Environment, Cultures, and Social Change on the Great Plains: a History of Crow Creek Tribal School
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2000 Environment, Cultures, and Social Change on the Great Plains: A History of Crow Creek Tribal School Robert W. Galler Jr. Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Galler, Robert W. Jr., "Environment, Cultures, and Social Change on the Great Plains: A History of Crow Creek Tribal School" (2000). Dissertations. 3376. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3376 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ENVIRONMENT, CULTURES, AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE GREAT PLAINS: A HISTORY OF CROW CREEK TRIBAL SCHOOL by Robert W. Galler, Jr. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History WesternMichigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 2000 Copyright by Robert W. Galler, Jr. 2000 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people provided assistance, suggestions, and support to help me complete this dissertation. My study of Catholic Indian education on the Great Plains began in Dr. Herbert T. Hoover's American Frontier History class at the University of South Dakota many years ago. I thank him for introducing me to the topic and research suggestions along the way. Dr. Brian Wilson helped me better understand varied expressions of American religious history, always with good cheer. Dr. Peter Schmitt provided welcomed suggestions on writing and put historical study into perspective with conversations about wild ricing, black walnuts, and the natural world. Mostly, I thank Dr. Donald Fixico for his tireless efforts during my doctoral studies and teaching me how to better understand Native American history and intercultural relations. His keen insights and perceptive questions always helped me see the forest fromwithin the trees. The staff at the Western Michigan University Resource Sharing Center helped me locate many resource materials. Mark Thiel and his staff at Marquette University Archives as well as Harry Thompson and his assistants at the Center For Western Studies at Augustana College also aided me in my research. Dr. Leonard Bruguier and the South Dakota Oral History Center helped me gather valuable recorded oral history interviews, especially those of Father Stanislaus Maudlin, O.S.B. 11 I would also like to thank members of Crow Creek Tribal High School for their assistance, including former Co-Principal Joe Ashley and librarian Marsha Fyler. I appreciated the memories and insights of students, staff, and Crow Creek residents, including VernonAshley, Jaye Begaye, Albert Bruce, Mavin Chavez, Albert Fallis, Marcella Howe, Maria Kirkie, Sebastian LeBeau, Rozelle Lockwood, Jerry Lytle, Quentin McGhee, and Sister Charles Palm. Their comments really helped me understand their school's complex history. I appreciated the support of the WesternMichigan University History Department throughout my doctoral study. I would like to specifically recognize Dr. Jose Brandao, Jay Gavan, Dr. Ross Gregory, Dixie Haggard, Dr. Cheryl Lyon Jenness, Maureen O'Brien, and Jim Shiley fortheir conversations and assistance over the years. I especially want to thank my good friend Jim Williams for suggestions that have improved my writing, conversations on a wide range of historical topics, and bringing by the pumpkin ice cream. Finally, I need to thank my parents, Marianne and Robert Galler, forsubtle lessons in discipline and creativity throughout my life, and my siblings, Christine, Tom, and Lorraine, for their support during this long process. And, of course, my wife Lisa, for her patience, love, and needed reminders that a world exists outside of "the cave." Robert W. Galler, Jr. lll ENVIRONMENT, CULTURES, AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE GREAT PLAINS: A HISTORY OF CROW CREEK TRIBALSCHOOL Robert W. Galler, Jr., Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2000 This study explores the socio-cultural history of a school for Native American students on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation in central South Dakota. The case study places the school's history (1886-present) within the context of the historic interaction between environment, cultures, and social change on the Great Plains. This work focuses on a Catholic school and the multi-dimensional students and staffwho constitute its story. These individuals acted neither as perpetually passive students nor simplistically sinister administrators. Instead, this dissertation broadly explores the challenging nature of intercultural relations that led to the founding of the school and how tribal/Catholic interactions evolved within the campus environment. Study of the region's history, examination of federaland school administrative documents, and oral histories fromstudents and staff reveal the complex history of education at a school known variously as Immaculate Conception Indian Mission, Stephan Indian Mission, and Crow Creek Tribal High School. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 11 IN'TRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1. A MEETIN'GGROUND: THE MISSOURI RIVER VALLEY AND THE NEXUS OF TRADITIONS ............................................................................. 10 2. Y ANKTONAI MIGRATION TO THE GREAT PLAIN'S: CULTURAL ADAPTATION FROM MILLE LACS TO THE MISSOURI RIVER............ 40 3. AMERICAN EXPANSION IN'TO SIOUX COUNTRY: TRIBAL PERSISTENCE AND RESISTANCE IN' NIN'ETEENTH-CENTURY DAKOTA TERRITORY ................................................................................. 71 4. BENEDICTIN'EARRIVAL TO CROW CREEK: SIOUX-CATHOLIC RELATIONS AND MARTIN'MARTY'S MISSION TO THE MIDDLE SIOUX.............................................................................................................. 103 5. PLACIN'G STEPHAN MISSION AT THE CROW CREEK AGENCY: PROTESTANTS, CATHOLICS, AND TRIBALDECISION-MAKIN'G, 1863-1885 ....................................................................................................... 135 6. ENDURIN'G ENVIRONMENTAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES: IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN'DIAN MISSION, 1886-1905 ....................................................................................................... 162 7. MOLDIN'GMISSION CULTURE: TRIBAL, CATHOLIC, AND FEDERAL IN'FLUENCES ON STEPHAN IN'DIAN MISSION, 1906-1919 ................... 214 8. EXPERIENCIN'G THE MISSION COMMUNITY: STUDENT AND STAFF PERSPECTIVES ON THEIR CROW CREEK SCHOOL, 1920-1998.......... 254 APPENDIX A: PROTOCOL CLEARANCE FROM THE HUMAN SUBJECTS IN'STITUTIONALREVEIW BOARD ....................................................................... 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................. .......................................................... 298 IV INTRODUCTION Few drivers along Route 47 south of Highmore, South Dakota give much attention to the buildings west of Mac's Comer. Most travelers along this two-lane road focus on getting to the Missouri River near Fort Thompson, or Interstate 90 at Chamberlain. Those who notice may think the building complex out of place on the mixed-grass prairie six miles east of the Missouri River. More curious individuals who drive the mile west of the state road will find a school campus over one hundred years old. The gravestones of Drifting Goose and Reverend Pius Boehm, O.S.B. stand alongside each other in the cemetery behind the school. Their placement symbolically reveals the intercultural nature of the school's founding for Sioux children at the Crow Creek agency. This nationally historic setting has hosted meetings between American emissaries and tribal leaders, caused disputes in Congress over the funding of religious schools, and attracted donations fromCatholic parishes in eastern cities. This dissertation focuses on intercultural relations between Sioux tribal leaders, Catholic missionaries, and American officialson the Great Plains. The first half of the work establishes the environmental setting and explores the historic role of distinct culture brokers in the region. 1 These chapters portray the varied precedents for the founding of the tribal school on the northeast comer of the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation. Within this context, the later chapters provide a case study of the complex history of an educational institution known over time as Immaculate 1 2 Conception Indian Mission School, Stephan Mission, and Crow Creek Tribal High School.2 This work explores the interconnection between environment, cultures and social change within a boarding school administered by Benedictine priests and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. Many consider the meeting of distinct natural forcesand cultural representatives as ingredients for conflict. Cultural analysis also reveals, however, that the interaction of distinct traditions can replicate natural environments where ecosystems interact along fluid borders. The Missouri River does this by carving a meandering course that influences and is influenced by adjacent ecological regions as it flows across the Great Plains. Within the same natural and human-built setting of the Crow Creek mission school,