1968: “the teaching of Indian history in our schoolrooms is less than pathetic."... Certainly, this educational failure has helped immensely to bolster the white prejudice against the Indian. …
Teaching the True Indian History
1968 Nov 30 Green Bay Press Gazette
Amid the considerable publicity about the plight of minority groups in the United States, there has generally been a lack of interest in the fact that the American Indian is in such a group. But there is some progress both in raising standards of living on some Indian reservations and in trying to assimilate the Indian into urban life.
…. The major problem has been the disgraceful neglect of the Indian over the years by most white Americans. Today, it may be that our guilt over what was really almost genocide and the appalling conditions on reservations encourages us to pretend that the problem does not exist. As [Robert] Rietz [heads the American Indian Center of Chicago] points out, “the teaching of Indian history in our schoolrooms is less than pathetic. The entire Indian removal policy of federal administrations during the 19th century is unmentioned. Nowhere do young people really learn about the development of the reservation system. Just think of it – extermination, reservations. Yet, nothing in our textbooks.”
Certainly, this educational failure has helped immensely to bolster the white prejudice against the Indian. …
1968 Nov 30 Green Bay Press Gazette |
1968 Nov 22. The Oil City Derrick |