Chapter 5, Illness and Death- Chapter 6, Working for the School- Chapter 7, Runaway Boys, Resistant Girls

Illness and Death
Parents constantly worried about their children while they were away at boarding school.  When an Ojibwe father did not hear from his son at Flandreau after sending three letters and a Christmas box, the family thought that maybe he was sick and does not want them to know it.  The father asked the school to please have him write because they were worried.  The parents worried with good reason because communicable diseases flourished in the boarding schools.  Year after year superintendents reported epidemics of measels and influenza in their annual reports.  There were also numerous cases of mumps and tuberculosis that required students to be sent away in sanitoriums.

As late as 1935, a year when Ojibwes represented the second largest tribe enrolled at Haskell, the school reported 82 students with measles, nine cases of tb and several active cases of trachoma.  I wasn't familiar with what trachoma was so I looked it up and found it to be an infectious eye disease, and the leading cause of the world's infectious blindness.  It is spread by direct contact with eye, nose, and throat secretions from affected individuals, or contact with inanimate objects, such as towels and/or washcloths, that have had similar contact with these secretions.  I can imagine how contagious this must have been especially with all of the close contact at a school.   In one surprising letter sent from the Flandreau school to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the superintendent regretted to make known that one of the teachers had a very obvious case of small pox and was actually broken out while he taught in his classes.  All the superintendent could do was hope that there would not be a serious outbreak.

In 1897, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Jones (pictured left) called upon school officials and indian agents to fill the schools to capacity in order to futher the work of assimilation.  For the next several years Jones enrollment campaign brought great numbers of new students to the boarding schools.  Of course this meant more funding for schools and an increase in salaries.  This also meant that hazardous and sometimes deadly environment was created because they enrolled sick children right along with the healthy students.  A great increase in disease was reported from the boarding schools.  It was noted that trachoma was second leading health threat to Native Americans, after tuberculosis.  Nearly every case gave a history of contracting the disease from a boarding school.  Commissioner Jones mediocre response to this epidemic was to issue a statement saying that care should be given to prevent the spread of trachoma in government schools and that students should use individual towels.  In 1909 Congress finally appropriated money to study and treat trachoma.  On the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, over half of 1,716 Ojibwes had trachoma. 

Working for the School

When parents sent their children to school they had hopes that they would receive a good education in exchange for the time that they were away from their families.  They were reluctant to send them away but many became convinced of the necessity for formal training and familiarity with a trade, especially since indian communities failed to prosper under the policies of the allottment act.  When children were sent away, parents would make requests for them to be in certain areas such as carpentry or playing piano or starting a vocation of working in the country.  Some parents stated that the experience to work with white people would be good because they have also experienced that type of  'outing system'.    A few parents also voiced their satisfaction of their children working and being able to earn their own money.   In the early years, the schools listed a variety of manual trades for boys, but farming was the main activity.  Girls would be confined to domestic training. 

In 1897 the commissiner of indian affairs authorized a meager payment scheduled for the student laborers and the school officials would monitor small account savings for the students.  When new to a particular trade, the student did not receive compensation.  After four months, students would receive 8 cents for working an 8 hour day.  Second year students received 12 cents a day.  After three years at school, students were entitled to 24 cents a day.  It was also stated that student farmhands should receive 12 cents for an eight hour day except during harvest, when they received 25 cents for a ten hour day.  This program came under attack years later, when child labor laws said that work should be less of a burden.  Although agricultural work was more popular at Flandreau and Haskell, boys had other vocational opportunities.  In 1896 a tailor shop opened and Flandreau and boys were encouraged to learn to design their own clothing.  Shoe repair and harness making were also added later.

Educators and reformers expected education to transform Indian women's lives and they expected young girls to shoulder an incredible responsibility.  Vocational training for girls was labeled 'domestic science', what we now call home economics.  During the first decade of Flandreau's operation, girls worked at sewing, cooking, baking, laundering, housekeeping and nursing.  Not coincidentally all of their activities were basically to the upkeep of the school.

Runaway Boys, Resistant Girls

Many students expressed their frustraion with school life by running away.  Administrators from the schools, acting in cooperation with indian agents back on the reservation spent much of their time trying to track down runaways or 'deserters' as officials called them.  Rewards were often offered and as a futher measure, students were sometimes locked into rooms so they would not escape.  It was common for the students to complain about the food and uniforms as reasons for runing away.  The stories that these students tell seem familiar and I really feel for them.  Some seem like adventures and other seem so desperate to get home.  Running away was the most popular form of protest used but it wasn't the only kind of rebellion.  In 1912 Haskell students sent a petition to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, asking him to close their school.  The superintendent J.R. Wise was embarassed by the petition and said that the students did not appreciate their opportunity to attend Haskell. 

In 1918 one boy from Flandreau was expelled after attempting to burn the boys dormitory.  This wasn't the only case of arson. The book stated a case of a 'mysterious' fire in 1891 that destroyed a boarding school for Winnebago students in which all students were sent home.  The children who atended boarding schools between 1900 and 1940 were often rebellious.  The decision to runaway was the last resort.  It was a way of coping with the many inadequacies of the boarding school. 

It seems as the years went by and times changed, the rules at boarding schools became more lenient.  This was probably due to the Merriam Report.  As the students got more rights they seemed to want to push the boundries more and use their voices more, and also stand up for themselves.   All of this makes me think of how I would have been in a boarding school.  What kind of student would I be?  A rebellious one? One who listened and got their work done all the time?  A teacher's pet?  I guess I am glad that I don't know.  But it sure makes me thankful for my education and everything else. 

I found this on youtube and thought it was interesting because it talks about the boarding school experiences of people from the Red Lake area and the author from my book interviewed people from that area.  People tell their stories first hand and it gets pretty graphic.  I initially thought it was a minute long clip, come to find out it is a whole free movie. 

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