286 -n BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



GROUP 1. RESENTFUL 



Perhaps the most vivid recollections come from those who resented 

 the treatment of the children in the boarding school ^^ of 25 or more 

 years ago. The mention of school elicits such reminiscences as: 

 "They put dresses on me to keep me from running away; think maybe 

 I be ashamed to go through Cherokee in a girl's dress, but I did any- 

 way." This speaker is a young man in his early 30's. Another man 

 about 56, recalls that there was a "little stone house they locked the 

 runaway boys in . . . they kept them from speaking Indian, too." 

 Speaking about forbidding Cherokee speech, another said, "They 

 used to make us work, or whip us, if they caught us speaking Indian. 

 I didn't like that at aU. I'm proud to say that I can read and write 

 in my own language." A woman of 65, agrees with his comments, 

 adding, "Seemed like they wanted us to be White." One final anec- 

 dote illustrates how vivid these recollections are for some. "Thomp- 

 son," I said, "tell me about when you were in school." Thompson 

 is a man of over 70. "One feller he hold one arm and another hold 

 another and one behind me whup me. They took seven sticks about 

 that thick [he used his forefinger to illustrate the size] and whup me." 

 "Why?" I asked. "Runnin' away; after that I runned away and 

 never come back. They shouldn't have done that to me." ' . 



These speakers who resented the regime of the boarding school are 

 Conservatives. They speak with strong personal feelings of the 

 harsh treatment accorded them there as children. Most of them 

 succeeded in running away some time during their early years in 

 school. A few talk of eluding the "pohceman" who was sent to take 

 them back. While escapes from truant officers were common, they 

 are not the primary reason for remaining away from school. The 

 basic cause was directly traceable to their parents, or parent surro- 

 gates, who did not make them return. The children's failm*e to 

 return to school resulted in perpetuation of Conservative ways at a 

 time when the educational program was directed toward the rapid 

 inculcation of White ways. We shall have more to say about these 

 circumstances later. For the present, it is sufficient to say that today 

 they recognize the importance of some education. They perceive 

 that, to an extent, their economic pUght is determined by this defi- 

 ciency. But efforts directed toward remedying this situation for their 

 children, in aU but a few cases, are made less effective because of the 

 behavior pattern which stresses individual autonomy and disvalues 

 coercion. 



18 With the advent of the John Collier Administration for Indian Affairs, the military discipline was 

 removed from Indian schools. Cmricula were revised and emphasis was placed upon the "needs and goals 

 of the Indian students." In 1952 the boarding school at Cherokee was closed because new and better roads 

 permitted daUy transportation for the students on the reservation. The current day school at Cherokee 

 is similar to public schools, with, perhaps, less emphasis on scholarship and more emphasis on crafts. 



