Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School

Last updated
Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School
Truxton Schoolhouse NRHP 03001197 Mohave County, AZ.jpg
USA Arizona location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location AZ 66, Valentine, Arizona
Coordinates 35°23′12″N113°39′37″W / 35.38667°N 113.66028°W / 35.38667; -113.66028
Arealess than one acre
Built1903
Built byOffice of Indian Affairs
Architectural style Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No. 03001197 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 21, 2003

The Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School, which has also been known as the Truxton Canyon Indian School and as the Valentine Indian School, is a historic schoolhouse that was built in 1903. It was built using Colonial Revival architecture as a work of the Office of Indian Affairs, and was expanded, compatibly with the Colonial Revival style, in 1929. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. [1]

Contents

It was deemed significant for its role in "educating predominantly Hualapai but also Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo, Tohono O'odham (Papago), Pima, and Yavapai children during the early twentieth century", and also "as an expression of Office of Indian Affairs architecture during the 'Assimilation Policy' era, when boarding school buildings in Euroamerican styles were designed to educate Indian children in environments entirely foreign from their own. The architecture expressed the intent on the part of the federal government to separate a student from his or her family and culture and to provide basic skills for earning a living away from the reservation." [2] : 10 

The school operated from 1903 until 1937. At the time of its NRHP nomination it was owned by the Hualapai Indian nation, which had plans to renovate the building. [2]

Student education

Native American students in Pilgrim dresses "Fort Spokane, Boarding School" Girls in pilgrim dresses, with dolls, presenting pageant. On back- "Left, Hildred Nee, 2nd from (5b8139ad-8953-4284-bc8a-c24affa5b934).jpg
Native American students in Pilgrim dresses

The schools first year of operation they enrolled approximately 88 students in 1901. The first two years of operation there was no main schoolhouse until, the brick main schoolhouse, was completed in 1903. Courses would begin in the new building in the fall and the enrollment of students would then be 150 students. [3] The female student population of the school worked towards skills that would be useful for jobs that involved beadwork as well as laundering. The male student population were educated in classes that would help them get jobs in industrial fields. [3] The students would spend half of their school day working around the schoolhouse with chores such as cooking, laundering, and washing as well as agricultural jobs as well. The students were separated by gender and educated in order to support the modern American view of the nuclear family by allowing the female students to perform housework and the male students learn trades. [4]

The students would then spend the other half participating in regular studies and vocational trainings. [5] A lot of the Native American children would at first struggle to learn at a regular pace because the classes and teachers all taught the students in English and the students were not allowed to speak their native languages. [6] The curriculum had many military-like aspects which was undergone by the Principal, these would include military drills such as falling in formation like a regime, standing at attention, or marching from class and to meals. [7] [8]

Student experience

From the late 1800's to early 1900's Indian Boarding schools increased in size and more were needed in order to educate the Native American population, the Truxton Canyon training school was built in place of what was known as the Hackberry Day school, which it replaced. [1] The Truxton Canyon training school was built in order to offer an education to the Native American children as well as help them assimilate to American culture through the American school system. [9]

Accounts given by the teachers at the time spoke of the type of care the school and students received and described it as poor. The early depictions of 1901 describe the first attempt at opening a school here as poor since they received no supplies such as beds, dishes, and other important resources. [7] Accounts also of the disease and illness that had spread through the school such as measles, smallpox, influenza, and others causing great unrest and discomfort in the students and negatively impacting their progress. [7]

The successful students that performed exceedingly well in their studies could be transferred to off-reservation boarding schools such as the Phoenix Indian Industrial boarding school which is located at the capital of Arizona and away from the student's home tribes. By placing the students away from reservations and closer to large white-populations the students could have an easier time assimilating to American culture. [10]

The children at the Truxton Indian school were previously sent to different schools in the surrounding areas, far from their reservation such as the Mojave school. After twelve of those kids were sent to a different school without the advisement of the parents and two of them died, the leaders of the Hualapai demanded a boarding school that was closer to their home. [11] In an attempt to break the spirits of the children and to divide them from their cultures and families, upon arrival at the school, their hair was cut, their clothes were burned and they were given white names. [12] Children were also discouraged from practicing their own religious beliefs. Instead they were taught about christianity, they were taught how to pray and to read the Bible. [13] Despite the proximity to home, death and other abuses of the children were not avoided at the new location. Children, if found misbehaving, were beaten, slapped, hit with wooden paddles and even whipped to ensure that they would not act out again. [14] Because of these harsh living circumstances, children would run away from the school, if found they were often punished with solitary confinement and deprivation of food and water. [15] The students also participated in jobs on campus, they cleaned, they cooked and they maintained the grounds of the school, often spending more time in that labor than their studies. [16]

Architecture and agriculture

The Truxton Canyon Indian School was constructed in 1903 and was modeled after the Colonial Revival Architectural style as a way to prioritize colonist ideals over Native American ideals. [17] The main schoolhouse would undergo multiple adjustments during the school's operations. These additions would include a second story (1924), the conversion of the school's auditorium to a classroom (1927), a new auditorium placed behind the school (1928), and an expansion done to the schoolhouse to increase enrollment size (1924–27). [17]

Farming Schoolchildren Farming (Schoolchildren) - DPLA - 21401483de0c70903bddff621fddedde.jpg
Farming Schoolchildren

The 1901 teacherage and dormitory as well as the bricks used to create them was constructed by the Hualapai students under the supervision of the current principal. [7] Students of the agricultural classes as well as their instructors would plant and take care of the canals, fruit trees, and landscaping around the school's property during the course of its operation. [17]

After 1937 the school ceased operation as a Native American boarding school and the dormitory and teacherage were taken down, the bricks from those buildings were then used to build the neighboring town's museum, the Mohave County Historical Museum. [1] A few of the wood frame buildings were renovated as well and the nearby agricultural fields were left unattended and the neighboring maintained foliage died.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohave people</span> Indigenous people to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert

Mohave or Mojave are a Native American people indigenous to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert. The Fort Mojave Indian Reservation includes territory within the borders of California, Arizona, and Nevada. The Colorado River Indian Reservation includes parts of California and Arizona and is shared by members of the Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coconino County, Arizona</span> County in Arizona, United States

Coconino County is a county in the North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from Cohonino, a name applied to the Havasupai people. It is the second-largest county by area in the contiguous United States, behind San Bernardino County, California. It has 18,661 sq mi (48,300 km2), or 16.4% of Arizona's total area, and is larger than the nine smallest states in the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supai, Arizona</span> CDP in Coconino County, Arizona

Supai is a census-designated place (CDP) in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, within the Grand Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peach Springs, Arizona</span> CDP in Mohave County, Arizona

Peach Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,098 at the 2020 census. Peach Springs serves as the administrative headquarters of the Hualapai people and is located on the Hualapai Reservation.

The Indian Placement Program (IPP) or Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP), also called the Lamanite Placement Program, was operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States, officially operating from 1954 and virtually closed by 1996. It had its peak during the 1960s and 1970s. Native American students who were baptized members of the LDS Church were placed in foster homes of LDS members during the school year. They attended majority-white public schools, rather than the Indian boarding schools or local schools on the reservations.

Indigenous peoples of Arizona are the Native American people who currently live or have historically lived in what is now the state of Arizona. There are 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona, including 17 with reservations that lie entirely within its borders. Reservations make up over a quarter of the state's land area. Arizona has the third largest Native American population of any U.S. state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havasupai</span> Indigenous ethnic group of Arizona, US

The Havasupai people are a Native American people and tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. Hava means "blue sky,", "su" means "water," and pai "people". Another way to consider the Havasupai people is to call them 'the people of the blue and green sky and water.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hualapai</span> Native American tribe

The Hualapai is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled members. Approximately 1353 enrolled members reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Northern Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural assimilation of Native Americans</span> By the US, into European–American culture

A series of efforts were made by the United States to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream European–American culture between the years of 1790 and 1920. George Washington and Henry Knox were first to propose, in the American context, the cultural assimilation of Native Americans. They formulated a policy to encourage the so-called "civilizing process". With increased waves of immigration from Europe, there was growing public support for education to encourage a standard set of cultural values and practices to be held in common by the majority of citizens. Education was viewed as the primary method in the acculturation process for minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indian boarding schools</span> Schools for assimilating Native Americans

American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Native American children and youth into Anglo-American culture. In the process, these schools denigrated Native American culture and made children give up their languages and religion. At the same time the schools provided a basic Western education. These boarding schools were first established by Christian missionaries of various denominations. The missionaries were often approved by the federal government to start both missions and schools on reservations, especially in the lightly populated areas of the West. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries especially, the government paid Church denominations to provide basic education to Native American children on reservations, and later established its own schools on reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also founded additional off-reservation boarding schools. Similarly to schools that taught speakers of immigrant languages, the curriculum was rooted in linguistic imperialism, the English only movement, and forced assimilation enforced by corporal punishment. These sometimes drew children from a variety of tribes. In addition, religious orders established off-reservation schools. In October 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an official apology on behalf of the federal government for the abuse suffered in these boarding schools. In his apology, Biden discusses the history of boarding schools and blames the government for not apologizing sooner. He recognizes this kind of apology had never been issued before and addresses it to a crowd of Indigenous people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Relocation Act of 1956</span> Law attempting to move Native Americans

The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 was a United States law intended to create a "a program of vocational training" for Native Americans in the United States. Critics characterize the law as an attempt to encourage Native Americans to leave Indian reservations and their traditional lands, to assimilate into the general population in urban areas, and to weaken community and tribal ties. Critics also characterize the law as part of the Indian termination policy between 1940 and 1960, which terminated the tribal status of numerous groups and cut off previous assistance to tribal citizens. The Indian Relocation Act encouraged and forced Native Americans to move to cities for job opportunities. It also played a significant role in increasing the population of urban Native Americans in succeeding decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Indian School</span> Museum and historic school in Nevada

The Stewart Indian School (1890–1980) was an American Indian boarding school southeast of Carson City, Nevada. Today, it is the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentine, Arizona</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Arizona, United States

Valentine is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 39. Valentine is located on Arizona State Route 66 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Kingman. The majority of Valentine is located in a geographically isolated exclave of the Hualapai Reservation and the rest of the community is located in unincorporated Mohave County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Indian Education</span> United States government agency

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), headquartered in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C., and formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. It is responsible for the line direction and management of all BIE education functions, including the formation of policies and procedures, the supervision of all program activities, and the approval of the expenditure of funds appropriated for BIE education functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Indian School</span> United States historic place

The Phoenix Indian School, or Phoenix Indian High School in its later years, was a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated school in Encanto Village, in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. It served lower grades also from 1891 to 1935, and then served as a high school thereafter. It opened in 1891 and closed in 1990 on the orders of the federal government. During its existence, it was the only non-reservation BIA school in Arizona.

Valentine Elementary School District 22 is a public school district based in Mohave County, Arizona.

There were ten American Indian Boarding Schools in Wisconsin that operated in the 19th and 20th centuries. The goal of the schools was to culturally assimilate Native Americans to European–American culture. This was often accomplished by force and abuse. The boarding schools were run by church, government, and private organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Yava</span>

Albert Yava (1888–1980) was a Hopi–Tewa autobiographer and interpreter. Born in Tewa Village on First Mesa, Arizona, in 1888 to a Hopi father and a Tewa mother, Yava's given name was Nuvayoiyava, meaning Big Falling Snow. He attended primary school in Polacca, Arizona, at a time when compulsory education at US government-run schools was a controversial topic in the Hopi community. Teachers at the school shortened his name to Yava and added the familiar name Albert, both of which names he used for the remainder of his life. Yava subsequently attended boarding school in Keams Canyon, Arizona and spent five years at the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma.

Native American outing programs were associated with American Indian boarding schools in the United States. These were operated both on and off reservations, primarily from the late 19th century to World War II. Students from boarding schools were assigned to live with and work for European-American families, often during summers, ostensibly to learn more about English language, useful skills, and majority culture, but in reality, primarily as a source of unpaid labor. Many boarding schools continued operating into the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuba City Boarding School</span> Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) operated school

Tuba City Boarding School (TCBS) is a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-operated DK-8 boarding school in Tuba City, Arizona.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Pat Haigh Stein (August 2003). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School / Truxton Canyon Indian School / Valentine Indian School". National Park Service. and accompanying five photos
  3. 1 2 Perkins, J. S. (1903). "Report of the commissioner of affairs". Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1903, Part I: 135 – via University of Wisconsin-Madison Library.
  4. ↑ Simonsen, Jane E. (2006). Making home work : domesticity and Native American assimilation in the American West, 1860–1919. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-8078-7726-5. OCLC   82479976.
  5. ↑ Schmeckebier, Laurence F. (1927). "The Office of Indian Affairs; Its History, Activities and Organizations". The Office of Indian Affairs; Its History, Activities ... No.48.: 218–226 – via HathiTrust.
  6. ↑ Reyhner, Jon (2018). "American Indian Boarding Schools: What Went Wrong? What Is Going Right?". Journal of American Indian Education. 57 (1): 60–67. doi:10.5749/jamerindieduc.57.1.0058. JSTOR   10.5749/jamerindieduc.57.1.0058. S2CID   186745748.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Iliff, Flora Gregg (1954). People of the Blue Water. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. pp. 100–188. ISBN   978-0816509256.
  8. ↑ Spencer, Sally (1955). "Reviewed work: People of the Blue Water, Flora Gregg Iliff". Kiva. 20 (4): 12–13. doi:10.1080/00231940.1955.11757536. JSTOR   30247468.
  9. ↑ Shepherd, Jeffery P. (2010). We are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. pp. 67–88. ISBN   9780816528288.
  10. ↑ Trennert, Robert A. (1988). The Phoenix Indian School: Forced Assimilation in Arizona. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 20–30. ISBN   978-0806121048.
  11. ↑ Dobyns, Henry F.; Euler, Robert C. (1999). "Bands of Gardeners: Pai Sociopolitical Structure". American Indian Quarterly. 23 (3/4): 159. doi:10.2307/1185834. ISSN   0095-182X. JSTOR   1185834.
  12. ↑ Shepherd, Jeffrey P. (2008). "At the Crossroads of Hualapai History, Memory, and American Colonization: Contesting Space and Place". The American Indian Quarterly. 32 (1): 16–42. doi:10.1353/aiq.2008.0008. ISSN   1534-1828. S2CID   163104714.
  13. ↑ Margolis, Eric; Rowe, Jeremy (2004-03-01). "Images of assimilation: photographs of Indian schools in Arizona". History of Education. 33 (2): 199–230. doi:10.1080/0046760032000151456. ISSN   0046-760X. S2CID   144653726.
  14. ↑ Jacobs, Margaret D. (2004). "A Battle for the Childre: American Indian Child Removal in Arizona in the Era of Assimilation". The Journal of Arizona History. 45 (1): 31–62. ISSN   0021-9053. JSTOR   41696824.
  15. ↑ Pearson, Byron (2012-02-01). "Review: We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People, by Jeffrey P. Shepherd". Pacific Historical Review. 81 (1): 97–98. doi:10.1525/phr.2012.81.1.97. ISSN   0030-8684.
  16. ↑ Iliff, Flora Gregg (1985). People of the Blue Water. University of Arizona Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1qwwjhf. ISBN   978-0-8165-4601-5.
  17. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.