...Indian School Days Book Review Justin Delorme Introduction The book, “Indian School Days” is an autobiography of the author Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe native from Wasauksing First Nation, in Ontario. This piece by Author, “Basil Johnston”, gives the reader more and more evidence of the structural lifestyle of the Spanish Indian residential school. From the very beginning his writing style links the reader to never put down the book, it is full of action and true events that took place during his lifetime. The book starts off with Mr. Johnston as a young child of ten years, skipping school with another student, an act that they didn’t think would get them both shipped off to a residential school. But as fortunes and his unfortunate luck would have it, the feared Indian agent showed up to Basils door and took himself, along with his 4 year old sister to St. Peter Clavers School, a boarding school run by Jesuit priests at Spanish, which was close to Sudbury, Ontario. With the fear of police and punishment his mother and grandmother got both children ready and there was nothing nobody could say or do to change the mind of the Indian agent. In the pages that were to follow, Basil creates many portraits of the young Indian boys who struggle to adapt to the harsh and inhumane environment of this institution. By looking at some key examples from the book that Basil Johnston wrote, it will show the reader why this would be a good book to read as his writing style is from his own...
Words: 1066 - Pages: 5
...Empowerment by Assimilation or by Self-Actualization? Beginning with the first settlers from Europe in the New World, Native Americans have persistently been exploited for their land and resources. The creation of the United States of America spawned an unprecedented explosion of immigrants flocking to America, which created tensions with Native Americans over territory. Under the Jackson presidency and approved by the U.S. Congress, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 detailed a plan for the relocation of Native Americans, later known as the Trail of Tears. Standing their ground, the Native Americans resisted the advancements of the U.S. government, creating a new wave of battles within the Indian Wars. U.S. Army captain Richard Henry...
Words: 1480 - Pages: 6
...Kill the Indian, Save the Man By Jane Yu, Spring 2009 Image provided courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA Students prepared to march into the academic building at the Carlisle Indian School. O f the various attempts in history that were made to solve the so-called "Indian problem" (relocation and extermination primary among them), an attempt at forced assimilation was made using education in the late 19th century. After the Civil War and Indian wars, most Native Americans were confined to reservations, reduced to a helpless state, and the American government knew little of what to do about the Indians' future status. Historian Francis Parkman once wrote in 1851 that "the aborigine was by nature unchangeable and by fate doomed to extinction." A Civil War veteran named Richard Henry Pratt believed that the Indians could become a contributing part of the population through education. He started the system of Native American boarding schools as an effort to follow through with his advocating efforts of "assimilating the red man through total immersion." Pratt's goal of "assimilation" was to systematically strip away any trace of tribal culture and to train them to become "useful" in American industrial society. "Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit" he wrote; more succinctly put, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." His philosophy brought about...
Words: 3631 - Pages: 15
...Step: Reconciliation Payments for All Indian Residential School Survivors CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION February 2005 PREFACE The Canadian Bar Association is a national association representing 38,000 jurists, including lawyers, notaries, law teachers and students across Canada. The Association’s primary objectives include improvement in the law and in the administration of justice. This submission was prepared by the National Aboriginal Law and the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections of the Canadian Bar Association, with assistance from the Legislation and Law Reform Directorate at the National Office. The submission has been reviewed by the Legislation and Law Reform Committee and approved as a public statement of the Canadian Bar Association. The Logical Next Step: Reconciliation Payments for All Indian Residential School Survivors Executive Summary At its Annual Meeting in August 2004, the Canadian Bar Association adopted a resolution1 calling for the government to go beyond the existing Indian Residential Schools Dispute Resolution process to provide a base payment to all survivors of Indian Residential Schools. The CBA recognizes the tragic legacy of Indian Residential Schools and the failure of the current options of either litigatio n or the dispute resolution process to resolve the situation. The harms caused by Indian Residential Schools are still profoundly felt by the individual students who attended the schools, as well as their families, communities...
Words: 17144 - Pages: 69
...until the 1990’s, life was not diverting due to the Residential School systems. Canada has been struggling to gain the forgiveness of the Residential School attendants and gladly, they had finally accepted our apologies, but will they ever forgive themselves for not being one of us? During the twentieth century, Residential Schools became widespread in all Canadian provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Aboriginal children had been seized from their homes and had been placed into these ‘boarding schools’. They had to do labour work, live with complete strangers, and also study the Canadian culture just to kill the Indian in the Child. The young children had to do all of this for the government while being abused. Sexually, physically and mentally. About one hundred and fifty thousand children were placed into this horrid living and only eighty thousand made it out alive as in two thousand and eight. In order for us to be forgiven, we did two acts that will never make up for what our country had done to them. We wrote a state of apology that was read in front of a crowd of survivors. We had also given each of them a generous amount of money as a materialistic apology. But how did the aboriginal community act upon the materialistic goods and apology? Has Canada as a whole done enough to heal the wounds of aboriginal students that had attended the Residential schools? Firstly, Canada had a requirement to make an apology to...
Words: 1028 - Pages: 5
...The residential schools of Canada can be dated back to the 1870s. Before 1996, when the last of 170 schools were closed, an estimated 150,000 indigenous youth were forced to attend. In an attempt to blend indigenous youth into Canadian society, both the Canadian government and Christian churches believed educating and converting the youth would achieve their goal of integrating them into Canadian society (Miller, 2014). The infliction of economic self sufficiency and religious conversion caused the loss of languages which further resulted in the loss of culture among traditional indigenous peoples. The death of a language is more complex than simply a loss of communication, it is a loss of knowledge. "The wisdom of humanity is summarized in...
Words: 1079 - Pages: 5
...leaders/authority figures that history remembers them by. As children/young adults, Warner, Thorpe, and Eisenhower had to overcome challenges that many people of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds can relate to. Warner was the chubby kid on his “block” who faced constant ridicule and later would grow up to one of the most iconic football coaches in the history of the sport. Once he finally grew into his body, he became a force to be reckoned with on and off of the field. People in the community had a great respect for him and his Carlisle players. Prior to Thorpe’s arrival to the school, Warner had gained the respect of his players who viewed him as a father figure. Had Warner not possessed the innate ability to communicate with his players, the Carlisle Indian School probably would not have gained such notoriety, which in turn could have never allowed the white man to realize that these Indian players were much more than heathens. Warner showed the world that his players were equivalent to the white man both on and off the field. While growing up in Oklahoma, Jim Thorpe’s youth was filled with many traumatic events that many can relate to, but none have ever experienced. With the death of his brother, and shortly after the death of his mother, Thorpe could have easily been consumed entirely in the depression that plagued his youth. He was very much an anti-authority figure who resisted being transformed into what the called a “civilized” individual. Upon arrival at Carlisle...
Words: 662 - Pages: 3
...Residential school system in Canada was a system devoted to providing a disciplined based ideal that promoted the rejection of the aboriginal culture in favor of the then dominant white European population. The teaching strategies that were encouraged ranged from pulling children as young as six away from their parents to mental, physical and sexual abuse. The Residential schools were run by a variety of participating church organizations, which received funding from the Canadian government. The funding was based on a per aboriginal basis therefore it was in the best interests of the churches to enroll as many aboriginal students as possible. The schools were run in almost every province in Canada from 1860-1884 and claimed to be promoting religious and cultural assimilation. However, the cruelty that was experienced by many young aboriginals in the residential schools emphasizes the differences between the aboriginal societies and the European dominant society making complete assimilation impossible. The imposition of residential schools on First Nations children has led to significant loss of indigenous languages, and this language loss has led to further cultural losses for traditional First Nations cultures in Canada. The earliest known date opening of a Residential school was in 1840, located in Manitowaning, Ontario. The school was the Wikemikong Indian Residential School, it closed in 1879. The last Residential school to close was La Tuque Indian Residential...
Words: 1660 - Pages: 7
...hope to contribute at BIMA as an artist and as a member of the Jewish community. For the past two years, I have been attending high school at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts as a film major. I have been studying both the history of film and the production of film. I have created various films ranging from music videos to movie trailers. I hope to contribute to BIMA by sharing my knowledge and experience of films with my fellow BIMA participants. I hope to grow as an artist in that I hope to learn from my instructors to further develop and improve my film techniques in areas such as camerawork and editing. I also hope to learn new techniques and skills in the workshops and master classes that are ran by professionals in the field. I hope to collaborate with BIMA participants by creating films with them and learning from them as well. I attended Solomon Schechter day school from elementary school through middle school. I would therefore contribute my knowledge of Judaism and Shabbat with other BIMA participants. For example, I have experienced Shabbat in traditional ways such as attending services and eating a Shabbat dinner with my family. However, I would also look forward to growing as a Jew by exploring new ways to observe Shabbat. For example, meditation and yoga would be new ways that I could experience Shabbat and relax on the Day of Rest. Imagine a Jewish community whose members come from all kinds of geographic, cultural, educational, and Jewish backgrounds...
Words: 411 - Pages: 2
...The land was just the beginning of the earth. Once land was created, indians started to claim the land. They believed to have landed on a spiritual ground. The first thing that the indians built was the penny ball, and this ball had helped shape the land. The land turned out to be a valley flat as the ocean floor. The land was more rocky that what soil had and dirt had stood before the indians. The penny ball had marked the future of the civilization and what was yet to come. The penny ball had been put in the exact middle of the civilization, and was used to focus of the existence of the the tribe of indians; and be used to keep the indian culture striving for decades to come. The culture had changed in a way of life for generations and generations...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...Frazier was one of the Native Americans who were taken away from her parents to attend boarding school. Megan Sandford is the coordinator of boarding schools. The topic is about the experience of Carly Frazier in boarding school when she was young. Megan Sandford: Do you think that boarding schools was a good idea? Carly Frazier: No. Boarding schools was for Native American children to learn white culture. For them, it was very difficult to adapt with a whole new environment, and learn a new language and very different culture. Many children died by poisoning because of the food, beating up by the officials, and starving because of uncooperative children. School officials were not doing what they were supposed to do, and the government was okay with the way they were treating the children. Megan Sandford: Do you agree...
Words: 1044 - Pages: 5
...During my middle school, it appeared as if I were hiding behind a mask. When I was at home I was a diverse self who was confident and had an attitude. Whereas on the other hand, at school, I was trying to be someone who can fit in, but it seemed like the more I attempted the more it didn’t work. The only way I thought I could achieve friendship was by lying about my history. Humans are inescapable to lie at some point in their life. Although I didn’t know that my lies were going to only haunt me back at some point and eventually change me into a different person. I was twelve years old when I moved to the United States from India. Everything was different such as the people, the surrounding, but mostly the accent. For the first six months...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...Indian Boarding Schools Richard Pratt, who was the commander of American Buffalo soldiers, proposed that since the Americans had defeated the Indians and most of them were on the reservation, the best way to assimilate the Indians was to ensure that they acquire the American system of education. Influential whites supported his reasoning. The Carlisle school began in 1879 through the donations of the influential whites (Baker, 104). The main reasons for starting the boarding schools were to eliminate the Indian culture and replace it with mainstream American culture or the civilized American way of life. This was not what Pratt had advocated in his desire to start the schools. He wanted to make the Indians educated to limit their vulnerability to the translators who stole from them when they traded. The Indians did not embrace this and the government had to force them to send their children to school (Baker, 105). The Indian children had to shave their hair and give up all their traditional clothing; this was the first step towards eliminating the Indian culture. This continued and the kids had to take English names at the expense of their native names and they were required not to even speak their native language. This was the last thing that they were to do but they were also required to abandon their native religion and become Christians (Baker, 105). This went well with their school teachings asserting that their culture was inferior and thus they should adopt the American...
Words: 1433 - Pages: 6
...Joshua Herring Prof. S Herdzina English 101 29 January 2018 Why American Indian Team Names Don’t Belong in our Schools Did you know that across America there is over 2,000 schools that still use an American Indian tribe name or representation as their team name and mascot? Many students go to school everyday, participate in team sports, and accomplish great things while feeling misunderstood, objectified, and shamed under an inaccurate assumption. These schools are using a team name or mascot to symbolize and objectify a group of already marginalized people, the American Indians. They compete while misusing a tribal name, stereotype, or a slang term to represent them. They taking something sacred and spiritual to many and trample it for sport....
Words: 1644 - Pages: 7
...buds of Indian consumers significantly. Instant food is scoring over traditional food due to influence of Western countries, and rise in income & subsequent standard of living, convenience, etc. As a result, fast food menus are gaining wider acceptance from the Indian consumers. The Indian fast Food Industry Dryer has witnessed high growth strides in the past years, with increasing disposable income; exposure to a number of cuisines; and consumers’ willingness to experiment a mix of both Western and local menu. It has not only provided convenience to people who shuttle between home and work for a bigger part of the day but also eliminated the requirement of conventional cutlery. This industry at the moment thrives on international appeal endorsed by niche chains. The development of nutritious and healthier replacements for the traditional servings at fast food restaurants has transformed into mass promotion of portable foods. As per a new research report titled ‘Indian Fast Food Market Analysis’, currently the Indian fast food industry stands at a massive size of ` 47 billion, driven by a growing number of working professionals and increasing westernization. Apart from this, busy life schedule, standardized food, and less time-consuming processes are also fuelling the demand from domestic consumers in the industry. As demand for all types of fast food items are consistently on the rise, pizza, burger, and French fries have become the all time favorite among young Indians, more...
Words: 4645 - Pages: 19
