From its inception in 1885, the Alaska School Service was charged with
the assimilation of Alaskan Native children into mainstream American
values and ways of life. Working in the missions and schools along the
Yukon River were George E. Boulter and Alice Green, his future wife.
Boulter, a Londoner originally drawn to the Klondike, had begun
teaching in 1905 and by 1910 had been promoted to superintendent of
schools for the Upper Yukon District. In 1907, Green left a
comfortable family life in New Orleans to answer the “call to
serve” in the Episcopal mission boarding schools for Native children
at Anvik and Nenana, where she occupied the position of government
teacher. As school superintendent, Boulter wrote frequently to his
superiors in Seattle and Washington, DC, to discuss numerous
administrative matters and to report on problems and conditions
overall. From 1906 to 1918, Green kept a personal journal—hitherto
in private possession—in which she reflected on her professional
duties and her domestic life in Alaska. Collected in The Teacher and
the Superintendent are Boulter’s letters and Green’s diary.
Together, their vivid, first- hand impressions bespeak the earnest but
paternalistic beliefs of those who lived and worked in immensely
isolated regions, seeking to bring Christianity and “civilized”
values to the Native children in their care. Beyond shedding private
light on the missionary spirit, however, Boulter and Green have also
left us an invaluable account of the daily conflicts that occurred
between church and government and of the many injustices suffered by
the Native population in the face of the misguided efforts of both
institutions..
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Native Schooling in the Alaskan Interior, 1904-1918
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781927356524
Publisert
2017
Utgiver
Vendor
AU Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter