By Martin Link
History of Fort Wingate Chapter 4
I
“They will hammer their swords into plowshares.”
n the years following the War Department to the Interior Civil War (1861-65) the Department, to be administered by westward expansion of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Congress and the Coolidge the United States became an epic story of immense Administration also were proportions, and, as brought out prompted to take more interest in earlier chapters, Fort Wingate in the vast number of complaints played a key role in this story. But the B.I.A. had been receiving by the 1880s, another component regarding the operation of their began to surface among the complex schools. As a result, a task force relationships between Anglowas established and assigned to Americans and the various pueblos survey the economic and social and tribal groups, especially here conditions of the American in the Southwest; and that was the Indian. The chairman of this matter of education. task force was a man well versed This represented a major change in Indian history, Lewis Meriam. of attitude toward the indigenous In 1928, the results of this inpeoples of the Southwest by the depth survey were published About 1960, a typing student shows off her skills to her fellow under the title “The Problems of Federal Government, from a policy students and instructors at Wingate Vocational High School. Indian Administration,” but more of military confrontation to one B.I.A. Archives schools, and a handful of religious-sponsored commonly called the Meriam of boosting local economies and schools throughout the Navajo Reservation Report. The report was harshly critical of the providing education and vocational training. and adjoining counties. However, the only In maybe a broad sense, this was a reflection methods and policies used by the B.I.A. in the high school (grades nine through twelve) was operation of their school systems. of the biblical passage of the prophet Isaiah at the Albuquerque Indian School, which had when he predicted that Nations would no Meanwhile, back to Fort Wingate. It took been established in 1881. longer go to war, but instead, “will hammer a year to make all the changes necessary The year 1925 turned out to be a their swords into plowshares and their spears to convert the complex of buildings into a very auspicious year in the history of Fort into pruning knives.” boarding school, with most of the military Wingate. Newly inaugurated President, However, despite all these good buildings becoming classrooms, dormitories, Calvin Coolidge (who had been Vice intentions, many of these boarding schools administrative offices, and teachers’ housing. President under Wm. G. Harding), had an turned out to be a year-long nightmare The school, named for Charles H. Burke, empathy for the plight of the country’s Native then Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was for these young Indian children. During inhabitants and some good legislation came the early years of implementing this new open for business in September 1926 with an about during his term of office. policy of providing an education to native enrollment of 150 boys. In January 1927, the The Congressional Act of Indian youngsters, the Education Branch of the enrollment was doubled with the addition of Citizenship was enacted in late 1924 and Office of Indian Affairs (soon to be identified about 150 girls. Although children of both signed into law by Pres. Coolidge in January as the Bureau of Indian Affairs) had no Navajo and Zuni linage were encouraged to 1925. This law gave American citizenship rules to go by, no precedents to follow, no enroll, it seemed that all the students were personnel trained to teach or mentor children to all Indians who may not have received coming from Navajo families. Only grades this status through individual tribal treaties. who did not speak English and were not one to seven were offered. Through the urging of Pres. Coolidge, With the addition of the eighth grade familiar with Euro-American customs, or Congress also established the Division of in 1928, the enrollment increased to 500 have available text books that would be and did begin to include students from relevant or culturally acceptable. All too often Indian Health within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a couple of months later the the surrounding pueblos of Zuni, Hopi, school administrators and faculty fell back Coolidge Administration appropriated Acoma, and Laguna. In 1929, one of the on military-style means of discipline, and $500,000 for renovation of the buildings first casualties of the Meriam Report was rigid policies of classroom instruction and at Fort Wingate to be established as an the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Charles dormitory behavior. No efforts at all were Indian school. The property incorporating H. Burke who turned in his resignation. made to involve the parents or families. the original fort was transferred from the By the early 1920s, there were 47 B.I.A. He was replaced by Charles J. Rhoads, 34
October 2017
