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
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment