Date of Award
5-22-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Christopher Steinke
Committee Members
Linda Van Ingen; Nathan Tye; William Stoutamire
Keywords
Boarding Schools;Carlisle;Indigenous Americans;Native Americans;Omaha;Women
Abstract
Of the 10,000 students who attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 123 of them were members of the Omaha Nation. Of those 123, 42 were girls between 11 and 23. Focusing the study on the 42 girls from the same cultural group, who had the shared experience of attending Carlisle allows for an in-depth analysis of how gender, race, age, and culture influenced the experienced assimilation tactics used in education, land, and legal systems. Historian David Wallace Adams states that the reformers thought the “Indian problem” could be solved through “education, land, and law.” This thesis examines the Omaha girls who attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School between 1882 and 1918 to prove the girls did not reach the assimilation outcome desired by reformers. Rather than assimilating into white settler colonialism, the girls used education, law, and land to resist assimilation, maintain Indigenous sovereignty, and continue Indigenous community and culture.
Recommended Citation
Huebner, Andrea, "Against the Current: Omaha Women's Experiences with Education, Land, and the Law" (2024). History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity. 42.
https://openspaces.unk.edu/hist-etd/42