioux), at Carlisle for attempting “to discover latent artistic gifts among the Indian students, in order that they may be fully trained and utilized in the direction of pure or applied art.” Reminding readers that “as recently as twenty years ago, all native art was severely discountenanced and discouraged, if not actually forbidden in Government schools and often by missionaries as well,” Eastman writes, “the present awakening is matter for mutual congratulations.” Eastman’s assertion that Native artists have a distinctive tradition challenges the very notion of the Indian
as “primitive” and thus doomed to extinction. Likewise, De Cora writes about her art students at Carlisle: “There is no doubt that the young Indian has a talent for the pictorial art, and the Indian’s artistic conception is well worth recognition, and the school-trained Indians of Carlisle are developing it into possible use that it may become his contribution to American Art” (De Cora, “An Autobiography,” this volume). By publishing in a boarding school newspaper devoted to the continuation of Native artistic traditions, Eastman and De Cora joined other Native writers who celebrated the intellectual and artistic achievements and contributions of Native Americans to American culture.

  Note on Structure and Procedures

  This collection is divided into two parts: the first features writings by boarding school students; the second consists of writings by prominent Native American public intellectuals, many of whom were boarding school graduates and members of the SAI. Part 1 is subdivided into letters, editorials, essays, and short stories and retold tales to highlight the variety of genres students used to offer their unique perspectives and express their commitment to their Native communities.

  The writers in this collection are arranged in chronological order, according to when their writings appeared in the boarding school press. I include their tribal affiliation and a brief profile indicating where they went to school and what they did after they graduated. Some of this information I gleaned from accounts of students and prominent figures in boarding school and other newspapers. I also relied on excellent resources like A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772–1924, by Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. and James W. Parins, and Bernd Peyer’s American Indian Nonfiction. Entries that contain little information suggest that little is known about the writers.

  I mined roughly fifteen boarding school newspapers for this collection, but I did not use all of them. Accessing some of these newspaper archives proved difficult if not impossible. The Peace Pipe, a biweekly newspaper published at the Pipestone Indian School in Minnesota from 1912 to 1916 is a case in point. The only existing copy of the newspaper I know of, which has been indexed and is held at the Minnesota Historical Society, is the April 1916 issue. Although the newspaper regularly published student writings, the ones that appear in the April 1916 issue are short, one- to two-paragraph compositions students wrote for their classes. I also ruled out other school papers because, like the April 1916 issue of the Peace Pipe, they do not contain substantive writings by students. In selecting student writings for this collection, I typically included ones that were of substantial length.

  I chose to focus on the following boarding school newspapers because they contain writings by students and prominent Native Americans that offer insight into their perspectives:

  Carlisle Indian Industrial School Publications

  Carlisle Arrow. Published weekly. 1908–1917.

  Eadle Keahtah Toh. Published monthly. 1880–1882.

  Indian Helper. Published weekly. 1885–1900.

  Indian Craftsman. Published monthly. 1909–1910.

  Morning Star. Published monthly. 1882–1887.

  Red Man. Published monthly. 1888–1900, 1910–1917.

  Red Man and Helper. Published weekly. 1900–1904.

  School News. Published monthly. 1880–1883.

  Chilocco Indian Industrial and Agricultural School Publication

  Indian School Journal. Published monthly. 1900–1980.

  Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute Publications

  Southern Workman. Published monthly. 1872–1939.

  Talks and Thoughts of the Hampton Indian Students. Published monthly. 1886–1907.

  Santee Normal Training School Publications

  Word Carrier. Published monthly. 1884–1903.

  Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School. Published monthly. 1903–1936.

  Seneca Indian School Publication

  Hallaquah. Published intermittently. 1879–1881.

  In terms of editing the texts reprinted here, I have maintained the original spelling and punctuation except for obvious typographical errors. I have also made minor edits to the student-authored texts for readability, using brackets to indicate alterations to the original text.

  I see this book as a contribution to recent efforts among scholars to preserve and analyze indigenous archives. Many of the boarding school newspapers remain inaccessible to scholars and students. Some of these periodicals have disappeared entirely and are no longer available. Those that do still remain in hard copy are often in poor condition and in desperate need of being preserved. By publishing them in this collection, I have sought to preserve them. It is my hope that bringing visibility to these archives will spur increased efforts at preservation, especially through digitization, as well as encourage further scholarly investigation into early Native American literary production in the boarding school press and other newspaper archives.

  I also see this book as an opportunity to transform the way Native American literature is taught in the college classroom. I hope this collection will encourage students to engage in more meaningful discussions about the boarding school experience and its impact on the history of Native American literature. When used in the classroom alongside boarding school narratives by prominent turn-of-the-twentieth-century writers like Bonnin, Eastman, and Standing Bear, as well as twenty-first century works like Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), this collection will reveal interesting parallels and points of contrast that will help students gain a deeper appreciation of how the boarding school legacy has shaped and continues to shape Native American literature.

  Part 1

  Writings by Boarding School Students

  Letters

  Arizona Jackson (Wyandot)

  Arizona Jackson, along with Ida Johnson and Lula Walker, founded, printed, and edited the Hallaquah at the Seneca Indian School. The inaugural issue of the monthly was published in December 1879. Johnson was the first editor; Jackson and Walker were associate editors. Jackson later became editor and remained on the staff while she attended Earlham College in Indiana in 1880. She then taught at the Modoc Day School in Oklahoma; she resigned her post after eight years in June 1891. (Annual Report of the Commissioner, 235; Earlham College Bulletin, 1916; Littlefield and Parins, American Indian, 144–45)

  Letter to Laura, 1880

  S., S. and W. Mission, I.T.

  January 1880

  Dear Laura,

  It has been so long since you were here, that I must write to inform you how much our school has improved.

  During the week, we have school, Literary Society, Prayer meeting, Sabbath School, Mission Church and Gospel Temperance meeting.

  Our school begins at half past eight in the morning and closes at four in the evening.

  We have but two schoolrooms at the present time. The advanced students from the fourth reader and upward attend the higher department. While those below the fourth reader grade are in the Primary. There are three teachers including the music teacher.

  I believe it is so arranged that while one of the teachers is absent or otherwise engaged a pupil from the most advanced class is required to take the primary room.

  The evenings of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are occupied in writing. Thursday night is our Hallaquah Literary Society, which is participated in with interest by most of the students and a number of outsiders.

  On Friday night all the employees and students, together with the missionaries and outsiders collect together and hold a prayer meeting. We have a very nice Sabbath School on Sabbath morning, and in the afternoon is the meeting of the Mission Church, which now numbers nearly forty members. In the evening we hold a Gospel Temperance meeting which I think has proved a great blessing to our people, and from which greater things are expected in the future.

  Rev. Jeremiah Hubbard of Timbered Hills held meetings here on the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th inst. We had a real pleasant time.

  They are making new additions to ou
r Mission, a kitchen, sitting room for the girls, and a new school house. For these reasons I think it desirable for me to attend school here as long as I possibly can. I will now close hoping that you will be interested in my detailed account.

  Your Friend,

  A. J.1

  Letter to the Editors, 1881

  Earlham College, Ind. Jan. 1881.

  Dear Editors of the Hallaquah:

  I have for sometime past been wanting to write you, for the purpose of expressing my thanks for the honor conferred on me by allowing me to still hold my place on the Paper. I certainly shall do my best in contributing to the little “Star,” which I see is going to shine brighter than ever, and I hope prove beneficial to all interested therein.

  Respectfully,

  Your Friend

  Arizona Jackson2

  Letter to Susan Longstreth, 1881

  Earlham E.C. February 25, 1881

  My Dear Friend S. Longstreth3—I have about 15 minutes in which to write this now, and will see how far I can go. For the last two weeks we have been very busy in examinations, which is I am glad to say over with. The result of mine was, in U.S. History, 90; English, History, & Algebra, 85; Physical Geography, 94; English Composition, 98; and Deportment, 98.4 It is only five weeks until our vacation. I am contemplating going home with an Earlham friend who lives not far from Indianapolis if I can. I did think of staying here, but since I was told how terribly lonesome it is here during vacation, I would rather not stay.