Oral Presentations and Performances: Session I
Project Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Jeff Wiltse
Faculty Mentor’s Department
History
Abstract / Artist's Statement
The topic of my Honors Capstone Project is Blackfeet children from Montana and the impact of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School on them during their time at the school and in their lives afterward. I found this topic highly interesting because Native American schools and their legacy have an important impact on our country and Indigenous Peoples’ culture. I have an extra degree of care, being from Montana, and seeing how boarding schools impacted a local tribe specifically.
My research reached a far more nuanced conclusion than I initially anticipated. I did not find a black-and-white outcome that illustrated good versus evil, but rather something far grayer. I found tensions between documents detailing abusive conditions and letters from former students with vast material wealth expressing lasting gratitude to the school and the opportunities it provided. I had to analyze the validity of these sources and explain who I found reliable and who I did not. I completed my research paper by thoroughly investigating primary sources from the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center and secondary sources such as David Wallace Adams's Education for Extinction, situating my research within that framework and highlighting the contributions I made. I also illustrate the lasting negative impact the school had on the Blackfeet Nation, which is still felt today.
The research I conducted is important to my area of study because there are no published works that focus specifically on the Blackfeet Nation and their time at the Carlisle School. They are mentioned in various books and articles, but are never the primary focus. This paper was developed with Jeff Wiltse throughout the autumn semester of 2025. It consists of 20 pages of primary research that I can submit to ScholarWorks. I plan to present my findings at UMCUR in April 2026.
Category
Social Sciences
Blackfeet Children and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
UC 330
The topic of my Honors Capstone Project is Blackfeet children from Montana and the impact of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School on them during their time at the school and in their lives afterward. I found this topic highly interesting because Native American schools and their legacy have an important impact on our country and Indigenous Peoples’ culture. I have an extra degree of care, being from Montana, and seeing how boarding schools impacted a local tribe specifically.
My research reached a far more nuanced conclusion than I initially anticipated. I did not find a black-and-white outcome that illustrated good versus evil, but rather something far grayer. I found tensions between documents detailing abusive conditions and letters from former students with vast material wealth expressing lasting gratitude to the school and the opportunities it provided. I had to analyze the validity of these sources and explain who I found reliable and who I did not. I completed my research paper by thoroughly investigating primary sources from the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center and secondary sources such as David Wallace Adams's Education for Extinction, situating my research within that framework and highlighting the contributions I made. I also illustrate the lasting negative impact the school had on the Blackfeet Nation, which is still felt today.
The research I conducted is important to my area of study because there are no published works that focus specifically on the Blackfeet Nation and their time at the Carlisle School. They are mentioned in various books and articles, but are never the primary focus. This paper was developed with Jeff Wiltse throughout the autumn semester of 2025. It consists of 20 pages of primary research that I can submit to ScholarWorks. I plan to present my findings at UMCUR in April 2026.