Richard Baldwin Bloomington High School

Prairie Light. The term sounds like a beacon to lost settlers, a safe haven to those struggling to survive against the elements of the untamed western United States. As K. Tsianina Lomawaima argues, the Chilocco Indian School, nicknamed Prairie Light, was anything but this. Created in the late 1800s, and in operation till the 1980s, the school was typical of government policy towards Native Americans, seemingly one thing on the surface, but radically different underneath. In theory, it was to benefit Native Americans by educating their children and providing them with the skills they would need to survive in American society. In practice, however, it served a greater purpose for the United States government. It minimized the growth of native culture by "Americanizing" native children. Through a collection of interviews with former Chilocco students, Lomawaima provides a rare insight into the impact of government policies on Native Americans. In addition, her experience in researching and writing the book demonstrates the difficulty in recording and interpreting oral history.

The Chilocco experience left much to be desired. The school lacked adequate funding. To make ends meet, students were required to "train" for their careers by working for the school. Male students farmed and raised livestock, while female students cooked, sewed clothing, and did laundry. What was described as vocational education, in practice, seemed more like slave labor. While claiming to provide Native American students with the education they failed to get on the reservation, the school actually served to "Americanize" students by eliminating elements of native culture. In the end, the school proved to be yet another deception on the part of the U.S. government towards Native Americans. In this sense, Lomawaima's work provides nothing new to the history of U.S.-Native American relations.

What sets it apart, however, is that the students themselves tell the story. Providing a much more intimate look at the student experience and personalizing the impacts of government policy. The most surprising revelation is that, through it all, the students still behaved as typical teenagers. They formed social cliques. They teased one another. They dated, even though it was strongly discouraged. Most were well behaved and followed the rules, yet on occasion acted out in an effort to resist authority. They vandalized school property, they broke curfew, and some even got drunk. Considering the circumstances they were put into, these seemed to be rather typical teenage behaviors. To an extent, Lomawaima's work is extraordinary because it proves how ordinary the students really were.

Whereas the narratives do provide valuable insight, they also prove to be contradictory, at times, to Lomawaima's analysis. The image she provides of the school at the beginning of the book, was far worse than that described by former students in their interviews. This was particularly true in her discussion of disciplinary actions taken against students. Lomawaima's descriptions make the schools discipline sound almost criminal in nature. Some of the narratives support this, but several of the disciplined students reported that it was "good for us." A similar pattern can be found in the discussion of the head masters, or chaperones, in the student dormitories. The drill sergeant image Lomawaima creates of them is far more severe than the parental, even "friendly" relationship some of the students recall. Lomawaima acknowledges this difficultly in a couple of chapters, by reporting that some of the narratives that follow her analysis offer a variety of opinions on the subject. She should be commended for doing this in that it provides a complete view, and allows readers to interpret some of the story for themselves.

At its core, the story of the Chilocco Indian School simply reinforces what most history courses already teach students, that the U.S. government deceived Native Americans and attempted destroy native culture. What makes Lomawaima's work a valuable addition to the traditional survey history text, is the rare insight provided by the student narratives. By providing analysis as well as excerpts from the interviews, Lomawaima guides the reader through the story, yet leaves many conclusions open to interpretation. At times these processes seem to contradict, yet by doing so, they provide a valuable lesson to the history student. When writing history through oral narratives, it may be best to let the story tell itself.

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