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A Landscape of Assimilation and Resistance: The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School

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Abstract

In the late nineteenth century the United States Federal government established off-reservation boarding schools that sought to accomplish an internal colonialism of American Indian communities by forcefully assimilating them into mainstream American culture. The landscape of these institutions was a primary tool to achieve their assimilationist goals. This research examines the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School through archival, archaeological and oral history evidence. The landscape and material record of this school also indicate that students vigorously resisted the institution.

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Acknowledgments

I express my profound gratitude to the MIIBS Committee, Tribal Council of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, and staff of the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways for their support of this research. I would also like to acknowledge the CMU College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for financial support. I am grateful for the constructive comments from colleagues, anonymous reviewers, and the special edition editors, Laura McAtackney and Russell Palmer, for helping me improve my message. Lastly, this research project would not have been possible without countless hours of excavation, analysis, and research conducted by dedicated CMU students.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA

    Sarah L. Surface-Evans

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  1. Sarah L. Surface-Evans
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Correspondence to Sarah L. Surface-Evans.

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Surface-Evans, S.L. A Landscape of Assimilation and Resistance: The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. Int J Histor Archaeol 20, 574–588 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-016-0362-5

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