Thursday, August 1, 2024

Unspoken: Native American Boarding Schools (2016)

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2016.

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Director: John Howe

** Writers: John Howe and Davina Smith

** Narrator: Peter Coyote

** Language: English

** Subtitles: English

** Run time: 56 minutes

 

This film opens with the following words spoken by the narrator Peter Coyote:

 

“The Native American Boarding School era is a dark chapter of American history. The policy was known as assimilation.

 

“Everything native was to be stripped away. The thought was to kill the Indian and save the man. Their language was to be unspoken.”

 

Hence the title of the film.

 

Many Native Americans are interviewed in this film. They talk about their personal experiences as Native Americans. Here are the names:

 

** Dr Jennifer New Denetdale – Navajo Dine tribe – a historian

** Amanda Blackmore – Navajo Dine tribe

** Forrest S. Cuch – Ute tribe

 

** Harry Walters – Navajo Dine Educator

** Joseph Abeyta – Santa Clara Pueblo

** Christie Abeyta – Santa Clara Peublo – Santa Fe Indian School teacher

** Lorena Charles – Hopi tribe

** Patricia Sandoval – Laguna Peublo – Santa Fe Indian School

 

** Roy Smith – Navajo Dine tribe

** Davina Spotted Elk – Roy’s daughter

** Darlene Adakai Smith – Davina’s mother

** Katherine Smith – Davina’s grandmother

** Dacian Spotted Elk – Northern Cheyenne – Davina’s son

 

** Dee Setalla – Hopi tribe

** Yvonne Setalla – Hopi tribe

 

** Kathleen Wood – Navajo Dine tribe

** Arlen Polacca – Hopi tribe

** Carrie Paddock – Navajo Dine tribe

** Carl Begay – Navajo Dine tribe

** Alicea Olascoaga – Tlingit, Haida, Mescalero – a student at Santa Fe Indian School

** Dan Akee – Navajo tribe – He was a Navajo Code Talker during World War II

 

This film is divided into five sections:

 

Prologue = An introduction

Act 1 = The Winds of Change

Act 2 = Assimilation

Act 3 = Perseverance

Epilogue = They Overcame

 

This film covers the history of the Native American Boarding Schools during the nineteenth and the twentieth century.

 

Some well-known boarding schools are presented. Here are a few examples.

 

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

** Opened in 1879

** Closed in 1918

 

The Haskell Institute

Lawrence, Kansas

** Opened in 1884

** This school never closed

In 1993, it was transformed into a university: Haskell Indian Nations University

 

Tuba City Boarding School

Tuba, Arizona

** Opened before 1900

** This school never closed

It is still open today. But the purpose of the school is no longer to “kill the Indian and save the man.”

Today the purpose is to protect and support Native American culture

 

Santa Fe Indian School

Santa Fe, New Mexico

** Opened in 1890

** This school never closed

It is still open today.

But it is no longer run by the government.

And assimilation is no longer the goal of the school

Today it is run by local Native American tribes

 

Stewart Indian School

Carson City, Nevada

** Opened in 1890

** Closed in 1980

This school has been transformed into the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum

 

Phoenix Indian School

Phoenix, Arizona

** Opened in 1891

** Closed in 1990

 

Inter-Mountain Indian School

Brigham City, Utah

** Opened in 1950

** Closed in 1984

 

While the Native American Boarding School era is a dark chapter of American history, some students went on to become famous and to have spectacular lives. 

 

Here are some examples:

 

Jim Thorpe

(1887-1953)

He was from the Sac and Fox tribe

He was a student at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania

He was a versatile athlete:

He was a jumper and a runner

He played baseball and football

He was a famous athlete:

In 1912, in Stockholm, he won two Olympic gold medals:

One for winning the pentathlon and another one for winning the decathlon

In 1913, the IOC decided to revoke his victories and told him to return his gold medals

According to the IOC, he had violated the rules when he was paid a small amount of money for playing baseball for a short time in 1909 and 1910

But the IOC did not follow its own rules when they made this decision. According to the rules, any complaint against an athlete must be made within 30 days after the end of the games.

The games were held in 1912. The charge was made in 1913; six months after the end of the games!

In 1982, the decision was reversed. But the reversal was only partial. He was listed as a co-champion. Not as the winner

In 2022, he was finally recognized as the sole champion: the winner of both events

 

Lewis Tewanima

(1888-1969)

He was from the Hopi tribe

He was a student at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania

He was a famous athlete

He was a long-distance runner

In 1912, he won an Olympic silver medal for his part in the 10,000 meters race

 

Allen Houser

(1914-1994)

He was from the Apache tribe

He was a student at the Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico

He was a famous artist

He was a sculptor and a painter

 

Billy Mills

(born 1938)

He is from the Lakota Sioux tribe

He was a student at the Haskell Institute in Kansas

He is a famous athlete

He is a long-distance runner

In 1964, in Tokyo, he won an Olympic gold medal when he won the 10,000 meters race

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 78 percent.

 

A user review was posted on IMDb on 13 March 2024. This user offers a rating of 90 percent.

 

The headline says:

 

“Incredibly sad, but something we should never forget”

 

I agree with this reviewer.

 

As stated above, the Native American Boarding School era is a dark chapter of American history, but the story deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Books

 

Pop Warner: Football’s Greatest Teacher – The Epic Autobiography of Major College Football’s Winningest Coach, Glenn S. (Pop) Warner

Edited by Mike Bynum

(1993)

 

[Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner was Jim Thorpe’s coach at Carlisle Indian School and his longtime mentor]

 

Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from the Prophecy to the Present

By Peter Nabokov

(1991 = first edition)

(1999 = second edition)

 

Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928

By David Wallace Adams

(1995 = first edition)

(2020 = second edition)

 

Children of the Indian Boarding Schools

By Holly Littlefield

(2001)

 

Boarding School Blues: Revisiting American Indian Educational Experiences

Edited by Clifford Trafzer, Joan A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc

(2006)

 

Survival and Loss:

Native American Boarding Schools

By Developmental Studies Center Staff

(2008)

 

Native American Son:

The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe

By Kate Buford

(2010)

 

The Art of Americanization at the Carlisle Indian School

By Hayes Peter Mauro

(2011 = hardcover)

(2023 = paperback)

 

Native American Boarding Schools

By Mary A Stout

(2012)

 

Assimilation, Resilience, and Survival: A History of the Stewart Indian School, 1890-1920

By Samantha M. Williams

(2022)

 

Path by Lightning:

The Life of Jim Thorpe

By David Maraniss

(2022 = hardcover)

(2023 = paperback)

 

# 2. Film and video

 

On YouTube you can find many short items about this topic. If you enter the name of a person or the name of a school, many items will pop up

 

Jim Thorpe: All American

This historical drama, which premiered in 1951, covers the life and career of the famous athlete Jim Thorpe from the time when he was a child until 1932

** Director = Michael Curtiz

** Run time = 107 minutes

** Released on DVD in 2007

** The role as Jim Thorpe as an adult is played by Burt Lancaster

** In the UK, it was released with a different title:

Man of Bronze

 

*****


The Native American athlete

Jim Thorpe

(1887-1953)

This photo was taken sometime between 

1915 and 1920

 

*****


The Native American athlete

Lewis Tewanima

(1888-1969)

This photo is from 1911

 

*****


The Native American artist

Allen Houser

(1904-1994)

 

*****


The Native American athlete

Billy Mills

(born 1938)

This photo is from 1964 


*****

 

 

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