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To Assimilate The Children: The Boarding School At Chemawa, Oregon 1880-1930, James Alan Smith
To Assimilate The Children: The Boarding School At Chemawa, Oregon 1880-1930, James Alan Smith
All Master's Theses
Separating Native American children from their people to train them for entering white society was seen by proponents as an alternative to extinction. Reformers implemented this goal by establishing off-reservation boarding schools like that at Chemawa, Oregon. Though their methods changed, the objective of assimilation remained constant. This case study argues that this emphasis was well-intentioned but flawed. Examination of a fifty year period reveals the unrealistic assumption that Native children would forsake their identity for another.