The purpose of this article has been to set the record straight as to the extent to which education of the mind and hands was prevalent in the United States prior to the 1880s. This effort is necessary since the proponents of the manual training curriculum that surfaced in the United States in the 1880s created a misperception that no prior form…

Against the backdrop of internal colonialism, this article examines the educational and social lives of Allen Wright and his children to better understand how this Choctaw family successfully navigated the pressures of dual cultures by: (1) providing the socio-political context of the indigenous culture prior to Wright's birth; (2) chronicling and…

American Indian organizations in Chicago grew both in size and number during the 1970s. The lasting impact of War on Poverty programs and the passing of the Indian Education Act of 1972 and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 served as significant factors for the development of these organizations. Alternative American Indian…

Women pioneers and frontier teachers have been the subject of numerous books and articles. Generally, the portrait has been one of self-sacrifice, dedication to God, family and home, with little or no concern for personal needs or goals. Continuing with a premise that teachers in Indian Territory used religious sanctions and faced greater peril in…

The purpose of this paper is to critique the manner in which history about American Indians has been written and propose a rationale for the rethinking of what we know about this subject. In particular, histories of education as regards the participation of American Indians is a subject that has been given scant attention over the years and when…

This article considers two related educational endeavors of the Massachusetts colony. The first is the colonists' efforts to pass their religious traditions to their children. The second is the effort of missionaries to spread the Christian faith to Native Americans. In both cases, the colonists wanted their children and the American Indians to…

Mary Coombs Greenleaf sought to take her place among the many frontier teachers who preceded her in 1800s. However, her destination--Indian Territory--was distinctive from previous American frontiers in that it was the geographical solution to a long record of Indian eradication policy. Mary Greenleaf was fifty-six years old, having just lost her…

This article traces the history of Native American women clubs from 1899-1955. In its heyday in the early 1900s, the women's club movement attracted about two million participants nationwide. Excluded from higher education at the time, women were moved to create their own opportunities to learn, meeting regularly in small groups to study such…

The Wright family, descended from the patriarch Allen Wright, who arrived in the new Choctaw Nation after surviving the "Trail of Tears," played an important role in Oklahoma politics and society. Following removal to Oklahoma, Allen went on to become Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation and gave the name, Oklahoma, to the southwest territory. He…