THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REVIEW OF REVIEWS.   sharpened stakes which were   to be used in marking off   the little patches of ground.   Over in the institute’s de-   partment of agricultural sci-   ence I found Professor Good-   rich—a man deeply versed in   the chemistry of soils and all   the methods of the acricul-   tural experimentalist—giv-   ing a part of his time on a   holiday to the kindly task   of working out on paper the   planting scheme for the   Whittier children’s gardens,   in order that the best prac-   tical and educational results   might be obtained.   A large part of the secret A CLASS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. of the future unlocking of the   South’s vast possibilities of rying on the various branches of work, to- wealth and culture and happiness lies in the thor- gether with the wives and children of some of ough and contented acceptance of agriculture by the corps. The general population estimate as the colored race. Generally speaking, the young given above does not include the 500 or 600 colored people of the South associate farm and colored children enrolled in the Whittier School. plantation life with the most repellent drudgery. These come from the humble homes of the sur- And so they look instinctively toward the gre- rounding neighborhood, and are taught by the garious life of towns, with the accompaniment of most approved methods and the most kindly and the good clothes and the luxuries that do not go accomplished body of teachers, who carry them with the old tumble-down cabin of the farming from the kindergarten through successive grades, life that they have known. Nevertheless farm- all on a plan of object-teaching that never for ing must go on in the South, and the negro race one minute loses sight of the general condi- must continue to do the bulk of the farm work. tions under which these children have been The negro’s best chance for the advancement of born and the range of social and industrial his personal fortunes now lies in the purchase and possibilities that the future has in store for them. cultivation of a piece of land. A large part of There are small school   children in thrifty Northern   communities who do not   greatly need to be taught in   the schools to save their pen-   nies. But no lesson is more   needed among the negroes of   the South ; and the children   of the Whittier School are   bank depositors in connection   with the Penny Provident   Fund system of New York.   In the present month of   April every one of them will   spend a part of the school   day out of doors working in   a little garden plot. Mean-   while, as a part of the shop   work I found last month that   these tiny children, girls as   well as boys, had been en-   gaged in fashioning the THE HARNESS SHOP.

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.

American westward expansion and settlement continued to devastate Native societies and economies. In the west, settlers, speculators and the United States government dispossessed Native people of millions of acres of traditional homelands and vital resources. Poverty, disease, despair and alcoholism took a heavy toll among those forced onto small reservations. By the 1880s, American reformers were drawing attention to the plight of the Native peoples of the west. Speeches, letters and books like Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor informed readers of the poor treatment Indians had received at the hands of the United States government. Most humanitarians believed that the only way to ensure the survival of Native Americans was to educate and assimilate them into white culture and society. Children and young people, reformers reasoned, would be most likely to assimilate successfully. The main vehicle in this process was the boarding school. Such schools endeavored not only to educate but also to indoctrinate students in white culture and society. Their goal was, as the founder of the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania put it, to "kill the Indian, save the man."

The best intentions of their founders and supporters notwithstanding, these schools witnessed scenes of incalculable misery. Dozens of schools housed thousands of bewildered and desperately homesick children wrenched not only from their families but from their cultures, as well. Many fell victim to dangerous illnesses and died. Those who returned home struggled to reconcile their boarding school education and experiences with reservation life and culture. Others were cut permanently adrift from their families and heritage. The most successful students adapted and integrated elements of white society and education into their own languages, beliefs and traditions.

The Hampton Institute in Virginia was founded in 1868 to educate freedmen after the Civil War. It began admitting Native American students in 1878. According to a report published in 1901, its purpose was "to train academic and industrial teachers for the Indian and Negro races, and to fit young men and women to become skilled craftsmen. Much stress is laid upon land-buying, home-life, and agricultural pursuits." Like those attending similar institutions, Hampton students faced the difficult challenge of acclimating to a new culture, language and expectations.

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"Learning By Doing At Hampton"