Voices of Haskell Indian Students Between Two Worlds, 1884-1928

~Rituals and Recreation~

Haskell students came form diverse religious backgrounds. Many of them were practicing Christians; others came from Indian homes deep in the native religions. By the late 1900's many tribes blended elements the Christian faith into their traditional religions. Haskell's religious program was designed to assimilate the children with wisdom and values of the Anglo-American world. Indian children had to learn the importance of chastity, monogamy, charity, temperance, honesty, and self-sacrifice as well as pure thoughts and language. The school expected the children to become not only obedient Christians but also patriotic American citizens.

When the United States entered the war in 1927, Native Americans who were American citizens got drafted just like other Americans, and more than 5,500 Indians went to war. Another 6,000 Native Americans volunteered. The B.I.A. encouraged Natives to participate in the war hoping that military service would further advance the federal Indian policy assimilation. Like other young Americans, Indian youths had many different reasons to enlist; many were eager to serve their country, some wanted to escape the poverty of the reservation, some wanted to seek adventure around the world. Some wanted to escape the boarding school routine. Indian boarding schools were an important source of Native American recruits during the war, and many students and alumni were eager to serve. By the summer of 1918, almost 300 male students of Haskell had left school for the military.

Over time Haskell offered more to its students than academics, work details and religious training. The school became famous for its athletic teams and band. Extracurricular activities helped to positively motivate the children. These activities made life at Haskell more enjoyable for it's students. Some children became members of choir, writers for the school newspaper, took art instruction, played theater, joined the debate team, or athletic teams.Extracurricular activities at Haskell allowed children to explore their talents, gain self confidence, and take pride in their abilities. Through these activities Haskell's students made sense of the rapidly changing world found alternate ways to find their identities as indigenous people.
Like other boarding schools the females and males were kept separate most of the time. Saturday night and Sunday afternoon social and special occasions were the only time male and female students were allowed to spend free time together. Unlike other Indian schools Haskell banned dancing for most of it's history., since it considered the contact be too intimate and wasn't proper discipline for the school. Students found ways to meet secretly, wrote each other love notes, and some even eloped. Some unwanted pregnancies did occur and some times tragic stories were recorded in Haskell's history.