Missing Lecture Section

 


Seeing the pictures shown at the beginning of the lecture was particularly saddening. No one looks happy. This does not surprise me, however it is still sad to see. I also wonder if the original “purpose” of the camps was ever truly the original purpose or if they always knew what it would end up to be. I was shocked to hear the part about bathing them in kerosene. That reminds of the treatment Jewish people received during the Holocaust. Everyone has such a negative few of the Holocaust, however not much is known about these horrific “boarding schools”. It is also astonishing that these schools received funding despite not being real schools. They do not educate in a scholarly sense. They simply prepare them for the work they will be forced to do in the future. The change of the structure boarding schools take on for the Native Americans is important. It is crucial that the Native American cultures are encouraged to flourish. However, we can’t forget the origin of these schools. We see the detriment they caused on those who attended these schools through the unmarked graves that were discovered in Canada. I can’t imagine what their parents thought when they never heard from their children again. Also, the fact that the graves were unmarked shows just how strong these colonizers felt that the Native people did not deserve the respect of burial. I hope the bodies uncovered were able to partake in a burial that rested their soul.


Comments

  1. Isabella FernandezJanuary 31, 2022 at 11:18 AM

    I completely agree that it is very difficult to hear the horrors that occurred in these boarding schools. Given the social climate at the time, I do think that the original purpose of the camps was exposed to the public and supported/endorsed. The fact that many people believed that it was necessary to "de-Indianize the Indian" in order to save the man underneath makes me believe that these boarding school were made with one intention in mind: to force children to assimilate to white culture in whatever way possible. Looking at it from our modern perspective, it is absolutely horrible to hear but it does fit the social beliefs of the time.

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  2. bella burleighJanuary 31, 2022 at 11:38 PM

    It definitely does have some similarities to the Holocaust for Jewish people. It is interesting that you brought up how everyone knows about the Holocaust, but for some reason no one really knows about these boarding schools. It is a valid point and I have a theory for why this might be: The Holocaust did not happen because of America. America really loves to point out and teach historical moments in which we have been the savior and other countries have done the bad deeds (ie. Germany and the Holocaust), but America does not like to bring up or teach extensively about the historical moments in which the government here has been the villain (ie. slavery, these boarding schools, Japanese internment camps, etc). I think we know more about the Holocaust because we did not, as a country, participate in it like we did in slavery, genocide, etc, which is why we are taught less about those events in history.

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    Replies
    1. Michelle BFebruary 2, 2022 at 1:27 PM

      The point you are making here, Bella, is at the root of current debates about critical race theory and banning books and efforts like the 1619 Project within schools in America. A good question is why some Americans are so resistant to recognizing the non-savior parts of our nation's history.

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