Discusses the one-year tenure of Carlos Montezuma--first American Indian physician--at Fort Stevenson Federal Indian Boarding School following his graduation from medical school in 1889. Describes the school's unhealthy conditions, the forced enrollment of Indian children, and the political patronage system for recruiting BIA employees. (SV)

Describes traditional Hopi education before contact with White settlers, including extended Hopi families, relationships among members, and adults' responsibilities for educating young. Considers nature's role in Hopi culture and the enculturation of Hopi children. Describes differences between traditional education and White schools later…

The Christian mission was an attempt to effect massive culture change upon American Indians by the introduction of European social and cultural values and institutions into Indian life. The Sillery Montagnais of Quebec were the subjects of a Jesuit experiment in 1632, which failed because it demanded cultural suicide. (Author/RTS)

The Ottawa Treaty of 1862 provided that a 20,000-acre parcel of tribal land be used to endow a school for the benefit of the Ottawa Indians. This book is a case study of manipulation and fraud, whereby the Ottawas were promised a university, paid for most of it, and then lost it in the offices of bureaucrats. Thanks to investigations at several…

During the 1940s and 1950s, local factors helped the Eastern Cherokees to resist termination of tribal status and federal responsibilities in Indian affairs. Factors include the belief that area tourism depended on Cherokee tribal identity, reluctance of local public schools to accept Indian students, and the band's complex legal status and…

Opened in 1851, the Cherokee Male Seminary was the first nonsectarian secondary school west of the Mississippi River. It fulfilled the goals of the Cherokee national council to prepare students for higher education, promote the Cherokee economy, and expose children to white values and lifestyle. (SV)

During most of its history (1897-1917), Whirlwind School in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) was a focus of conflict between Indian agents and Episcopal missionaries/teachers. Official government reasons for closing the school (allowing the Cheyenne to live nearby and teaching in Cheyenne) masked more basic reasons (the missionaries failed to promote…

Traditionally, Native Americans educated their children through the oral transmission of beliefs and values. Christian missions dominated Indian education from the 16th to the 19th century and began the process of erasing Native American identity and culture. After the Civil War, control of 73 Indian agencies was assigned to 13 religious…

The goal of assimilating American Indians into an alien culture seemed inevitable as superior weaponry and foreign diseases conquered the Indians. Only in the 20th century has serious consideration been given to allowing Indians to choose their own destiny. Using many excerpts from historical accounts, this book describes educational efforts by…

Describes child-rearing and educational practices of Plains Indians, stressing importance of hunting, especially of buffalo. Examines early childhood rituals and general child-rearing practices as part of cultural education. Describes religious education of children. Stresses Indian educational methods as "informal" but "direct and…

In today's "politics of culture," American Indians demand participation in decision making on scholarship and exhibitions about their history and culture. Exhibits such as this one at Hampton archives replace generic Indians with people with names and individual histories, and link the history of Indian education with American history.…

This article presents a historical perspective of American Indian education and relates concepts to current trends. Native and colonial Americans saw education as the vehicle through which the community trained individuals in all aspects of life. Self-determination was, and still is, the theme of education for American Indian nations. (DF)

Beginning in 1879, the Women's National Indian Association, an organization of educated upper- and middle-class white women, sought to better the lot of American Indians by publicizing their mistreatment and encouraging their assimilation. The organization focused particularly on educating Indian women to the Victorian female role. (SV)

Describes instances in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in which charitable funds, collected mainly from pious Englishmen for the conversion and higher education of American Indians, were diverted to revitalize colonial enterprises, found Dartmouth College, and support financially strapped Harvard College and William and Mary College.…

An American Indian museum curator and educator describes the impact of the occupation of Alcatraz Island on his life. After Alcatraz, he turned away from an acculturated lifestyle, graduated from UC Berkeley's American Indian Studies program, and began a life's work of researching and publishing tribal materials. He is associated with the…