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80-604: It is one of four such off-reservation boarding schools directly operated by the BIE. It offers grades 9–12. Established in 1872 as a Presbyterian mission school, it is the oldest continuously operating Indian boarding school in the United States. The Presbyterian Church established this as a mission school in 1872, serving grades 1–6. The federal government took over operations in 1877 and opened dormitories in 1892 for boarding students. High school classes were later added. In

160-518: 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

240-550: 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

320-473: A federally recognized tribe possessed. The bills excluded any splinter groups, political factions, and any groups formed after December 31, 2002. In 2013 the Bureau was greatly affected by sequestration funding cuts of $ 800 million, which particularly affected the already-underfunded Indian Health Service . The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been sued four times in class action overtime lawsuits brought by

400-582: A group of around 500  American Indians with the AIM took over the BIA building, the culmination of their Trail of Broken Treaties walk. They intended to bring attention to American Indian issues, including their demands for renewed negotiation of treaties, enforcement of treaty rights and improvement in living standards. They occupied the Department of Interior headquarters from November 3 to 9, 1972. The BIA

480-732: 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

560-633: A history of other family members having attended. A third group seek a new environment for the "adventure", as Matt Baney of the Argus Leader reports. In 2015 Flandreau School had 279 students; while the majority were from South Dakota, there were 34 from Nebraska and 7 from Iowa. The athletic teams are called the Indians. Erin Grace of the Omaha World-Herald wrote in 2015 that "It is

640-446: 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

720-525: A major class action case related to trust lands, was settled in December 2009. The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Interior, of which the BIA is a part. A major responsibility has been the management of the Indian trust accounts. This was a class-action lawsuit regarding the federal government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts. A settlement fund totaling $ 3.4 billion

800-480: 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

880-493: 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

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960-690: A word used gingerly around here." In 1989 the school was in South Dakota athletics class AA. It did not have an American football team. That year it requested to be in class A. 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) 44°03′40″N 96°35′34″W  /  44.0611°N 96.5929°W  / 44.0611; -96.5929 Indian boarding school American Indian boarding schools , also known more recently as American Indian residential schools , were established in

1040-537: Is one of the oldest federal agencies in the U.S., with roots tracing back to the Committee on Indian Affairs established by Congress in 1775. First headed by Benjamin Franklin , the committee oversaw trade and treaty relations with various indigenous peoples, until the establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in 1824. The BIA gained statutory authority in 1832, and in 1849

1120-436: Is to be distributed to class members. This is to compensate for claims that prior U.S. officials had mismanaged the administration of Indian trust assets. In addition, the settlement establishes a $ 2 billion fund enabling federally recognized tribes to voluntarily buy back and consolidate fractionated land interests. The bureau is currently trying to evolve from a supervisory to an advisory role. However, this has been

1200-636: The American Indian Movement  (AIM) worried the U.S. government; the FBI responded both overtly and covertly (by creating COINTELPRO and other programs) to suppress possible uprisings among native peoples. As a branch of the U.S. government with personnel on Indian reservations , BIA police were involved in political actions such as: The occupation of BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1972 : On November 3, 1972,

1280-727: The American Revolutionary War . In 1789, the U.S. Congress placed Native American relations within the newly formed War Department. By 1806 the Congress had created a Superintendent of Indian Trade , or " Office of Indian Trade " within the War Department, who was charged with maintaining the United States Government Fur Trade Factory System . The post was held by Thomas L. McKenney from 1816 until

1360-648: 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

1440-674: The Federation of Indian Service Employees , a union which represents the federal civilian employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, the assistant secretary of Indian affairs and the Office of the Special Trustee for Indian Affairs. The grievances allege widespread violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and claim tens of millions of dollars in damages. Cobell vs. Salazar ,

1520-688: 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

1600-623: 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

1680-549: 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

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1760-522: The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, the BIA has increasingly emphasized tribal self-determination and peer-to-peer relationships between tribal governments and federal government. Between 1824 and 1977, the BIA was led by a total of 42 commissioners, of whom six were of indigenous descent. Since the creation of the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in 1977, all thirteen occupants up to

1840-800: 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

1920-629: The U.S. federal government for indigenous tribes . It renders services to roughly 2 million indigenous Americans across 574 federally recognized tribes. The BIA is governed by a director and overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, who answers to the Secretary of the Interior . The BIA works with tribal governments to help administer law enforcement and justice; promote development in agriculture, infrastructure, and

2000-752: 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

2080-574: The 1831 court case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia . The Supreme Court originally refused to hear the case, because the Cherokee nation was not an independent state and could not litigate in the federal court. It was not until the court case Worcester v. Georgia , when Chief Justice John Marshall allowed Native American tribes to be recognized as "domestic dependent nations." These court cases set precedent for future treaties, as more Native tribes were recognized as domestic and dependent nations. This period

2160-535: The 1940s the Lakota campaigned to close the school but it did not succeed. Since the mid-20th century, public school districts and tribally controlled schools have provided education to more Native American students. BIE funding decreased for this and similar schools after a change of rules in 2004. Many facilities were closed and staff were laid off. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, such federal boarding schools were intended to assimilate Native American students into

2240-558: 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

2320-429: The BIA. In particular, problems in enforcing treaties, handling records and trust land incomes were disputed. In 2002 Congress worked with the Bureau to prepare bill S.1392, which established procedures for tribal recognition. A separate bill S. 1393 ensured full and fair participation in decision-making processes at the Bureau via grants. Both bills addressed what services, limitations, obligations, and responsibilities

2400-431: 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

2480-612: 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

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2560-634: 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

2640-564: 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

2720-581: 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

2800-611: 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

2880-465: 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

2960-663: The Interior Hubert Work . Related to education of Native American children, it recommended that the government: Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs ( BIA ), also known as Indian Affairs ( IA ), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior . It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to Native Americans and Alaska Natives , and administering and managing over 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km ) of reservations held in trust by

3040-514: 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

3120-585: The Senate Committee on the Indian Affairs made the final settlement in 1850. This settlement, "supported the position of the Cherokee that the cost of maintaining the tribesman during their removal and the years upkeep after their arrival West should be paid by the federal government, and the expense of the removal agents should be paid as well." In 1832 Congress established the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs . In 1849 Indian Affairs

3200-525: The United States from the mid-17th to 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

3280-493: 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

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3360-476: 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

3440-399: The abolition of the factory system in 1822. The government licensed traders to have some control in Indian territories and gain a share of the lucrative trade. The abolition of the factory system left a vacuum within the U.S. government regarding Native American relations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was formed on March 11, 1824, by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun , who created

3520-518: The agency as a division within his department, without authorization from the United States Congress . He appointed McKenney as the first head of the office, which went by several names. McKenney preferred to call it the " Indian Office ", whereas the current name was preferred by Calhoun. The Bureau was initially organized by region, with commissions for Superintendents of Indian Affairs granted to prominent citizens in each region of

3600-548: 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

3680-579: 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

3760-556: The assistant secretary for Indian affairs. The current assistant secretary is Bryan Newland . The BIA oversees 574 federally recognized tribes through four offices: Agencies related to Native Americans originated in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress created a trio of Indian-related agencies. Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry were appointed among the early commissioners to negotiate treaties with Native Americans to obtain their neutrality during

3840-511: 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

3920-580: 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

4000-480: The dominant Anglo-American culture: teaching English, Christianity, and European American culture. By the early 21st century, many federal schools had become centers of second chances, assisting students who were orphaned, had learning problems, or difficult home lives. It is open to children who are members of federally recognized tribes . In 2002 the school admitted 95% of applicants. Those who were not admitted were generally limited to children with disabilities which

4080-554: 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

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4160-411: The economy; enhance tribal governance; manage natural resources; and generally advance the quality of life in tribal communities. Educational services are provided by Bureau of Indian Education —the only other agency under the Assistant Secretary for Indian affairs—while health care is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through its Indian Health Service . The BIA

4240-658: 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

4320-618: 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

4400-569: 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 ,

4480-399: 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

4560-620: 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 ,

4640-650: 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

4720-604: 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

4800-524: 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

4880-443: 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

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4960-400: The present day have been Indigenous, including Bay Mills Indian Community's Bryan Newland, appointed and confirmed to the position in 2021. As of 2020, the majority of BIA employees are American Indian or Alaska Native, the most at any time in the agency's history. Headquartered in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. , the BIA is headed by a bureau director who reports to

5040-466: 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,

5120-436: The school could not accommodate. The federal government covers the cost of classes, room and board for students. This is part of its treaty obligations related to establishing the reservations and peace after the Indian Wars. In 1972 there were about 600 students. In 2002 there were 370 students. In 2002 most students attending Flandreau were seeking environments more stable than those at home. Some are legacy students, with

5200-536: 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

5280-842: 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

5360-402: The southern, midwestern and western United States. These superindenents were authorized to negotiate with tribes and oversaw Indian agents in their assigned region. The bureau was eventually reorganized in 1878, with superintendencies removed. These were eventually replaced with regional offices, which continue today. The BIA's goal to protect domestic and dependent nations, was reaffirmed by

5440-426: 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

5520-435: 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

5600-750: 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

5680-777: 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

5760-416: Was designed by its agents to decrease the power of American Indian leaders. The bureau was renamed from Office of Indian Affairs to Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1947. With the rise of American Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s and increasing demands for enforcement of treaty rights and sovereignty, the 1970s were a particularly turbulent period of BIA history. The rise of activist groups such as

5840-538: Was encompassed by westward expansion and the removal of Native Nations. In 1833 Georgians fought for the removal of the Cherokee Nation from the state of Georgia. Despite the rulings of Worcester v. Georgia, President Jackson and John C. Calhoun created a plan for removal. The removal of the Cherokee Nation occurred in 1838 and was accompanied by the Treaty of 1846. When reparations from the treaty were unfulfilled,

5920-542: Was implicated in supporting controversial tribal presidents, notably Dick Wilson , who was charged with being authoritarian; using tribal funds for a private paramilitary force, the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (or "GOON squad"), which he employed against opponents; intimidation of voters in the 1974 election; misappropriation of funds, and other misdeeds. Many native peoples continue to oppose policies of

6000-401: 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

6080-482: 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

6160-579: 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

6240-424: Was to train students in the proper behavior according to prevailing standards of "civilization." That way they could assimilate into American society and not be permanently trapped in reservations. The boarding schools prohibited students from using their indigenous languages, practices, and cultures. Another force for assimilation and Euro-American control was the Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal police force. This

6320-486: Was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior. Until the formal adoption of its current name in 1947, the BIA was variably known as the Indian office, the Indian bureau, the Indian department, and the Indian Service. The BIA's mission and mandate historically reflected the U.S. government's prevailing policy of forced assimilation of native peoples and the annexation of their land; beginning with

6400-525: Was transferred to the newly established U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1869, Ely Samuel Parker was the first Native American to be appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs. One of the most controversial policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was the late 19th to early 20th century decision to educate native children in separate boarding schools , such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School . The goal

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