Indian Boarding Schools And Ethnic Identity: An Example From The Southern Plains Tribes Of Oklahoma

Abstract

In the late 1800s, boarding schools sponsored by the United States government were created for the education and socialization of American Indian youth. These institutions gradually and purposefully pursued a policy of total assimilation of American Indians into the mainstream of society. The boarding schools failed in their ultimate goal to assimilate Indians. Surprisingly, however, they did attain limited acceptance among many Oklahoma Indians. The segregationist policies of the boarding schools are interpreted as having inadvertently perpetuated the formation of an Indian identity. Frequent visiting by family, segregation of Indian from non-Indian students, and symbolic association of the boarding schools with federal government obligations are identified as factors which contributed to the maintenance of this identity.