Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 10, No. 3
September, 1932
EDUCATION IN THE CHOCTAW COUNTRY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
By Angie Debo
Page 383
The Choctaws believed in education; they were proud of their civilization which they regarded as the product of their schools,
and they believed that their racial existence was dependent upon their ability to continue their cultural development. The
Principal Chiefs unfailingly and earnestly upheld the schools, and no other public policy ever received such careful direction
or such consistent support from the General Council.
The entire educational system was under the control of a board of trustees consisting of a superintendent and one trustee
from each of the three districts into which the Nation was divided. These officials were elected for a term of two years by
a joint ballot of both houses of the Council. They exercised a supervisory control over the neighborhood schools and boarding
schools, and selected the students who were to be maintained in boarding schools or college at public expense. They met at
the capital while the Council was in session, and submitted to it their accounts and reports. In 1890 the board of trustees
was reorganized, the Principal Chief was made a member, and the name was changed to Board of Education of the Choctaw nation.1
Each district trustee established neighborhood schools in his district at the request of the local community, which was supposed
to provide the building and equipment. He appointed three substantial citizens in each community who served as local trustees.
It was their duty to select the teacher, who was then sent to the district trustee for examination, and to visit the school,
reinforce the teacher's authority, and encourage the attendance of the children. In 1882 the number
Page 384
of local trustees was reduced to one, and a salary of two dollars a month was provided.2
Ideally the neighborhood schools ran for nine or ten months, but they were frequently closed at the end of half that period
because the money was exhausted.3 A compulsory attendance law was passed in 1884 penalizing the parents by a fine of ten cents a day for the absence of each
child between the ages of seven and eighteen that could not be excused through bad weather, high water, or sickness.4 Free text books adopted by the Council—later by the Board of Education—were furnished the children, and the course of study
was similar to that of the neighboring states even to the inclusion of United States history. The instruction was carried
on in English and the children were discouraged in the use of their native language on the school ground.5
Some of the teachers were white, but most of them were Choctaws who had been educated in the tribal schools. They were examined
in the Choctaw constitution and the common school subjects including United States history and government. They received a
salary of two dollars a month for each child.6 They attended frequent teachers' meetings and institutes and summer normals, and at one time published a professional magazine
called the Choctaw School Journal.7
Although the neighborhood schools were apparently as good as those of the surrounding states they formed the weakest part
of the Choctaw educational system. They received nothing like a proportionate share of legislative appropriations, and they
were often badly taught and irregularly attended. The boarding schools on the other hand maintained scholastic standards that
would be a credit to any school system.
Page 385
The boys' school at Spencer and the girls' school at New Hope were the first of the boarding schools to be reopened after
the Civil War. In the fall of 1870 the Council authorized the board of trustees to contract with Presbyterian, Methodist,
or Baptist mission boards to conduct these schools. A contract was accordingly made with the Methodist Episcopal Church South,
by which for five thousand dollars annually the church agreed to take charge of New Hope, furnish the superintendent and teachers,
and board, clothe, and teach fifty girls.8 A similar contract was made with the Presbyterian church regarding Spencer, and both schools after being closed since the
outbreak of the war were opened for the term of 1871-1872.9
These two schools were the leading educational institutions of the Choctaws until the close of the tribal period. The old
Fort Coffee property was soon turned over to New Hope,10 and in 1882 a substantial building was erected for the boys in Kiamitia County and Spencer was removed to the new location.11 Other improvements were made from time to time and the capacity of each school was increased to one hundred thirty-three
from each district and one from the Choctaw population living among the Chickasaws.12 The quota from each district was distributed among the various counties according to their population in order to give equal
privileges to all communities.13
In 1896 Spencer was destroyed by a fire in which four boys met a tragic death, and New Hope was burned down a few months later.
The Nation made an attempt to rebuild Spencer, but by that time the educational system was passing out of tribal control and
the importance of the two historic schools was ended.14
Page 386
The children who attended these boarding schools were selected by the trustee of their district until 1890, after which they
were chosen by the county judge. The appointment was made upon the basis of their "promptness in attendance and their capacity
to learn fast." They were held responsible for regular attendance at classes and progress in their studies, and not more than
one was to be selected from any family. The ages were at first ten to sixteen for the girls and twelve to eighteen for the
boys, and they had to be able to read in the Third Reader before entering.15
In 1885 the Council became dissatisfied with the mission management, and after a period of experimentation the two schools
were placed under the control of the board of trustees. The teachers' qualifications as specified in the school law of 1890
were, for the men, graduation from a standard college and the ability to teach Greek, Latin, French, and German; and, for
the women, graduation from a college or normal school and the ability to teach two modern languages besides English. The salaries
were $1200 a year for the superintendents and $750 to $1200 for the teachers.16
As the national revenue increased from royalties on coal and taxes on white settlers other boarding schools were established.
When Spencer was moved to the new location an orphans' home for both boys and girls was established temporarily in the old
buildings. The old Armstrong Academy, which had been used as the capitol since the Civil War, was soon after vacated by the
removal of the capital to Tushkahomma, and the boys' orphan school was located there. At the same time the long disused buildings
of Wheelock Seminary were repaired and a school was established at that place for orphan girls.17
Children from six to twelve years of age who had lost one or both of their parents were placed in these schools where they
might remain both summer and winter until the girls were sixteen and the boys eighteen years old. They were selected by the
county judges upon the basis of their need,
Page 387
and the rule that limited one pupil to a family was set aside. In addition to the academic subjects the boys received agricultural
and manual training, and the girls were instructed in home economics.18
Two new boarding schools were opened for Choctaw children in the fall of 1892—Jones Academy, near Hartshorne, for boys, and
Tushkahomma, near the capital, for girls. Choctaw principals were placed in charge of both these schools, Peter J. Hudson
at Tushkahomma, and S. T. Dwight at Jones.19
The Choctaws received their higher education at colleges in the "States." Well-to-do parents sometimes sent their children
away to complete their education, and the Nation maintained a selected group of students in college at public expense. It
was the duty of the district trustees to be present at the closing exercises of the boarding schools in their respective districts,
and at that time upon the recommendation of the superintendent and teachers they chose the young people who were to be sent
to college by the Nation. Both young men and young women were selected upon the basis of their promise, and they were allowed
to continue until they had completed graduate and professional courses.20
Afflicted children were also supported in special schools by the Nation. Several deaf children were sent to a school in Illinois,
and blind children were cared for in schools where they received special training.21 The children who were selected for the boarding schools, however, were required to pass a physical examination, and were
to be removed unless their health was such that they could continue their course with profit to themselves and promise to
the Nation.22
The Choctaws also made provision for the education of their freedmen. For the first twenty years after their emancipation
the freedmen lived in the Choctaw Nation without any legal status, and during that period they had no schools except
20Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1869, p. 410. Report of Superintendent LeFlore, Sept. 6, 1869.
Acts of the Choctaw Nation, Oct. 30, 1876; Oct. 9, 1877; Nov. 7, 1879; Nov. 11, 1881.
Peter Hudson to Grant Foreman, Sept. 7, 1932.
Page 388
such as were provided by the federal government.23 When in 1885 they were adopted as citizens the articles of adoption provided that they should receive educational opportunities
equal to those of the Choctaws so far as neighborhood schools were concerned.24 When the General Council convened the fall after their enrollment an appropriation was made for the immediate establishment
of colored neighborhood schools. During that first winter thirty-four schools were opened with an enrollment of 847 children.25 In 1892 the Nation went beyond the obligation assumed by the act of adoption by establishing a colored boarding school. The
new school received the name of Tushka Lusa, "Black Warriors," and Henry Nail, a Choctaw freedman, was made principal.26
The entire Choctaw school system was supported by the annuities, the income from invested funds, the coal and asphalt royalties,
and the taxes and fees paid by non-citizens. The Choctaw people never paid school taxes except in the sense that they voted
at a very early period to apply to the support of education the annuities that had formerly been paid per capita to the citizens.
When Edmund McCurtain was trustee of Moshulatubbee District in 1874 he persuaded the voters of his district to sign a petition
requesting the General Council to lay a property tax on live stock for the support of schools. He urged the other districts
to take similar action but they failed to do so, and although McCurtain used all his influence with the Council the petition
died in the committee room.27 This seems to have been the only tax measure ever attempted in the Chictaw Nation, unless the use of the income from the
tribal estate for school and governmental purposes may be classed as a tax which bore equally upon all citizens.
While the Choctaws were providing at least the rudiments of an education for the entire people, and superior training for
the few, the children of the non-citizen white population were growing up almost completely innocent of books. Some irregular
provision was made for their education; schools were maintained by subscription in some of the towns. Some
Page 389
white children attended the Choctaw neighborhood schools by the payment of tuition. And schools were established by the churches
in all the larger towns, especially by the Presbyterians at McAlester, the Baptists at Atoka, and the Roman Catholics at McAlester,
Atoka, and Lehigh; but except where the parents were unusually progressive, the schooling of the white children was entirely
neglected.28
When in 1898 the Choctaws ratified the Atoka Agreement by which they consented to a division of their tribal property and
a gradual dissolution of their tribal government, they incidentally lost control of their school system. Since this compact
provided that the revenues from the coal and asphalt leases should be paid into the United States treasury and should be used
for education, the Secretary of the Interior ruled that the schools were thereby placed under his control. In 1899 he appointed
John D. Benedict of Illinois as superintendent of schools for the Indian Territory and E. T. McArthur of Minnesota as supervisor
of the Choctaw schools. Benedict met with the members of the Choctaw Board of Education in April and found them, he said,
very eager to surrender the schools to him. He and McArthur then assumed the management of the schools and held examinations
and selected teachers.29
Benedict's reports show that he was without tact, and that he failed to appreciate the pride which the Choctaws felt for their
most cherished institution. He drew a very dark picture of the incompetence and corruption that characterized the tribal school
administration—a description that may have been true in a few instances, but was certainly grossly exaggerated if one is to
judge the school system by the results it had accomplished in making the Choctaws a literate people. He condemned the emphasis
on cultural subjects as unsound and unsuited to the people, and attempted by stressing vocational training to change at once
the whole purpose of Choctaw education. He censured the boarding schools for the great proportionate cost of their maintenance
and the limitation of their service to a selected group.30
Page 390
When the General Council convened indignant resolutions were passed against the "interference of the said Secretary of the
Interior without authority of law," and the Board of Education was "ordered and instructed to proceed at once to open up and
conduct the schools of the Choctaw Nation according to the Choctaw Laws." A petition was also sent to Congress against the
projected consolidation of all the territorial schools into one system, on the ground that "it would be a wrong against modest
pride to wrest from the Choctaws and Chickasaws their schools, their highest edifice. Our present school system is the work
of many years of earnest effort and steady improvement; and to take from us an institution cherished in its growth to close
attachment would be at least unfair. Our system of management of the schools has proved satisfactory as is attested by results."31
Benedict visited the Council with Indian Inspector Wright and attempted to satisfy the Choctaw leaders, but no settlement
was made; the Interior Department for the most part continued to manage the schools, but the Choctaw Board of Education employed
teachers and tried to exercise a rival authority.32
When the Council convened in the fall of 1900 the fight to regain control of the schools was reopened. Resolutions were passed
against the usurpations by the Secretary of the Interior, and the Board of Education was instructed to take possession of
the boarding schools and administer them under Choctaw laws;33 but since the Department controlled the revenue, and since under the Atoka Agreement tribal laws were subject to presidential
veto the Choctaw officials could do little except protest. The dispute was finally settled during the summer of 1901 by an
agreement entered into by Superintendent Benedict and the Choctaw Board of Education and subsequently adopted by the Secretary
of the Interior. The Department retained control of the schools, but the supervisor for the Choctaw Nation was to be assisted
by an official nominated by the Chief with the approval of the Board of Education and appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.34
Page 391
This concession to Choctaw pride ended the controversy, and the school system definitely passed out of tribal control. The
office of district trustee was abolished by the Council the following fall and the superintendent's position was discontinued
two years later.35 Under the new regime the boarding schools became vocational schools for the training of fullbloods,36 and the neighborhood schools soon became a part of the public school system of the new state of Oklahoma.37
37Ibid., 1901, p. 138; 1902, p. 127; 1908, p. 219; 1909, p. 451; 1910, p. 227; 1911, pp. 463-464.
This agreement witnesseth—That Peter J. Hudson has been duly appointed Superintendent of Tvshkahoma Female Institute by the
Board of Education of the Choctaw Nation and for his services he is to receive the sum of ($1200.00) twelve hundred dollars
per annum—payable quarter annually according to law. As such Superintendent he is to take charge of and manage the Seminary—receiving
one hundred Choctaw girls not less than twelve years of age—and able to read intelligently in the Fourth reader. To procure
competent Instructors and furnish medical attendance, board, feed, clothing and lodging for the girls and conduct the said
Seminary in every way after the manner of a well regulated high-grade boarding school. He is to defray all expenses necessary
to the successful operation of the school. He is to receive the sum of ten thousand dollars quarterly as provided by law and
render a correct account of the same. The balance if any belonging to the school. Also additional sum of Nineteen hundred
and fifty dollars ($1950.00) for the salary of competent Instructors. The said Peter J. Hudson in all things to be governed
strictly by the law of the Choctaw Nation governing and regulating the management of boarding schools.
Given under our hands and seal—this the sixth day of August A. D. 1892
Approved this the 6th day of August A. D. 1892.
W. N. Jones
P.C. C.N.
Amos Henry—1st Dist Trustee
C(harles) Winston, 2nd Dist Trustee
T. B. Turnbull, 3rd Dist Trustee
(Simon T. Dwight was member of Board Education but failed to sign this)
P. J. Hudson
(Copied from original in possession of P. J. Hudson)
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