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66-951: Albuquerque Indian School (AIS) was a Native American boarding school in Albuquerque, New Mexico , which operated from 1881 to 1981. It was one of the oldest and largest off-reservation boarding schools in the United States. For most of its history it was run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Like other government boarding schools, AIS was modeled after the Carlisle Indian Industrial School , using strict military-style discipline to strip students of their native identity and assimilate them into white American culture. The curriculum focused on literacy and vocational skills, with field work components on farms or railroads for boys and as domestic help for girls. In

132-498: A 26–1 record to earn the state title and traveled to Chicago to compete in the national championship tournament hosted by the University of Chicago . However, the team lost both of their games in the tournament. Atrisco Heritage Academy HS , Kirtland Air Force Base , and National Museum of Nuclear Science & History are adjacent to but outside of the city limits. Rio Grande HS and Sandia Peak Tramway are near but not in

198-518: A Protestant-backed institution that opened in Cornwall, Connecticut , in 1816, was set up for male students from a variety of non-Christian peoples, mostly abroad. Native Hawaiians, Muslim and Hindu students from India and Southeast Asia were among the nearly 100 total who attended during its decade of operation. Also enrolled were Native American students from the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes (among

264-550: A controversy in Indian education because the missionaries who had been responsible for educating Native youth used a bilingual instructional policy. In 1870, President Grant criticized this, beginning a new policy with eradication of Native languages as a major goal. In 1871, the United States government prohibited further treaties with Indian nations and also passed the Appropriations Act for Indian Education requiring

330-732: A higher state of virtue and cultivation." In the mid-1600s, Harvard College established the Harvard Indian College on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, supported by the Anglican Society for Propagation of the Gospel . Its few Native American students came from New England. In this period higher education was very limited for all classes, and most 'colleges' taught at a level more similar to today's high schools. In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck , "from

396-446: A little labor, will procure more provisions than the most successful hunt; and a woman will clothe more by spinning and weaving, than a man by hunting. Compared with you, we are but as of yesterday in this land. Yet see how much more we have multiplied by industry, and the exercise of that reason which you possess in common with us. Follow then our example, brethren, and we will aid you with great pleasure ... In 1634, Fr. Andrew White of

462-428: A newspaper, had a well-regarded chorus and orchestra, and developed sports programs. In the summer students often lived with local farm families and townspeople, reinforcing their assimilation, and providing labor at low cost to the families. Carlisle and its curriculum became the model for the Bureau of Indian Affairs . By 1902 it authorized 25 federally funded off-reservation schools in 15 states and territories, with

528-483: A small, changing exhibit that highlights the work of living traditional and contemporary artists. Traditional Indian dances and artist demonstrations are open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. In 2022, the center featured an exhibition titled, Pivot, featuring painted skateboard decks created by younger Native artists. Also in 2022, the center received a $ 100,000 grant from the National Endowment for

594-493: A total enrollment of over 6,000 students. Federal legislation required Native American children to be educated according to Anglo-American standards. Parents had to authorize their children's attendance at boarding schools and, if they refused, officials could use coercion to gain a quota of students from any given reservation. Boarding schools were also established on reservations, where they were often operated by religious missions or institutes, which were generally independent of

660-462: Is now located, used to have a plaque that explained that this park had previously been a burial site for Zuni, Navajo, and Apache students of the school. Ed Tsyitee, a groundskeeper employed by the school, had maintained this cemetery until his retirement in 1964. A later article, according to Sims, "claimed the city and AIS agreed to seed and plant trees in the area to not draw attention to the site." The Paper's report also sites an article published in

726-633: The 1953 Indian Termination Act . Following the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 , the All Indian Pueblo Council (AIPC), a coalition of the 20 Pueblos in New Mexico and Texas, requested and was awarded a contract to operate the school starting in the 1977–78 school year. AIS thus became the first BIA school to be transferred to local tribal control. By this point the campus was in poor condition and

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792-546: The Albuquerque Journal on Saturday, October 6, 1973. This 1973 article says that workers installing a sprinkler system had uncovered remains while working in the park. The AIS campus occupied a 45-acre (18 ha) site near 12th Street and Indian School Road in the Near North Valley neighborhood. At the time the school closed, it comprised 44 buildings. Three of the school buildings were listed on

858-590: The Compulsory Indian Education Act . In 1891, a compulsory attendance law enabled federal officers to forcibly take Native American children from their homes and reservations. The American government believed they were rescuing these children from a world of poverty and depression and teaching them "life skills". Tabatha Toney Booth of the University of Central Oklahoma wrote in her paper Cheaper Than Bullets : "Many parents had no choice but to send their kids, when Congress authorized

924-688: The Five Civilized Tribes of the American Southeast), as well as Lenape (a mid-Atlantic tribe) and Osage students. It was intended to train young people as missionaries, interpreters, translators, etc. who could help guide their peoples. Through the 19th century, the encroachment of European Americans on Indian lands continued. From the 1830s, tribes from both the Southeast and the Great Lakes areas were pushed west of

990-678: The Great Sioux Reservation . One particular article in the Fort Laramie Treaty illustrates the attention the federal government paid to the "civilizing" nature of education: "Article 7. In order to insure the civilization of the Indians entering in this treaty the necessity of education is admitted, especially of such of them as are or may be settled on said agricultural reservations, and they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between

1056-549: The Hopi Nation were imprisoned to Alcatraz because they refused to send their children to boarding school. Between 1778 and 1871, the federal government signed 389 treaties with American Indian tribes. Most of these treaties contained provisions that the federal government would provide education and other services in exchange for land. The last of these treaties, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 , established

1122-605: The National Register of Historic Places : The latter two buildings burned down and were removed from the register. Most AIS students came from the Pueblos and the Navajo Nation . In 1887, the student body was 77% Pueblo, 5% Navajo, and 18% from other groups including Mescalero Apache , Tohono Oʼodham , and Pima . By 1904 the makeup was 61% Pueblo, 36% Navajo, 2% Apache, and 1% from other groups. Starting in

1188-800: The Stillwater Indian Reservation in 1908. Even after the process of closing boarding schools started, day schools remained open. After the Indian Wars, Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt was assigned to supervise Native prisoners of war at Fort Marion which was located in St. Augustine, Florida. The United States Army sent seventy-two warriors from the Cheyenne , Kiowa , Comanche and Caddo nations, to exile in St. Augustine , Florida. They were used as hostages to encourage their peoples in

1254-752: The Wampanoag ...did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period". In the early colonial years, other Indian schools were created by local New England communities, as with the Indian school in Hanover, New Hampshire , in 1769. This gradually developed as Dartmouth College , which has retained some programs for Native Americans. Other schools were also created in the East, such as in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by Moravian missionaries. Religious missionaries from various denominations developed

1320-621: The 1800s who disappeared. In 2021 the plaque disappeared. In July 2021, The Paper reported on the rediscovery of the site of the Albuquerque Indian School's cemetery. Jonathan Sims' investigation was prompted by the recent discoveries of multiple mass graves associated with historical sites of residential schools in Canada. 4-H Park, across the street from where the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

1386-431: The 1930s, as the philosophy around Indian education changed, the school shifted away from the military approach and offered more training in traditional crafts like pottery, weaving, and silversmithing. In 1977, administration of the school was taken over by the All Indian Pueblo Council , a coalition of the 20 Pueblos in New Mexico and Texas. By this point the campus was in disrepair and it closed soon afterward. Most of

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1452-679: The 1950s, the number of Pueblo students sharply decreased as these students began attending on-reservation day schools instead. In 1960, the school's population of around 1,000 students was 87% Navajo and only 12% Pueblo. In 1968, 12 Native Americans from the Ramah, New Mexico area went to Albuquerque Indian School. AIS competed in the New Mexico Activities Association . The school won state championships in baseball (1941 and 1976), boys' basketball (1928), and boys' track and field (1928). The 1928 basketball team compiled

1518-536: The AIPC began advocating to move its students to the Santa Fe Indian School campus instead. The BIA agreed to the move after 22 students had to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty furnace in early 1981. The merger into Santa Fe Indian School was completed later in the year and AIS ceased to exist as an independent entity. After the school closed, the campus was abandoned. In 1984,

1584-558: The American Indian into mainstream American society. In 1918, Carlisle boarding school was closed because Pratt's method of assimilating American Indian students through off-reservation boarding schools was perceived as outdated. That same year Congress passed new Indian education legislation, the Act of May 25, 1918. It generally forbade expenditures for separate education of children less than 1/4 Indian whose parents are citizens of

1650-480: The BIA. By 2007, most of the boarding schools had been closed down, and the number of Native American children in boarding schools had declined to 9,500. Although there are hundreds of deceased Indigenous children yet to be found, investigations are increasing across the United States. ... instead of exterminating a part of the human race ... we had persevered ... and at last had imparted our Knowledge of cultivating and

1716-612: The Choctaw did for both girls and boys. After the Civil War and decades of Indian Wars in the West, more tribes were forced onto reservations after ceding vast amounts of land to the US. With the goal of assimilation, believed necessary so that tribal Indians could survive to become part of American society, the government increased its efforts to provide education opportunities. Some of this

1782-634: The Civil War, when reformers turned their attention to the plight of Indian people and advocated for proper education and treatment so that Indians could become like other citizens. One of the first efforts to accomplish this goal was the establishment of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, founded in 1879." The leader of the school, General Pratt also employed the "outing system" which placed Indians in non-Indian homes during

1848-564: The Commissioner of Indian Affairs to withhold rations, clothing, and annuities of those families that refused to send students. Some agents even used reservation police to virtually kidnap youngsters, but experienced difficulties when the Native police officers would resign out of disgust, or when parents taught their kids a special "hide and seek" game. Sometimes resistant fathers found themselves locked up for refusal. In 1895, nineteen men of

1914-581: The Continental Congress authorized the Indian commissioners to engage ministers as teachers to work with Indians. This movement increased after the War of 1812. In 1819, Congress appropriated $ 10,000 to hire teachers and maintain schools. These resources were allocated to the missionary church schools because the government had no other mechanism to educate the Indian population. In 1887, to provide funding for more boarding schools, Congress passed

1980-611: The English Province of the Society of Jesus established a mission in what is now Southern Maryland . He said the purpose of the mission, as an interpreter told the chief of a Native American tribe there, was "to extend civilization and instruction to his ignorant race, and show them the way to heaven." The mission's annual records report that by 1640, they had founded a community they named St. Mary's . Native Americans were sending their children there to be educated, including

2046-465: The Indians survive increasing contact with European-American settlers who were moving west into their territories. Moses Tom sent his children to an Indian boarding school. I rejoice, brothers, to hear you propose to become cultivators of the earth for the maintenance of your families. Be assured you will support them better and with less labor, by raising stock and bread, and by spinning and weaving clothes, than by hunting. A little land cultivated, and

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2112-550: The Interior Hubert Work . Related to education of Native American children, it recommended that the government: Indian Pueblo Cultural Center "To preserve and perpetuate Pueblo culture and to advance understanding by presenting with dignity and respect, the accomplishments and evolving history of the Puebloan peoples of New Mexico." The center includes a 10,000 sq ft (1,000 m ) museum of

2178-514: The Mississippi, forced off their lands to Indian Territory . As part of the treaties signed for land cessions, the United States was supposed to provide education to the tribes on their reservations. Some religious orders and organizations established missions in Kansas and what later became Oklahoma to work on these new reservations. Some of the Southeast tribes established their own schools, as

2244-607: The United States when they live in an area where adequate free public schools are provided. In 1926, the Department of the Interior (DOI) commissioned the Brookings Institution to conduct a survey of the overall conditions of American Indians and to assess federal programs and policies. The Meriam Report, officially titled The Problem of Indian Administration , was submitted February 21, 1928, to Secretary of

2310-476: The West to remain peaceful. Pratt began to work with them on education in European-American culture , essentially a kind of immersion. While he required changes: the men had to cut their hair and wear common uniforms rather than their traditional clothes, he also granted them increased autonomy and the ability to govern themselves within the prison. Pleased by his success, he was said to have supported

2376-636: The abandoned school buildings burned down and were razed between 1981 and 1993. As of 2022 the sole remaining building is the Employees' New Dormitory and Club . The school opened in 1881 in an adobe hacienda in Duranes, a village just north of Albuquerque which was later absorbed by the city. It was operated by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions under contract to the Department of the Interior and had an initial enrollment of 40. In 1882,

2442-548: The ages of six and sixteen years to attend school" Use of the English language in the education of American Indian children was first mentioned in the report of the Indian Peace Commission , a body appointed by an act of Congress in 1867. The report stated that the difference of languages was a major problem and advocated elimination of Indian languages and replacement of them with English. This report created

2508-579: The arts, to the Aboriginals of the Country ... But it has been conceived to be impracticable to civilize the Indians of North America – This opinion is probably more convenient than just. In the late eighteenth century, reformers starting with President George Washington and Henry Knox , in efforts to " civilize " or otherwise assimilate Native Americans, adopted the practice of assimilating Native American children in current American culture. At

2574-404: The authentic history and artifacts of traditional Pueblo cultures and their contemporary art. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the center, an exhibit titled "We are of This Place: The Pueblo Story" opened on April 2, 2016. The permanent exhibit highlights the creativity and adaptation which made possible the survival, diversity and achievements of each of the 19 Pueblos. The center also includes

2640-400: The city limits. Eight Mile School District (Trenton, ND) was BIE/OIE-funded from 1987 to 2008 See also Template:Department of Defense Education Activity (U.S. military school system) American Indian boarding schools American Indian boarding schools , also known more recently as American Indian residential schools , were established in the United States from the mid-17th to

2706-511: The curriculum was rooted in linguistic imperialism , the English only movement , and forced assimilation enforced by corporal punishment . These sometimes drew children from a variety of tribes. In addition, religious orders established off-reservation schools. In October 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an official apology on behalf of the federal government for the abuse suffered in these boarding schools. In his apology, Biden discusses

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2772-580: The daughter of Tayac, the Pascatoe chief. She was likely an exception because of her father's status, as girls were generally not educated with boys in English Catholic schools of the period. Other students discussed in the records were male. The same records report that in 1677, "a school for humanities was opened by our Society in the centre of Maryland, directed by two of the Fathers; and

2838-554: The drive for political and cultural self-determination in the late 20th century. Since those years, tribal nations have carried out political activism and gained legislation and federal policy that gives them the power to decide how to use federal education funds, how they educate their children, and the authority to establish their own community-based schools. Tribes have also founded numerous tribal colleges and universities on reservations. Tribal control over their schools has been supported by federal legislation and changing practices by

2904-486: The early 20th centuries with a primary objective of " civilizing " or assimilating Native American children and youth into Anglo-American culture. In the process, these schools denigrated Native American culture and made children give up their languages and religion. At the same time the schools provided a basic Western education. These boarding schools were first established by Christian missionaries of various denominations . The missionaries were often approved by

2970-658: The education of freedmen by biracial representatives of the American Missionary Association soon after the Civil War. Following Pratt's sponsored students, Hampton in 1875 developed a program for Native American students. Pratt continued the assimilation model in developing the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Pratt felt that within one generation Native children could be integrated into Euro-American culture. With this perspective he proposed an expensive experiment to

3036-618: The establishment of day schools on reservations. In 1873, the Board of Indian Commissioners argued in a report to Congress that days schools were ineffective at teaching Indian children English because they spent 20 hours per day at home speaking their native language. The Senate and House Indian Affairs committees joined in the criticism of day schools a year later arguing that they operated too much to perpetuate "the Indian as special-status individual rather than preparing for him independent citizenship" "The boarding school movement began after

3102-569: The federal government to start both missions and schools on reservations , especially in the lightly populated areas of the West . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries especially, the government paid Church denominations to provide basic education to Native American children on reservations, and later established its own schools on reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also founded additional off-reservation boarding schools. Similarly to schools that taught speakers of immigrant languages ,

3168-399: The federal government. Pratt wanted the government to fund a school that would require Native children to move away from their homes to attend a school far away. The Carlisle Indian school, which became the template for over 300 schools across the United States, opened in 1879. Carlisle Barracks, an abandoned Pennsylvanian military base, was used for the school. It became the first school that

3234-620: The first schools as part of their missions near indigenous settlements, believing they could extend education and Christianity to Native Americans. East of the Appalachian Mountains, most Indians had been forced off their traditional lands before the American Revolutionary War. They had few reservations. In the early nineteenth century, the new republic continued to deal with questions about how Native American peoples would live. The Foreign Mission School ,

3300-650: The history of boarding schools and blames the government for not apologizing sooner. He recognizes this kind of apology had never been issued before and addresses it to a crowd of Indigenous people. Children were typically immersed in the Anglo-American culture of the upper class . Schools forced removal of indigenous cultural signifiers: cutting the children's hair, having them wear American-style uniforms, forbidding them from speaking their mother tongues , and replacing their tribal names with English language names (saints' names under some religious orders) for use at

3366-604: The local diocese, in the case of Catholic orders. Because of the distances, often Native American children were separated from their families and tribes when they attended such schools on other reservations. At the peak of the federal program, the BIA supported 350 boarding schools. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when students arrived at boarding schools, their lives altered dramatically. They were given short haircuts (a source of shame for boys of many tribes, who considered long hair part of their maturing identity), required to wear uniforms, and to take English names for use at

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3432-524: The motto, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." Pratt said in a speech in 1892: "A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead." Pratt provided for some of the younger men to pursue more education at the Hampton Institute , a historically black college founded in 1868 for

3498-443: The native youth, applying themselves assiduously to study, made good progress. Maryland and the recently established school sent two boys to St. Omer who yielded in abilities to few Europeans, when competing for the honour of being first in their class. So that not gold, nor silver, nor the other products of the earth alone, but men also are gathered from thence to bring those regions, which foreigners have unjustly called ferocious, to

3564-432: The property was transferred from the BIA to the AIPC, which still owned it as of 2002. Between 1981 and 1993, nearly all of the school buildings were destroyed by a series of fires. At least 29 separate fires occurred, with 16 in 1987 alone. Most of the fires were suspected to have been started intentionally. When the last school building burned down in 1993, witnesses saw six men leaving the scene. The only building to survive

3630-466: The risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. As claimed by Dr. Jon Reyhner, he described methods of discipline by mentioning that: "The boys were laid on an empty barrel and whipped with a long leather strap". Methods such as these have left physical injuries and made the institutions dangerous for these children as they lived in fear of violence. Many children did not recover from their wounds caused by abuse as they were often left untreated. In 1776,

3696-399: The school moved to its permanent site at 12th Street and Indian School Road. By 1884, the enrollment was 158. It became directly operated by the BIA in 1886. In 1925, the school expanded from primary grades to high school, and enrollment peaked at about 1,400 students in the 1930s. Enrollment declined, with prospective students instead enrolling in on- or near-reservation public schools, after

3762-536: The school. Sometimes the names were based on their own; other times they were assigned at random. The children were not allowed to speak their own languages, even between each other. They were required to attend church services and were often baptized as Christians. As was typical of the time, discipline was stiff in many schools. It often included assignment of extra chores for punishment, solitary confinement and corporal punishment, including beatings by teachers using sticks, rulers and belts. The treatment of these children

3828-842: The schools, as part of assimilation and to Christianize them. The schools were usually harsh, especially for younger children who had been forcibly separated from their families and forced to abandon their Native American identities and cultures. Children sometimes died in the school system due to infectious disease. Investigations of the later 20th century revealed cases of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Summarizing recent scholarship from Native perspectives, Dr. Julie Davis said: Boarding schools embodied both victimization and agency for Native people and they served as sites of both cultural loss and cultural persistence. These institutions, intended to assimilate Native people into mainstream society and eradicate Native cultures, became integral components of American Indian identities and eventually fueled

3894-426: The summers and for three years following high school to learn non-Indian culture (ibid). Government subsidies were made to participating families. Pratt believed that this was both educating American Indians and making them Americans. In 1900, 1,880 Carlisle students participated in this system, each with his or her own bank account. In the late 1800s, the federal government pursued a policy of total assimilation of

3960-435: The time the society was dominated by agriculture, with many yeomen subsistence farmers, and rural society made up of some small towns and few large cities. The Civilization Fund Act of 1819 promoted this policy by providing funding to societies (mostly religious missionaries) who worked on Native American education, often at schools established in or near Native American communities. The reformers believed this policy would help

4026-750: The upkeep of the schools. Unclean and overpopulated living conditions led to the spread of disease and many students did not receive enough food. Bounties were offered for students who tried to run away and many students committed suicide. Students who died were sometimes placed in coffins and buried in the school cemetery by their own classmates. Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and admitted to these boarding schools. Their cultural traditions were discarded when they were taught about American ideas of refinement and civilization. This forced assimilation increased substance abuse and suicides among these students as they suffered mental illnesses such as depression and PTSD. These illnesses also increased

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4092-639: Was Building 232, the Employees' New Dormitory and Club , which was across the street from the main part of the campus. This building was renovated in 2013 to house the Native American Community Academy charter school. In 2009 the city government and the Indian Pueblos Federal Development Corporation created an agreement on possible development of the site. There was a plaque that commemorated Native American children who attended in

4158-849: Was abusive. They suffered physical, sexual, cultural and spiritual abuse and neglect, and experienced treatment that in many cases constituted torture for speaking their Native languages. Anna Moore said, regarding the Phoenix Indian School : If we were not finished [scrubbing the dining room floors] when the 8 a.m. whistle sounded, the dining room matron would go around strapping us while we were still on our hands and knees. The children who were admitted into boarding schools experienced several forms of abuse. They were given European names, forced to speak English, and were not allowed to practice their culture. They took classes on how to conduct manual labor such as farming and housekeeping. When they were not in class, they were expected to maintain

4224-401: Was not on a reservation. The Carlisle curriculum was heavily based on the culture and society of rural America. The classes included vocational training for boys and domestic science for girls. Students worked to carry out chores that helped sustain the farm and food production for the self-supporting school. They were also able to produce goods to sell at the market. Carlisle students produced

4290-482: Was permitted on any single reservation. The various denominations lobbied the government to be permitted to set up missions, even in competition with each other. Day schools were also created to implement federal mandates. Compared to boarding schools, day schools were a less expensive option that usually received less parental pushback. One example is the Fallon Indian Day School opened on

4356-579: Was related to the progressive movement, which believed the only way for the tribal peoples to make their way was to become assimilated, as American society was rapidly changing and urbanizing. Following the Indian Wars, missionaries founded additional schools in the West with boarding facilities. Given the vast areas and isolated populations, they could support only a limited number of schools. Some children necessarily had to attend schools that were distant from their communities. Initially under President Ulysses S. Grant , only one religious organization or order

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