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Early
Education and Civilization
In the mid 1870s, assimilation in the form of education was
now the focus of government policy. The agent declared
that families who did not send their children to school would
have rations (government annuities of food) withheld. Mandan,
Hidatsa, and Sahnish children at Fort Berthold were attending
school at Fort Stevenson boarding school or C. L. Halls' Congregational
mission school. Many children were taken forcibly from their
homes and sent off to schools such as Carlisle Indian School
in Pennsylvania, and Hampton Institute in Virginia. According
to oral historians, the children were forced to wear uniforms
and carry wooden guns. They were given Christian names
and in some cases, lost their original names completely.
Elders say many of the Indian people's ancestors became confused
because the government agents were careless in keeping records
and assigned names randomly. Many children ran away from
the schools because the environment, food, clothing, language,
and school personnel attitudes were unfamiliar to them.
They were often caught and returned to the schools. They
were not allowed to speak their own languages. If they
did, they were severely punished. As a result of this,
parents were afraid to allow their children to speak their own
language. Very little English was spoken which hampered
the children's ability to learn in school.
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Phone: 701-627-3503
Three Affiliated Tribes, 404 Frontage Road, New Town, North Dakota,
58763
Copyright ® 2004-2006 Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation.
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