Sadie Metoxen, Oneida, 1918.

Growing up, I remember very little about the education I received regarding Indigenous peoples of the United States. I may have completed a project on an Indigenous tribe or been lectured about tribal territories, but I don’t recall ever studying specific Indigenous figures outside of war. This raises a critical question about the modern American education system: how are Indigenous children and cultures presented? Many students struggle to name significant aspects of Indigenous culture outside of narratives centered around bloodshed and conflict, reflecting a troubling trend of erasure and whitewashing of Indigenous history and culture in American schools. 

One stark example of this erasure is the boarding school system, which operated under the motto “Kill the Indian, save the man.”  Established in the mid-1800s, these institutions aimed to strip away Indigenous identities and impose Western-Christian values on native youth. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania operated from 1879-1918, which served as a model for several non-reservation boarding schools throughout the United States. But what do we know about its students? 

In 1912, Sadie Christine Metoxen, a member of the Oneida Nation, entered the Carlisle Indian School at 17 years old. She spent 5 years at Carlisle, becoming a member of the senior class of 1918 – the last graduating class to go through Carlisle. During her senior year, Metoxen contributed heavily to the 1918 Carlisle Indian Industrial School yearbook, including an opening letter and diary entries that depicted life at Carlisle. Throughout the diary entries, Metoxen mentions the term “music” in several contexts, on nearly every page. Entries include: “(9)8. First period in music. Seniors in a singing mood, especially “Gertie”, “(9)12. First class song handed in; composer, Abbie Somers”,  “(11)7. Chapel: good singing”, and “(12)10. “Music, music everywhere”, Miss Dunnagan declared”. Metoxen captures not just the mechanics of music education, but also the emotional landscapes of her peers. Her mention of a “singing mood” reflects a collective spirit, hinting at the camaraderie that developed among students as they navigated the complexities of their circumstances. Through her reflections, Metoxen illustrated the resilience of Indigenous culture amidst the challenge of assimilation. 

Cover of Carlisle Indian Industrial School yearbook, 1918.

In reading Metoxen’s accounts, I noted similarities to Tick’s Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion due to its primary source accounts of interactions between white European settlers and Indigenous peoples.  However, Tick’s sources often feel disingenuous, misrepresenting Indigenous peoples through an inferior lens. While both resources provide insights into the past, they highlight a significant divide in how Indigenous experiences are portrayed. While Metoxen’s writings offer a personal and authentic glimpse into the lives of Indigenous students, Tick’s sources fail to capture the richness and complexity of Indigenous cultures, reducing them to stereotypes. This contrast underscores the urgent need for a more nuanced and accurate representation of Indigenous histories in education, one that honors their voices and experiences rather than marginalizing them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlisle Indian School. Carlisle (1918). Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1918. Print, Archives, The Newberry Library.

Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion, edited by Judith Tick, and Paul Beaudoin, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stolaf-ebooks/detail.action?docID=415567.