-
3. “The Dream of an Indian Princess”
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
95 CHAPTER THREE “The Dream of an Indian Princess” INDIAN CULTURE AT BACONE, 1927–1941 Only as students are inspired to create and perpetuate the beauty of Indian traditions and art—to enrich their homes with a deep culture and refinement , will the whole of the dream come true. — ATALOA, 1933 In an article that appeared in Missions magazine titled “The Dream of an Indian Princess,” Ataloa wrote that “it is not too late to educate both the Indian and the white man to the intrinsic values in Indian art and culture.”1 She felt that Bacone could play a unique role in this respect, becoming a center for the preservation of Indian arts and culture. President Weeks agreed. In the early 1930s, using funds they had raised, Ataloa and Weeks led a campaign to transform Bacone into a center for the study of American Indian arts and culture. How did this new curriculum fit into the school’s existing educational mission, and how did others—particularly the American Baptists, American Indian communities, and the federal government—react to Bacone’s new focus? TEACHING INDIAN CULTURE AT BACONE Ataloa felt that the “best examples” of Indian arts and culture were gradually disappearing from modern American society.2 Placing the responsibility for this disappearance largely on European Americans, “Dream of an Indian Princess” 96 Ataloa wrote: “Well meaning teachers in Indian and other schools have taught Indian youth to forget his language and culture, and to look on his heritage as inferior. Ethnologists and archaeologists have also been innocent, though negative factors in the development of Indian art. Most of the best examples of Indian art have been taken far away for collectors and museums. The Indian has been studied as a curiosity,—as a ‘dead’ and ‘vanishing’ race, not as a living contributor to the art, music, and religious moral code of later Americans.”3 Ataloa also blamed the disappearance of Indian arts and culture on the tourist and entertainment industries, which she felt had encouraged the marketing and “degeneration” of Indian arts and culture into “cheap curio[s]”4 and “vaudeville, circus type[s] of entertainment.”5 She appealed to white audiences to help Bacone “‘save’ the best in the Indian, since it is you who have taken the responsibility in changing our old civilization.”6 Ataloa and Weeks shared the view that, in order to preserve Indian arts and culture, Americans needed to rethink the fundamental goals that had guided Indian education in the past. Ataloa argued that government attempts to educate Indians had deprived Indians of their arts and culture while giving them “a very poor substitute in return.”7 A focus on manual training in the government schools had produced Indian youth who were only educated “from the shoulders down,”8 leaving them ill-equipped “to meet the demands of a new civilization.”9 Moreover, according to Weeks, Indian education had failed to capitalize on the abilities and skills of Native Americans: “The trouble has been that the Indian’s education has never fitted him for anything worthwhile. We have been trying to make carpenters out of artists, house painters out of musicians, and printers out of poets. We are beginning to realize that the Indian is an artist in the truest sense of the word.”10 Ataloa believed that the [54.159.186.146] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:50 GMT) “Dream of an Indian Princess” 97 solution to this problem was a new type of education that would be “a combination of the best that the white man’s training can give, together with the best in our own culture.”11 In 1929, Ataloa received an Honorary Scholarship to attend the International Institute in New York.12 She planned to conduct research that would aid her in developing new programs in Indian arts and culture at Bacone. She also planned to continue her fundraising activities for the school, using her time in the eastern United States to establish valuable connections to potential white donors.13 In September 1929 Ataloa took a leave of absence from her teaching duties at Bacone and moved into New York’s International House. She continued to send the proceeds from her concerts to Bacone to fund student scholarships,14 returning to campus for periodic visits.15 From 1929 until 1932 Ataloa was away from campus often, taking on much of the fund-raising role that Weeks had assumed before she arrived on campus. Ataloa believed that Indian people...