#4 While Teaching On The Hopi Reservation In Arizona, Bratley Likely Posed This Image Of His Student Ruth Honavi Having Her Hair Made Up In The Butterfly Style
#5 Hotograph Of Children And Grounds Of Carson/Stewart Indian School
#6 Young School Grirls Attending Sewing Class At Albuquerque Indian School
#7 Students At The Carlisle Indian Industrial School In Carlisle, Pennsylvania
#8 Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania
#9 Female Students Posed Outside, Sac And Fox Indian Schools, Oklahoma, Circa 1910s
The structure of daily life in these schools was a lesson in itself. The rigid lines of students marching, the sparse functionality of the dormitories, and the emphasis on industrial labor were all designed to break down a worldview centered on community and nature, and replace it with one of rigid individualism and hierarchy. Every detail in these photographs, from the uniformed clothing to the barren walls of the classrooms, was a deliberate part of this immense and often brutal social experiment.
#11 Chiricahua Apaches Four Months After Arriving At Carlisle
#13 Native American Girls Were Trained To Be Productive, Subservient Homemakers In The Mold Of Victorian Norms
#14 Boys Were Schooled In Farming, Carpentry, And Metalworking
#15 Living Conditions At The Schools Were Stark. Children Lay Three To A Bed At The Cantonment Boarding School On The Cheyenne And Arapaho Reservation
#16 At The Cantonment Boarding School, Children Erected Play Tipis That Allowed Them Some Measure Of Staying Connected To Their Plains Cultures
#17 Very Early Class Of Young Boys With Flags At The Albuquerque Indian School
#18 School Girls Participating In A Festival At The Albuquerque Indian School In New Mexico
#19 Young Native American Children Learn To Sing A Song At The Carlisle Indian Industrial School
#20 Group Of Indian Boys From The Mission School In Sitka
It is essential to look beyond the posed nature of these photographs and into the eyes of the children themselves. In their expressions, one can sometimes see a profound loneliness and a quiet, guarded watchfulness. This is the look of a child navigating a foreign world far from the warmth of family. They were taught to be ashamed of who they were, yet the very act of their survival within this system is a story of immense, unspoken strength.