Thesis
The Navajo special program in the Pacific Northwest: educating Navajo students at Chemawa Indian Boarding School, 1946-1957
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101034
Abstract
In 1868, the Navajo tribe and United States government negotiated a treaty that, among other things, obligated the federal government to educate Navajo children. The Dawes Act of 1887 and its assimilationist policy form the background to this study, as do Indian boarding schools that had their beginnings in the 1880s. The Meriam Report of 1928, the JohnsonO'Malley Act and the Indian Reorganization Act, both passed in 1934, dramatically altered American Indian Education. World War II created a severe funding deficit for Navajo education, and the Navajo Special Program (NSP) established in 1946 aimed to mitigate the educational short falls on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Inaugurated at the Sherman Institute at Riverside, California, the NSP expanded to eleven schools throughout the nation, among which was the Chemawa Indian Boarding School in Salem, Oregon. Chemawa's first Navajo students arrived in 1948 and by 1957 it discontinued its non- Navajo program and became an all Navajo Indian boarding school. Its polytechnic educational framework stood in contrast to the traditional academic schooling. Chemawa remained a vocationally-driven school until the 1960s when it began to accept non-Navajo students, which corresponded with the steady decrease in the Navajo student population. Advancements in the education system on the Navajo Reservation allowed more Navajo children to attend school closer to home. In 1966 the Navajo Nation opened the Rough Rock Demonstration School in Chinle, Arizona, becoming the first Indian tribe to operate an Indian-controlled school on a reservation. The Navajo Community College opened in 1968 and solidified the Navajo Nation as a leader in Indian-controlled education. The primary documents that distinguish this work are from collections found at the National Archive and Records Administration at its Pacific and Alaska Division located Seattle, Washington. Specifically they include materials from the Chemawa School-Navajo Program, Education Administrative files; the Navajo Program Files from the Decimal Files 1924-1955; and the Chemawa-General 1950-1951, Tribal Operations General files.
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Details
- Title
- The Navajo special program in the Pacific Northwest
- Creators
- Rachael Renee Johnson
- Contributors
- Orlan J. Svingen (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- History, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525026501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis