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Article: American Indian Children at School: 1850-1930.
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- June 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Michael C. Coleman has analyzed 108 autobiographical accounts by 102 native Americans focusing on their childhood and teenage schooling experiences. His conclusions are twofold: that native Americans "responded to an alien education institution with a high degree of ambivalence"; and that these autobiographical accounts, which are highly consistent with each other, "provide a credible understanding" of Indian schooling experiences (192).
Coleman offers a descriptive portrait of Indian schooling and challenges recent studies by H. David Brumble, Arnold Krupat, and others who emphasize the distortions and forgetfulness inherent in native American autobiographies. He ...