LITR 4332 American Minority Literature Model Assignments Research Project Submissions 2013 Research Post 2

William Owen

April 22, 2013

                                    From Tepee to Dormitory        

It seems that when one looks at the history of America one see that many evil atrocities have taken place on its soil throughout the years. History also shows us the Anglo Saxon have been the cause of many of these atrocities. As we go about our lives today living in a diverse city such as Houston, it is hard to imagine how merely 50 years ago the races were not even aloud to eat with each other in public restaurants for the most part. However, if one travels back further in time one sees how human life was disregarded over and over again all because many of the Anglo Saxon thought they was the dominant race. When it came to the dealings of American Indians this was no different. While many ethnic groups now have the choice of assimilation or preservation of their cultures, the American Indian children had no choice but to assimilate to the culture that was concerning their land and lifestyle at one point in history.

Many American Indians suffered when they were separated from their families, which when one thinks about it, sounds unbearable. Yet this was the norm for awhile in America and it was not crazed men from another country that did this, but it was our own Government. I was trying to figure out how to get the idea of how horrible this must have been for the American Indian families in this paper before I wrote it. However, after seeing the story of Floyd Red Crow Westerman I think I found a verse to help the readers realize how this should have never happened. The article on PBS.com states

“ late performer and Indian activist Floyd Red Crow Westerman was haunted by his memories of boarding school. As a child, he left his reservation in South Dakota for the Wahpeton Indian Boarding School in North Dakota. Sixty years later, he still remembers watching his mother through the window as he left. At first, he thought he was on the bus because his mother didn't want him anymore. But then he noticed she was crying. ‘It was hurting her, too. It was hurting me to see that," Westerman says. "I'll never forget. All the mothers were crying.’” (pbs.com)

The American Indians families were crying because their children were being taken to one of the thousands of boarding schools that have existed on the U.S. soil. While the United States government was technically at war with the Indians when these boarding schools were being built, and many cruel things occur during war, never the less, to separate children from their families even during war is in my opinion barbaric. While we realize that times were different then and life may or may not have been harder than it is today, one thing is for sure the Anglo Saxon seemed not to get along with any of the races. And if they did, they made sure they had the upper hand in the relationship according to our history books. While I do not speak of all Anglo Saxons because not even our history books can convince me that all were racist, the past has shaped our nation into what it is today and while we for the most part get along with each other (at least we all eat in the same restaurants now), knowing how cruel that many of the people who lived before us makes studying American Minority literature that much more important.

            Also these boarding schools were not necessarily for education purposes but they did teach trades for the Indians. While their worlds were changing before their eyes due to the war they were fighting being a lost cause for the Indian, and however cruel these boarding schools were, they did help many American Indians be able to survive in the new America that they would now have to reside in. We cannot go back and change history so we must therefore make sure these types of things never happen again. One can do this by making sure their voice is heard to their congressmen or women and or the President. I have learned in my life that the voice of the righteous does matter and is heard.

            Today there are still some of these boarding schools around; however, the children are not forced to leave their families and the abuse that took place in these boarding schools has disappeared for the most part. Another thing that has seemed to have disappeared (at least to some of the American Indians) is the hatred for these boarding schools. This hatred has been replaced by acceptance and enthusiasm for these schools in some of the American Indian culture. Perhaps time does have a way of healing all wounds, and we can only hope that the children of the American Indian and their families that were separated from each other were comforted somehow in their lifetimes. However, the Indians that accept the assimilation of these boarding schools today only have their reservations as their only other choice, and do not know what it was like living in the wide open spaces of America before the Anglo Saxons confiscated the land from under their feet therefore I do not believe that one can justify these boarding schools even though some of the American Indians look at them favorably at the present time.