After the American Civil War ended in 1865, the United States addressed "the Indian question." Seeing Native Americans as barriers to industrial and economic progress, the government sought to assimilate them into American society.
One of the ways the U.S. did this was through boarding schools. In 1887, Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Atkins banned schools from teaching students in their native languages. Native children's lives were to be erased, beginning with their languages.
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Boarding schools often sent "before and after" pictures to Washington as evidence of student assimilation. Pictured above is Carlisle Indian School student Tom Torlino.
Credit: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
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The Santee Normal Training School (1870-1936)
Credit: South Dakota State Historical Society
By 1887, the Santee Normal Training School had been open for nearly seventeen years and was growing in size and reputation. Riggs attributed his school's success to its teaching in the Dakota language.
Riggs also believed his school created "self-sustainable" Dakotas. Because he thought there would always be Native Americans resistant to white missionary efforts, Riggs pushed his pupils to become teachers and pastors in their native languages to further assimilation among tribes.
Riggs complied with Atkins's order but found his school struggling to adjust to the government's demands. After six years of pleading to the commissioner for a repeal of the order, he ended his school's contract with the government in 1893.
Riggs struggled to teach in the Dakota language because of the U.S. government's systematic approach to assimilation. Students were physically and mentally abused for speaking Native languages at other boarding schools. For this reason, it is remarkable that the students at Santee were encouraged to use their language.
Background Image: "Taku Wicayazan Kage Cin" by Theodore Riggs
Credit: The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America