To Educate American Indians

Selected Writings from the National Educational Association's Department of Indian Education, 1905–1909

by Larry C. Skogen

Published by: University of Nebraska Press

Series: Indigenous Education

Imprint: University of Nebraska Press

378 Pages, 152.00 × 229.00 mm, 9 photographs, index

Hardcover
9781496240453
Published: November 2025

£60.00

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9781496236760
Published: February 2024

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
List of Abbreviations
Part 1. Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, New Jersey, July 3–7, 1905
1. Greeting to Indian School Educators
Honorable John J. Fitzgerald, Member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, U. S.
House of Representatives
2. Greeting to Indian School Educators
Mary R. Campbell, Graduate Student in Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
3. Greeting to Indian School Educators
            Estelle Reel, Superintendent of Indian Schools, Washington DC
4. Music of the American Indian
            Natalie Curtis, New York City
5. Teaching Indian Pupils to Speak English
            Reuben Perry, Superintendent, Navajo Indian School, Fort Defiance, Arizona
6. Indian Characteristics
            Mary C. Judd, Minneapolis, Minnesota
7. The Advisability of Conducting Normal Schools to Train Teachers for the Specific Purpose of Instructing Indian Children
            John D. Benedict, Superintendent of Schools in Indian Territory
8. The Necessity for More and Better-Equipped Day Schools
            James J. Duncan, Day School Inspector, Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota
Part 2. Los Angeles, California, July 8-12, 1907
9. Indians and Their Education
            Francis E. Leupp, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington DC
10. Response to Greetings from Local Dignitaries
            Francis E. Leupp, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington DC
11. Essential Features in the Education of the Child Race
            George P. Phenix, Superintendent of the Academic and Normal Departments, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Virginia
12. Native Indian Art
            Angel De Cora, Instructor in Native Indian Art, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
13. Roundtable Conference
Chairman-Francis E. Leupp, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington DC (Question and Answer Portion)
14. Address
            Elmer Ellsworth Brown, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Washington DC
15. Manual Training in the Indian Schools
            Moses Friedman, Assistant Superintendent, Haskell Indian Institute, Lawrence, Kansas
Part 3. Cleveland, Ohio, June 29-July 3, 1908
16. Utilization of Experience in Home Environment
            Ella Flagg Young, Principal, Chicago Normal School, Chicago, Illinois
17. Progress the Indian is Making Toward Citizenship and Self-Support
            John H. Seger, Farm Manager, Seger Indian School, Colony, Oklahoma
18. How Far Are the Principles of Education Along Indigenous Lines Applicable to American Indians?
            G. Stanley Hall, President, Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts
19. Commencement Exercise: An Oration Entitled “My People”
            Elisabeth Penny (Nez PercÉ), Class of 1908, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Part 4. Denver, Colorado, July 3-9, 1909
20. President’s Address: A ResumÉ of Indian Work
            Charles E. Burton, Superintendent, Grand Junction Indian School, Colorado
21. The Prevention of Tuberculosis in the Indian Schools
            Joseph A. Murphy, Medical Supervisor, U. S. Indian Service, Washington DC
22. Demonstration Lesson-Wheat and Bread Making
            Haskell Indian School Teachers and Students, Lawrence, Kansas
23. Our Educational Duties to the Indian
            James H. Baker, President, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
24. Essential Features in the Education of the Child Races
            Charles Bartlett Dyke, Headmaster, State Preparatory School, Boulder, Colorado
25. The Teacher’s Responsibility to the Indian Child
            Sylvanus L. Heeter, Superintendent of Schools, St. Paul, Minnesota
26. Character-Building-The Foundation of Education
            John H. Phillips, Superintendent of Schools, Birmingham, Alabama
27. What Education Has Done for the Indian
            Hervey B. Peairs, Superintendent, Haskell Indian Institute, Lawrence, Kansas
28. Moral Training-Discussion
            George W. Cross, Principal, Tohatchi Indian School, Tohatchi, New Mexico
29. The Preservation of Aboriginal Arts
            Arthur J. Fynn, Principal, Longfellow School, Denver, Colorado
30. Elementary Industrial Training in the Day School
            S. Toledo Sherry, Day School Inspector, Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, North Dakota
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

“Larry Skogen’s important and seminal work is a timely adjunct to the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, which seeks to expand our nation’s understanding and documentation of the federal Indian boarding schools. This collection of papers presented by Indian school employees at the annual meetings of the National Educational Association and Skogen’s commentary with them provide another lens through which to see the motives of educators in the national effort to solve the ‘Indian problem.’ With this book we are drawn toward a better understanding of the challenges faced by the Native students subjected to the federally mandated curriculum designed to make these First Americans into white-defined American citizens.”-Cynthia Lindquist (Spirit Lake Dakota), president emerita of Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten, North Dakota

“Since the launching of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in June 2021, our nation has learned much about the establishment of Indian schools, the conditions children experienced at those institutions, and the intergenerational consequences of the trauma suffered. These papers from the National Educational Association’s Department of Indian Education and Larry Skogen’s commentary with them provide clear evidence that along with the consequences of trauma, we must also acknowledge the intergenerational impacts of an educational curriculum designed to relegate Native students to the bottom rungs of society. Being denied a true academic education and prepared solely as laborers in white society has also negatively affected Native peoples and nations for generations. This is an important contribution to understanding the relationship between our Native nations and the federal government.”-Ruth Anna Buffalo (Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, Chiricahua Band of Apache descent), president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

“I was left with a greater realization of the influence the Department of Indian Education, under the leadership of Superintendent of Indian Schools Estelle Reel, had on national educational policy of marginalized students during its short ten-year association with the National Educational Association. Not only does Larry Skogen make available the NEA articles, but he also locates contemporary publications or versions edited by Superintendent Reel to demonstrate how Reel controlled the message of educational theory in Indian schools, Skogen’s extensive footnoting and addition of background documentation illuminates the characters and their philosophies.”-David H. DeJong, author of Paternalism to Partnership: The Administration of Indian Affairs, 1786–2021
“This volume investigates a short, but critical period, when efforts to Americanize ‘Indians’ were brought into alignment with the challenges of educating a massive, new, urban immigrant population, to render the latter fit to join the industrial work force. It engages with the ideas of social Darwinism that were current, and their impact on curricula. Previous scholars have touched on this topic, but the National Education Association has never before been the main focus of study. Carefully selected primary sources make up the bulk of this work. The different parts are linked by a clear and convincing argument that is progressively developed. The fact that these documents are assembled here will provide ready access to thinking and discussion about Indian education during these years, which will be a boom to all those grappling with primary source collections.”-Jacqueline Fear-Seagal, coeditor of Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories, and Reclamations