While the story of the loss of native lands left a history of broken promises, Christian missionaries working among Native Americans sought to leave a different legacy. This 1833 letter from Frederick Schmid explained what he wanted most to change about white contact with Native Americans. Missionaries, for the most part, wanted to treat native peoples with respect so that they would find Christian churches more attractive. French Missionary Louis Baroux explained that,
"It is necessary to understand the history of their persecutions, to see face to face, the victims of the white man's double-dealing, to consider well their patience and their saintly resignation, in order to comprehend the sublimity and nobility of these newly made Christian souls." (13-14)
But first on the agenda of missionaries was conversion. Many of Michigan's Native Americans converted to Christianity during the nineteenth century. Those who converted often participated in missionary efforts themselves, teaching Christianity to other natives. One Native American minister who taught during the 1820s, named Shahwundais but known also as John Sunday, became so famous as to become legendary. This picture (left) shows white and Native American ministers who worked together sometime around 1877.
Missions and schools were intimately related in Michigan. Missionaries ran most Indian schools, and many were located in or very near the church building. This document, written in the 1930s, describes an Indian school in Mount Pleasant that was opened in 1893. Teachers at Indian schools were both Native American and white, but they were all Christian. In earlier decades, before many Native Americans had converted, most teachers were white. These early teachers tended to be inexperienced. Indian schools rarely had enough money to pay their teachers well so experienced teachers could get better jobs elsewhere. Native American teachers, however, could not get jobs elsewhere, so they frequently taught at Indian schools throughout their careers. Resources were short, and students often had no paper or pencils. Often schools were not heated. Nicholas Murray taught at one Indian school and sent this report to the Indian Agent in Detroit. Documents like these help historians understand what teachers thought was important for Native American students in the nineteenth century.
Both native and white students attended Indian schools. The white children were mostly the children of missionaries and a few white settlers who lived around the mission. Some schools had students who lived at the school, mostly Native American children who had been orphaned. In earlier decades, Native American adults also attended schools to learn English and reading and writing. This photograph of one Sunday school (right) shows what students in these schools might have looked like.
While missions and schools treated Native Americans more fairly than government agencies, they also contributed to the decline of Native American languages and culture. For example, at one church, only persons in European dress were allowed to enter the church for Sunday worship. "Talking Indian" was strictly forbidden in both churches and schools. In an interview conducted in the 1970s, Susan Shagonaby, a student at one school recalls being beaten for "talking Indian." After all, the purpose of Missions and schools was to make Native Americans more like whites. These pages, transcribed from an interview with Shagonaby, told about life at an Indian school she attended.
Some Native Americans were unhappy with the affect that missions and schools had on native American culture. Andrew J. Blackbird wrote this in 1897:
"And every one of the little Indian urchins who are now running about in our town can speak to each other quite fluently in the English language; but I am very sorry to add that they have also learned profanity like the white children…."
Native Americans in Michigan converted to Christianity at higher rates than elsewhere in the nation. Because of this, the history of Christian missions and schools has particular importance. Many Native Americans today are still Christian, and so the legacy of Christianity remains significant in Michigan today. Indian schools still exist, although they are now usually run by the tribe, and not by white missionaries. During the 1950s and 1960s many began to teach both English and Native languages and cultures. Today, Indian schools offer a broad curriculum, educating Native American students both in English and tribal languages, and in tribal history and culture as well as white American.
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