Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________
The American West Primary Source
Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. 12 The American West Rules for Indian Schools 39. The Sabbath must be properly observed. There shall be a Sabbath school or some other suitable service every Sunday, which pupils shall be required to attend. The superintendent may require employees to attend and participate in all the above exercises; but any employee declining as a matter of conscience shall be excused from attending and participating in any or all religious exercises . . . 41. All instruction must be in the English language. Pupils must be compelled to converse with each other in English, and should be properly rebuked or punished for persistent violation of this rule. Every effort should be made to encourage them to abandon their tribal language. To facilitate this work it is essential that all school employees be able to speak English fluently, and that they speak English exclusively to the pupils, and also to each other in the presence of pupils . . . 43. Except in cases of emergency, pupils shall not be removed from school either by their parents or others, nor shall they be transferred from a Government to a private school without special authority from the Indian Office . . . 47. So far as practicable, a uniform style of clothing for the school should be adopted. Two plain, substantial suits, with extra pair of trousers for each boy, and three neat, well-made dresses for each girl, if kept mended, ought to suffice for week-day wear for one year. For Sunday wear each pupil should be furnished with a better suit. The pupils should also be supplied with underwear adapted to the climate, with night clothes, and with handkerchiefs, and, if the climate requires it, with overcoats and cloaks and with overshoes . . . 49. There should be a flag staff at every school, and the American flag should be hoisted, in suitable weather, in the morning and lowered at sunset daily.
ABOUT THE SOURCE By the late 1800s, the U.S. government had forced most Native Americans onto reservations. Having taken their land, the government next tried to force the Indians to abandon their culture. Government officials wanted Indians to live like white people. The government built schools to Americanize Native American children. The document below is a list of some of the rules that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs set for these schools.
As you read, note how the rules promoted the governments policy of Americanization. The following words may be new to you: facilitate, fluently, practicable, hoisted, logomachy. You may want to use a dictionary to look them up. Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________ The American West Primary Source Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. 13 The American West 50. Special hours should be allotted for recreation. Provision should be made for outdoor sports, and the pupils should be encouraged in daily healthful exercise under the eye of a school employee; simple games should also be devised for indoor amusement. They should be taught the sports and games enjoyed by white youth, such as baseball, hopscotch, croquet, marbles, bean bags, dominoes, checkers, logomachy, and other word and letter games, and the use of dissected maps, etc. The girls should be instructed in simple fancy work, knitting, netting, crocheting, different kinds of embroidery, etc . . . 56. A regular and efficient system of industrial training must be a part of the work of each school. At least half of the time of each boy and girl should be devoted theretothe work to be of such character that they may be able to apply the knowledge and experience gained, in the locality where they may be expected to reside after leaving school. In pushing forward the school-room training of these boys and girls, teachers, and especially superintendents, must not lose sight of the great necessity for fitting their charges for the every-day life of their after years . . .
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Source: Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1890 WHAT DID YOU LEARN? 1. What areas of the students lives do these rules cover? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. What was the long-term goal of the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding Native American children? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. How do you think the person or people who wrote these rules felt about Native American culture? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________