Ojibway Tribe and Native American Boarding Schools

Introduction to the Ojibway Tribe and Federal Education Policy

Native American boarding schools, known as Indian Schools, were a defining and often traumatic institution for Native American children in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Made mandatory by the federal government, these schools kept children and parents apart and attempted to erase all traces of Native language and customs. For most young Native Americans, the boarding schools they attended left nothing but painful memories and emotional scars.

The Ojibway tribe is one of the largest and most geographically widespread bands of Indigenous people in North America, with over 150 bands located mostly in the Northeast and Canada (Editors). They are known by a variety of names: as one historian notes, "The various tribal names in use include Chippewa, Ojibway, Ojibwa, Ojibwe, Anishinabe, and Anishinaabe" (Child 117). The tribe first lived on the East Coast of North America before migrating to their current tribal lands, largely in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Regarding the origin of the tribal name, one historian writes, "There are several explanations for the derivation of the word 'Ojibwa.' Some say it is related to the word 'puckered' and that it refers to a distinctive type of moccasin with high cuffs and a puckered seam" (Roy).

Like most Native Americans, the Ojibway people were forced to send their young people to boarding schools located far from the reservations. As author Roy explains, "Federal policy toward Native education emphasized Native American assimilation into U.S. society. Consequently, instruction in vocational skills was promoted over the teaching of Native traditions. In fact, Native traditions and languages were forbidden in the educational context provided by the government and mission schools" (Roy). These boarding schools became a deeply contentious part of Ojibway life for decades, and their educational model effectively ended centuries of Ojibway culture, traditions, and ways of life.

How Boarding Schools Disrupted Ojibway Family Life

Boarding schools prepared children for life in white society, typically through some form of service or trade work. Few of the teachers were Native American, and the children quickly lost their traditional language, culture, and belief systems as a result. The schools tore families apart, a disruption that was especially difficult for the Ojibway, whose lives had long revolved around seasonal rhythms — particularly the seasonal harvesting cycles. As one author notes, "The routine of boarding school life presented problems for Ojibwe students and their parents whose lives had long revolved around seasonal and natural rhythms. School administrators grew frustrated because those students who did return home for a vacation stayed away from school until tribal celebrations were over in the summer" (Child 52).

Families also harvested wild rice together, relying on their children to help with the harvest. Because rice was a staple of their diet, families resisted sending children off to school before the harvest was complete. Another author observes, "Truancy, a direct result of population movements, emerged as a contributing factor to the creation of Indian boarding schools in the twentieth century. Clearly, Ojibway families were inclined to let nothing stand in the way of traditional harvests" (Vennum 155). These harvests could last well into October, and many boarding school directors simply waited until the harvest was over before beginning the school year (Vennum 154).

Student Experiences and Resistance

Most students at these Indian boarding schools did not enjoy the experience. Running away was a common occurrence. Author Child notes, "For many Indian children who lived and worked at boarding schools, often enduring many unhappy years before they again saw their homes or families, running away became a common occurrence, indeed even a universal thread that united boarding school students through the decades" (Child 6). There are even accounts of parents being charged with kidnapping because they kept their children home from the government-mandated schools (Child 5).

Letters home from boarding school students reveal just how deeply unhappy many children were. One boy wrote: "I do not like the food and we have to pay for everything we do. I am going home so you must not be sorry I will get there some day if you send the money. I have to pay 15.00 dollar to go home if you send it I go home right away" (Child 87). A young Ojibway girl from the Red Lake Reservation offered a simpler explanation after she and a companion escaped from Flandreau late one Saturday night: "We wanted to go home because we were just sick of this place" (Child 89). Visits home were frowned upon and discouraged, and most Indian families could not afford the long journey back from the schools. As a result, children often remained at the schools year-round until their schooling was complete.

Conclusion: Legacy of the Boarding Schools

Native American boarding schools were phased out in the 1930s, and after that, tribes developed their own schools on their reservations. The Native American boarding schools may have meant well, but they forced families apart, abolished Native language and traditions, and eliminated Native culture and religion. One young man, reflecting on his experience, came to understand its full weight: "But as he grew older, he says, he began to understand the implications of his schooling and to recognize the equally important value of the Chippewa education: 'Nothing the white man could teach me would take the place of what I was learning from the forest, the lakes, and the river'" (Spack 135). It has taken the Ojibway and other Native peoples decades to truly begin reclaiming these traditions, and thankfully, the boarding schools are no longer able to strip them from the people's lives.

References

Child, Brenda J. Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900–1940. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Coleman, Michael C. American Indian Children at School, 1850–1930. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1993.

Editors. "Native Languages of the Americas: Chippewa." Native Languages.org. 2008. 5 Dec. 2008.

Meyer, Melissa L. Ethnicity and Dispossession at a Minnesota Anishinaabe Reservation, 1889–1920. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Roy, Lorraine. "Ojibwa." EveryCulture.com. 2008. 5 Dec. 2008. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Ojibwa.html.

Spack, Ruth. America's Second Tongue: American Indian Education and the Ownership of English, 1860–1900. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

Todd, Anne M. The Ojibwa. Mankato, MN: Bridgestone Books, 2002.

Vennum, Thomas. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988.