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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' Indian Student Placement Service: a History

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' Indian Student Placement Service: a History Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 5-2008 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Indian Student Placement Service: A History Lynette Riggs Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons Recommended Citation Riggs, Lynette, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Indian Student Placement Service: A History" (2008). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 92. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/92 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS’ INDIAN STUDENT PLACEMENT SERVICE: A HISTORY by Lynette A. Riggs A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Education Approved: Barry M. Franklin, Ph.D. Martha L. Whitaker, Ph.D. Major Professor Committee Member David Rich Lewis, Ph.D. Kay Camperell, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Kathryn R. Fitzgerald, Ph.D. Byron Burnham, Ed.D. Committee Member Dean of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2008 ii Copyright © Lynette A. Riggs 2008 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Indian Student Placement Service: A History by Lynette A. Riggs, Doctor of Philosophy Utah State University, 2008 Major Professor: Dr. Barry M. Franklin Department: Education From 1947 to 1996, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated a foster program that placed Native American children into Latter-day Saint (LDS) homes to attend public schools and be immersed in Mormon culture. This program, the Indian Student Placement Program, is described through LDS perspectives as being generally successful. The children were baptized into the LDS church, removed from the reservations, and relocated to live with white Mormon families where they attended public schools and were expected to conform to white cultural life ways. Critics charge that the program was a missionary tool used to assimilate children into white Mormon society, often at a great cultural, familial, and psychological cost. Although historians and scholars are writing more about Native American education experiences as of late, little has been recorded about this particular phenomenon. This study pulls together what has been recorded about the program and iv adds additional perspectives and information provided by past participants via an interview process. There are both negative and positive outcomes suggested by past program participants and researchers. Perhaps the most important contributions this study makes, however, concern the Native Americans themselves and their responses of accommodation, resistance, and, ultimately, resilience in the face of acculturating and assimilating forces. (205 pages) v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Barry M. Franklin, for sharing his expertise, offering advice, and being very, very patient. I appreciate the patience and guidance of my graduate committee, as well. I would also like to thank my husband and four children for their patience and long-suffering support as I worked through my degrees over the past several years. My tuition, loss of income, and absence from home were our shared sacrifice. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, who died when I was small. They read to me. I associated books and learning with love. Lynette A. Riggs vi CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 The Problem.................................................................................................... 2 Purpose............................................................................................................ 5 Interpretive Framework .................................................................................. 6 Researcher as Research Instrument ................................................................ 9 Terms............................................................................................................... 11 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE: HISTORIES OF NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION................................................................................................. 16 Historical Interpretation of Native American Education ................................ 20 LDS Accounts ................................................................................................. 49 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 50 III. HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION.............................................. 54 Purpose............................................................................................................ 54 Methodology................................................................................................... 55 Personal Accounts and Life Histories............................................................. 59 Oral History - The Use of Interview ............................................................... 60 IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIAN STUDENT PLACEMENT PROGRAM..................................................................................................... 69 Religious Context: The LDS Church and Native Americans, 1830-2005 ...... 69 Pre-1947: Spencer W. Kimball ...................................................................... 82 Pre-1947: Helen John, the First Placement Student....................................... 84 1947–1953: Program Beginnings ................................................................... 85 1954–1956: Sanction and Development ........................................................ 94 1957–1961: Problems and Program Refinement ........................................... 104 vii Page 1962–1967: Expansion.................................................................................... 110 Public History: 1965-1982 -LDS Orientation and Public Relations Materials ................................................................................................ 114 1968–1997: Controversies and Closure Factors ............................................ 122 V. PARTICIPANT VOICES ................................................................................ 138 Program Evaluations....................................................................................... 138 Autobiographies, Biographies, Life Stories.................................................... 140 Personal Interviews and Communications...................................................... 141 VI. CONCLUSION............................................................................................... 171 Goals and Objectives: Did the Program Accomplish What It Set Out to Do?..................................................................................................... 172 The Weight of Outcomes ................................................................................ 175 Significance: Can We Learn From This Past Event?..................................... 182 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 186 CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................................ 197 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Participation Rate by Year (1947-1962)............................................................. 107 2. Student Breakdown by State.............................................................................. 112 3. Demographics of Students Enrolled in the Program.......................................... 112 4. Participation Rate by Year (1967-1980)............................................................. 113 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION From 1947 to 1996, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated a foster program that placed Native American children into Latter-day Saint (LDS) homes to attend public schools and become immersed in Mormon culture. An early LDS public relations pamphlet meant for Indian families states that the program would “help your child succeed in his home life, his job, and in his service in the Church. As you help him in this program, you will be helping the Indian people fulfill their destiny” (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979, p. 7). “Destiny” refers to an LDS Doctrine and Covenants scripture (D & C 49:24) which promises, “the Lamanites [Native Americans] shall blossom as the rose” (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981, p. 90). The majority of the students entering the program were Navajo; however, by the end of the 1960s, students from at least 63 tribes in the United States and Canada had participated. At its peak in 1971, the LDS Indian Student Placement Service, generally referred
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