They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School (North American Indian Prose Award) [Hardcover]

K. Tsianina Lomawaima (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994 | Series: North American Indian Prose Award

Established in 1884 and operative for nearly a century, the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma was one of a series of off-reservation boarding schools intended to assimilate American Indian children into mainstream American life. Critics have characterized the schools as destroyers of Indian communities and cultures, but the reality that K. Tsianina Lomawaima discloses was much more complex.

Lomawaima allows the Chilocco students to speak for themselves. In recollections juxtaposed against the official records of racist ideology and repressive practice, students from the 1920s and 1930s recall their loneliness and demoralization but also remember with pride the love and mutual support binding them together—the forging of new pan-Indian identities and reinforcement of old tribal ones.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[An] engaging and insightful book. . . . The author steers a thoughtful course through this material: her prose is lucid, her judgments carefully weighed. She tempers the seriousness of her undertaking with compassion and, at times, humor—always responding faithfully to the voices she records."—Native Peoples

(Native Peoples )

"A valuable case study and an important contribution to American Indian and educational history."—American Indian Quarterly

(American Indian Quarterly )

"An inspiring and illuminating case study that should be included in the library of anyone interested in Indian-white relations and Indian history."—Western Historical Quarterly

(Western Historical Quarterly )

"A remarkable achievement. No other book offers such an intimate picture of life in an Indian boarding school."—History of Education Quarterly

(History of Education Quarterly )

"A model of scholarship."—Ethnohistory

(Ethnohistory )

"Perhaps the most distinctive book yet written about Indian Boarding Schools. . . . A revealing, and often moving, book."—Richard White

(Richard White )

About the Author

K. Tsianina Lomawaima is an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona and the daughter of a former Chilocco student.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 205 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; 1St Edition edition (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803229046
• ISBN-13: 978-0803229044
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,642,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About time we heard from the students themselves., October 20, 1999

By 

Irvin Porter ([e-mail]) (Dubuque, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School (North American Indian Prose Award) (Paperback)

The book is very insightful for people trying to trace the history of the boarding-school experience among Native Americans. For too long, we have heard the story of this blight on education in this country from the perpetrators side only. This book goes far and away in advancing for the first time the views and stories of the people who lived it. Began as a way to "civilize" Native people forcefully, Chilocco soon becomes, after needed reform, a way of life for many Indian families till 1980. Racism was the antagonist after the 20's which forced Native people to send their children to these schools, not the government. Sometimes, these schools were their own choices for higher education for their children after grade schools. Clearly evident in this book is the nature of "vocational education" which was espoused by the boarding schools: that of subservience. They were not training these people to be doctors, lawyers, educators, and civil servants, they trained them to do for others and not to aspire to anything but. A great book to start your education into educational history of Native peoples. I highly recommend this!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indian Boarding School, February 2, 2004

By 

Janice (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School (North American Indian Prose Award) (Paperback)

K. Tsianina Lomawaima's "They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School" provides a bleak picture of the Indian boarding school and how it, in a way, was unsuccessful in eliminating tribal identity. Lomawaima, however, agrees that the boarding schools could be very influential, as they had an impact on the use of language, religious conversion, attitudes towards education, and more. Indina children, at such a tender age could easily be culturally transformed. She also discusses the various tactics the students used to adapt to and resist the school's agenda of changing them completely.

Lomawaima, uses oral history heavily. It helps too, that her mother was a former student at Chilocco Indian School. I think this is a great book for Native American History students specifically, as she does provide valuable insights into the lives of these students and the use of "education" in the name of "civilizing" them.

5.0 out of 5 stars Gift, December 26, 2011

By 

Lar - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School (North American Indian Prose Award) (Paperback)

This was a gift for my wife. Her grandparents had worked at Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma.

She had been told about this book and was interested in what had been written about the school.