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Indian Removal Act
This Act forcibly moved Indians onto reservations in the Midwest. Native Americans had to struggle to survive, and so their focus was not on educating their children. -
Carlisle Indian Industrial School Founded
The Carlisle School was founded in 1879 when Colonel Richard Henry Pratt took over the Carlisle, Pennsylvania Barracks and turned it into a school for Native American children with the motto, "Kill the Indian, save the man." -
Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School
The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School was another experimental military-run boarding school with the goal to forcibly assimilate Native American children into American culture. -
The Society of American Indians
Founded by graduates of the Carlisle Industrial school, this society was dedicated to advancing the rights of Native Americans as citizens. -
Closing of the Carlisle School
The Carlisle School was not successful with only 1 in 8 students graduating because of drop outs, runaways, and children who died of illness. -
Indian Citizenship Act
This act gave Native Americans the right to vote, opening up new opportunities. After this Act was passed, Native Americans were able to take part in the politics shaping their children's education. -
National Indian Education Association
This organization brings Native American educators together to find ways to influence and improve their own teaching as well as working to preserve Native American culture.
http://www.niea.org -
Indian Education Act
This act created the office of Indian Education and National Advisory Council on Indian Education and later allowed these groups to apply for government grants. Future amendments to this act added teacher training programs as well as standards to meet the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. -
Indian Self Determination Act
This act was one that began to give educational choice back to Native American families, allowing them to make decisions like where their children would go to school. -
Native American Educational Hardships Persist
At Wounded Knee School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, mandatory state tests were administered. Of the approximately 150 students in attendance, only Carleigh Campbell (a sixth grader) passed the test. Property is worth so little on the reservation that when federal funding (which is around 60% of many reservation schools funding) was cut, the quality of school on the reservation dropped dramatically.
