Resilience
Resilience of the assimilation process was seen in a variety of ways.
Merriam Report
The Meriam Report, published in 1928 spoke to the affairs of the American Indian. It addressed issues such as health and education, amongst others. For the purpose of this unit, students will focus mainly on the Education sub-section. The first line of the report reads, “The most fundamental need in Indian education is a change in point of view.”54 It follows up with comments about how the boarding schools program was severely underfunded with not enough resources to support the needs of the children in the schools. The report also criticized the Outing Program stating that it provided cheap labor for communities but did not provide true vocational training for the students.
The Society of American Indians (SAI), established in 1911, was comprised of a group of intellectual Indian members who met regularly until 1923. As a group, the members advocated for Indian rights and provided legal services to Indians and tribes. Their work helped to make was the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 possible.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 is a federal law that serves to protect Indian children and their families. It originated due to the extremely high rates of the removal of Indian children from their families by both public and private agencies. This law helps to "protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families."55
These acts of resistance and resilience are acknowledged by the government when in September of 2000 at the 175th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs department of the Interior, stated
This agency forbade the speaking of Indian languages, prohibited
the conduct of traditional religious activities, outlawed traditional
government and made Indian people ashamed of who they were.
Worst of all, the Bureau of Indian Affairs committed these acts against
the children entrusted to its boarding schools, brutalizing them
emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Even in this
era of self-determination, when the Bureau of Indian Affairs is at long
last serving as an advocate for Indian people in an atmosphere of
mutual respect, the legacy of these misdeeds haunts us. The trauma
of shame, fear and anger has passed from one generation to the next,
and manifests itself in the rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, and
domestic violence that plague Indian country.”56
In summary, Indian boarding schools affected many students and their families during and after their time at school as well as the American Indian community still today. As an assimilation program, one could debate whether the goal of students attending the schools achieved its goal. If we return to Gordon’s theory, we can argue that some of the stages (at some level) have occurred because of students’ participation in the boarding schools. However, it is much more of a complicated answer – one that I look forward to having my students analyze and answer for themselves.
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