Indian Boarding School Research Paper

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Kevin Conrad Laurie A. Muffley HTY-110HM-DL02 2 October 2015 Indian Boarding School Essay First off in this essay I’d like to discuss how and why the boarding schools came into existence and what the purpose of these institutions was. These schools started being established in the 1870’s, because Americans convinced Congress that education could change the Native American populations. Americans wanted Natives to contribute to society and become Christians. One of the first efforts to accomplish this goal was the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, founded by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in 1879. Pratt was a leader in the assimilation through education policy. Believing that Indian ways were inferior to those of whites, he subscribed to…show more content…
Henry Ward Beecher came from a very intelligent and famous family in history. He attended the ministry and began working at the Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. Eventually his talent took him on to bigger and better things “A talented writer and speaker, Beecher soon developed a strong following and became a powerful force in the New York religious press” (Clark). Soon he became known for being a popular abolitionist and made himself very popular in the Republican Party. He urged Lincoln to issue the Emancipation proclamation and became known for his views on civil liberties. Henry Ward Beecher’s quote is about transforming the Native Americans into civilized productive Americans. He describes the schools as stomachs that digest the Native American children and turns them into Americans. This is probably a prime example of how most missionaries describe the process of converting people of different background and cultures to Christianity. I feel that he was against the Indian Boarding Schools because of his strong religious views. He felt that it was his moral duty to not stand by while certain groups or ethnicities were abused or taken advantage of. “Although he supported a variety of liberal political issues ranging from abolitionism and temperance to women’s rights and the expansion of education, he particularly excelled as…show more content…
The whites originally wanted to transform the Native’s into “Americans”. If look at the Native Americans that made it through the schools they are very damaged emotionally. They were taken from their families at a young age. Even after they completed these brutal schools they were still not accepted into white America nor were they accepted back into their original tribe because of how different they had become. This created depression in many Native Americans because they did not feel like they belonged anywhere. I believe that the whites should have followed the words of Sitting Bull. They should have allowed the Native’s to live on their own land and reservations and practice their own culture. Nothing came good of trying to forcibly convert the children into civilized
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