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A Dissertation SUBMHTED TO THE CRADUTE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By AMANDA J. COBB Norman, Oklahoma 1997 UMI Number: 9806317 UMI Microform 9806317 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 LISTENING TO OUR GRANDMOTHERS' VOICES: AN HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LITERACY CURRICULA AT BLOOMFIELD ACADEMY/CARTER SEMINARY FOR CHICICASAVV FEMALES, INDIAN TERRITORY/OKLAHOMA, 1852-1949. A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH c Copyright by AMANDA J. COBB 1996 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgments This project is the result of several years of thought and study and work, work not done alone, but with and through the help of others. At this time, I would like to extend my appreciation and thanks to those who made the completion of the study possible. First, 1 would like to thank my director, Catherine Hobbs, whose guidance has been invaluable, and my committee members, David Mair, Alan Velie, Susan Kates, and Sarah Beach, for their direction, insight, and support. My sincere thanks must also go to other friends and mentors at the University of Oklahoma including Christyne Berszenyi, Debra Dew R. C. Davis, Dan Cottom, and Ron Schleifer. I extend my gratitude to the Chickasaw Nation and to Governor Bill Anoatubby; to Betty Ruth Kemp, whose knowledge of Chickasaw history I have called upon more than once; to Marcia Haag for her linguistic expertise; and to the following, libraries, museums, and archives for their willingness to help in my search for difficult to find documents and materials about Bloomfield: The Ardmore Public Library, Ardmore, Okla.; The Ardmore Public Library William H. McGalliard Collection, Ardmore, Okla.; Carter Seminary, Ardmore, Okla.; The Chickasaw Cultural Center Museum Library Archives, Ada, Okla.; The Chickasaw Historical Society, Ada, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Ardmore, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Davis, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Healdton, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Johnston County, Tishomingo, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Love County, Marietta, Okla.; The Chickasaw Library, Wilson, 1 \ ’ Okla.; The City of Madiil Library, Madill, Okla.; The Edmon Low Library, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla.; The Federal Records Center, Fort Worth, Texas; The Five Civilized Tribes Agency, Muskogee, Okla.;The Greater Southwest Historical Museum, Ardmore, Okla.; The Henry C. Bennett Memorial Library, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, Okla.; The Love County Historical Society, Marietta, Okla.; The Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla.; The Robert L. Williams Public Library, Durant, Okla.; The State Department of Education, Oklahoma City, Okla.; and The Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla., and especially to the Chickasaw Council House Museum, Tishomingo, Okla.. 1 especially want to thank my aunt, Murielene Cobb Potts, for providing me with my grandma's (Ida Mae Pratt Cobb) school memoribilia, items which, for me, mark the beginning of the story, as well as Juanita Keel Tate, Frances Griffin Robinson, Hettie McCauley King, Pauline Williford Adkins, Claudine Williford King, Fanny Williford Skaggs, Leona Williford Isaac, Dorothy Wall Holt, Jeanne Liddell Cochran, Mary Pittman Parris, Ula Mae Pittman Welch, Clara Pittman Gatlin, Ora Lee Chuculate Woods, Fanny Hughes Bass, and Ida Bell Hughes Martin for sharing their stories with me. My personal thanks are many and sincere: to Edie Rasmussen, whose friendship, advice, and support has seen me through graduate school from beginning to end; to Donnie Pollard for always listening; and to Melissa Waltner, Katie and Tony Caruso, and Mary Adams for their friendship and constant encouragement. Finally, I would like to say thank you to my mother, Patricia Cobb, not only for her interest and assistance and for her tireless work researching and reading, but for creating a home where I was able to find 'excellent things in w om en. To my family whose understanding and love sustain me: my sister, Elizabeth Cobb McCraw; my brother-in-law. Shannon McCraw; my daddy, John C. Cobb; my mother, Patricia J. Cobb. How can I thank you enough? V 1 Table of Contents Abstract viu Preface: Pokni immih (For Grandma) I Chapter 1: Nananoa anumpolit iah (To Start to Tell a Story) Literacy and Schooling: Values, Purposes, and Community Coals Chapter 2: Chikisa vlla vlhelia-kut holisso apisa iat hochifochit hollissochih (Chickasaw Children Go to School to Read and Write) Early Literacy Training: Schooling as Tradition 40 Chapter 3: Chikasa vlletek iholisso apisa (Chickasaw Girls'School) Bloomfield Under Mission Control and Tribal Control: From Literacy to "Christianize and Civilize" to Literacy to "Equalize" 77 Chapter 4: Ohoyo inananoa (The Women's Story) Bloomfield/Carter Under Federal Control: Literacy for Home Living 112 Chapter 5: Nananoa tahlih (To End the Story) Literacies, Purposes, and Cultures: Questions of Value 173 Bibliography: 190 Appendix 1: Biographies, Interview Questions, and Selected Quotations 202 Appendix 2: Reproductions of Bloomfield Commencement Programs 263 Appendix 3: Documents, Letters, and Pictures 286 Vll Abstract This project examines the literacy curriculum of the Bloomfield Academy for Chickasaw Females, a boarding academy established by the Chickasaw tribe in conjunction with missionaries. The school is unique in that the Chickasaw girls were not forced to attend one of the many federally run boarding schools in operation during the period of strict assimilation policies in U. S. history. Instead, the Chickasaw tribe, knowing that education was crucial to their survival as a nation, established a school system for their children for the purpose of assimilation, which became, in effect, a method of self-preservation. In its history as a boarding academy for girls, Bloomfield/Carter had three different administrations: mission, tribal, and federal. Each provided literacy instruction to achieve specific objectives and consequently, changed the literacy curricula of the school in whatever way would help them achieve those goals. 1 identify four major types of literacy curricula or literacy strands offered under each administration: academic, social, religious, and domestic. The type of literacy curriculum most emphasized under each administration indicates what sort of lives the students were being prepared to lead and why. Using both archival and ethnographic methods, I analyze the literacy curriculum offered under each administration and the purposes and implications of those curricula. VI u The chief objective under every administration was acculturation; however, each administration wanted the students to acculturate for different reasons. Missionaries provided religious literacy schooling to "civilize and convert" the tribe; the federal government saw literacy schooling as a way to make "efficient U. S. citizens" of the students and saw domestic literacy as the appropriate curriculum. The Chickasaws, however, knew that economic success, necessary for their survival as a nation, could not be achieved without literacy education. The tribe found it necessary to acculturate in order to compete and emphasized social literacy to train women to become educated and refined—leaders in the tribe and wives of leaders who could help them compete economically and socially in a "white world." Literacy, for the Chickasaw tribe, was a weapon used defensively and offensively in the fight for national survival and preservation. i \ Preface Pokni