Spread of Boarding Schools
"Between 1877 and 1900 the number of boarding schools increased from 48 to 153, and the number of day schools rose from 102 to 154. The total number of federally supported Indian schools doubled, from 150 to 307, and by 1900 more than 21,000 Indian children attended federal Indian schools of one kind or another, including 17,708 boarding students" ("Indian Boarding Schools").
“It is a mere waste of time to attempt to teach the average adult Indian the ways of the white man. He can be tamed, and that is about all.” "In Indian civilization I am a Baptist because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked." |
"They very specifically targeted Native nations that were the most recently hostile. There was a very conscious effort to recruit the children of leaders, and this was also explicit, essentially to hold those children hostage. The idea was it would be much easier to keep those communities pacified with their children held in a school somewhere far away."
- Tsianina Lomawaima, head of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona
- Tsianina Lomawaima, head of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona
Expansion of Reservations, Boarding Schools, Day Schools, and Mission Schools
Hover above maps to see date. Click to enlarge.
Indian Boarding Schools quickly became a popular way to deal with the "Indian problem". Through a variety of controversial methods, these schools were designed to stamp out the Indian culture in young children.