Transcript KILL THE INDIAN, SAVE THE CHILD

KILL THE INDIAN,
SAVE THE CHILD
“We were supposed to make
you [our students] give up
being Indian. Your songs and
stories and language and
dancing… we were trying to kill
Indian culture… I hurt a lot of
Indian kids… I might have
broken a few bones.”
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (35)
KILL THE INDIAN,
SAVE THE CHILD
- Education philosophy for Indian children, beginning in
the early 1900’s and continuing into the 1970’s
- Cultural genocide
- Attempt to forcefully and quickly assimilate (give up
one’s heritage)
Upon arrival, students were:
• Given a haircut
• Given an English name
• Told that they were forbidden to speak their native
language.
• Given a military uniform
• Taught that the Indian way of life was savage and
inferior to the white way.
• Told that Indian people who retained their culture
were stupid, dirty, and backwards.
The schools also:
• Discouraged family members and parents from
visiting their children
• Did not allow students to go home for the summer.
• Shamed and humiliated those who showed any form
of homesickness for their families
• Taught stereotypical and/or distorted depictions of
Native American historical figures
NOBLE SAVAGE
NOBLE SAVAGE
- Depicted as ignorant, but capable of learning
- Shows Native American as a savage needing to be
civilized
- A humble, thoughtful student waiting for a dominant
teacher
- In pictures, often times “looking off” into the distance
for… help? Knowledge? A teacher?
from Disney’s Spirit
from Disney’s Pocahontas
DEMONIC
WARRIOR
DEMONIC WARRIOR
- Depictions of Native Americans as aggressors
- Typically have facial features that are exaggerated and
devilish.
- Look unmistakably violent - meant to be feared
- Tomahawk (or some other weapon) in hand
from Daniel Boone Struggling with the Indian
(the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.)
from a Halloween costume magazine
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