Boarding School Experience

Summary

In the American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, by David Wallace Adams, he argues that the boarding schools were designed to civilize Indian children. The boarding school main goals were to adapt Indian children into the lifestyles of the white man. The boarding schools cut all the boys hair and left them bald changed their native names and the children had to adjust to the whites food. Whites believed Indians were uncivilized and savage individuals. The boarding schools were built to teach children to be well-mannered humans as whites, forget about their old customs and beliefs, learn Christianity and follow the whites lifestyles. The whites taught Indian children the bible and have them forget about their religious beliefs

and prayers where they were not permitted to pray inside the boarding schools. The boarding schools wanted to get rid of the Indian man and establish a new white man inside the Indian children and create a saved man where the Indian spirit would be gone.
In the Antimiscegenation Laws and the Enforcement of Racial Boundaries by Rachel F. Moran, she argues that antimiscegenation laws were designed to regulate for different races to conceive or marry. The main goal of the antimiscegenation laws it to restrict sex and marriage freedom where blacks, Japanese and Chinese were not able to get involved and had to keep their love life or sex preferences aside. Moran overviews the history of prohibiting sex and marriage between blacks and whites and maintaining a color line in the United States. Racial hierarchy was reinforced in not letting whites get involved with other races because they believed whites were superior to others. There were many Mulattos who were light skinned and looked as a white individual, but did not receive white privileges because they came from black and white individuals. Chinese and Japanese were also not able to gain citizenship or get involved with white individuals. There were more males than females and many men were not able to marry or have kids because Chinese women were not able to come to the United States and they were not able to marry or conceive with white women. The prohibition of people of color getting married or having sex with white individuals was to secure hierarchy of whites and not have races get involved and create children and change the antimiscegenation laws that were created in the United States.

Discussion
In recent years, the United States created laws that led to people of color being less superior to whites. The U.S. was a hierarchy state that made people of color inferior to whites and many were prohibited of privileges whites had. Hierarchy led to many people of color being forced to lose their cultures and beliefs to adapt to the American culture. Hierarchy did not let people of color express their true love for others or let their cultures grow. The Unites States was a hierarchy state where Americans wanted to control every aspect of people’s lives. The United States did not want other cultures or religions to adapt to society and loose Christianity. Americans wanted people to practice Christianity and not change the laws or cultures that existed. Indians, black slaves, Chinese and Japanese had different skin color, different cultures and beliefs than Americans and Americans created and developed negative boarding schools or laws to not permit the development of other cultures or people of color marrying whites. For example, there were many blacks, Japanese and Chinese men in the United States where men outnumbered women four to one. Men of color were not permitted to marry white women and their family lines would be gone and their cultures would not continue to exist. Similar to the Indians, the culture of blacks, Japanese or Chinese would be gone as well because they were not able to marry white women and they would not have children and also Indian children would grow up in an American culture where their children would not know the Indian culture and the culture of people of color would slowly fade away.
In the United States antimiscegenation laws were created to separate races from getting married or from having sex. Blacks would be punished if they would get romantically involved with white women or want to marry. If black men were suspected of having sexual acts with white women they would severely punished by being lynched (Moran, 132.) The United States did not want black men to interfere with white women at all that it led to them being threatened with their lives. For example, in a song named Strange Fruit, by Billie Holliday, it represents blacks being considered strange fruit that would hang from the trees. Whites would violently hang black men who would have intimate relationships with white women and the men who were lynched would not be removed from the trees to warn other black men that they would also get lynched if they got romantically involved with white women. Similarly, Indian children would also get punished if they did not do what the Americans ordered them inside the boarding schools. For example, Wallace says that Indian children were forced to abandon their traditional foods and eat American food and many times the children would not be served a proper portion of food and many would be left hungry to a point where the children felt half-starved (Wallace, 49). The Indian children were not treated good inside the boarding schools because the schools were designed as prisons and the children were the prisoners where they were forced to adapt to the American culture. Many of the Indian children lost their native names, foods, languages and hair and blacks, Japanese or Chinese lost their chances of marrying women they could fall in love with because of their background and cultures. Blacks, Indians, Japanese and Chinese would be threatened or punished if they did not follow the laws or keep their cultures from growing and rising.
Americans wanted others to follow the rules they created and wanted to get rid of other cultures and adapt people into Christianity and the American culture.

Americans wanted to save the man from other different cultures and races. For example, Americans wanted Indian children to adapt to the American cultures and practice their religions. As Indian children began to change into speaking English and practicing Christianity, Americans did not treat them like other American children. Indian children were forced to forget their cultures and were obligated to use different clothing similar to American children, but the clothing was uniform that all the children used alike. The boarding schools were designed to save the man from the Indian culture, but there was no equality and the schools were very similar to military training camps. Indian children would have to eat at a certain time, dress a specific ways and would have a schedule for every activity performed inside the boarding school. The boarding schools goals were to make Indian children into civilized people, but many of the children had terrible experiences inside the schools. For example, in the film we saw in class of Our Spirits don’t speak English, many Indian adults who were inside the boarding schools when they were children said they experienced sexual and mental abuse and were taught industrial training where children would not have professional jobs in their futures, but domestic jobs. Also, Americans did not permit blacks to marry white women because they wanted America to be a better society and not have races mix. For example, there were many Mulatto children who had very light skin, but did not receive whites privileges. Mulatto and Indians were very similar where they adapted to the American culture and dressed as Americans, but were still treated differently by Americans because of the Racism that existed in society. Americans forced Indian children to join boarding schools to make them civilized

and black men or Japanese or Chinese were not able to get involved with white women because it would be uncivilized and Americans wanted to keep a civilized and white supremacy society in the united States.
The antimiscegenation laws and the boarding schools were very similar because both of them did not let blacks; Chinese and Japanese or Indians express who they truly were inside. Americans did not let Indian children truly express their belifes and religions or keep their hair because they were not considered civilized and wanted to get rid of the Indian man and create proper Indian children who were not savage in society. Americans wanted to keep the U.S. under control and not let other people of color take their jobs, replace their religion or have different clothing and that is why people were forced to forget about their cultures. Indian children were considered savage because of the way they lives in their reservations, but that was their lifestyles and Americans wanted to keep order in society and have the norm of having one culture and maintaining it like that. Americans prohibited many things from people of color that did not develop other cultures or races of getting married because of racism that existed in the United States. Racism led to boarding schools and antimiscegenation laws that did not let others reveal their true selves or have other cultures and beliefs from growing in society.

Response
I really enjoyed reading these two articles because I feel I can relate to them in some extent. In the American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, it was a very sad and tragic experience that many Indian children had to go through. It was very inhuman of Americans to force Indian children to forget where they came from and change their appearances. It was very terrible that Indian children were not able to wear what they wished and their cultures were beginning to be gone. Indian children would be taught the American culture and their culture and belief would begin to fade and their Indian cultures would be gone forever. My culture, beliefs and where I came from are very important to me and I would be extremely sad and feel empty if I was forced to forget my culture. It is very important to know where we came from and not forget our roots because our culture will always represent who we are and who we will teach our future kids or other family members who we are. In the Antimiscegenation Laws and the Enforcement of Racial Boundaries, it was also a very tragic rule where different races where not able to marry or conceive children. My cousin is Mexican and she is married to a white male, where they have three children and live a very happy life. It would be terrible to see that my cousin and her husband would not be able to be together because of racial boundaries. We are in a new era where different races are able to marry and conceive and that makes me very happy because we have freedom and the ability to be happy.