Darlington Mission School

From Asylum Projects
Revision as of 14:32, 24 May 2017 by Jessogrady (talk | contribs) (Created page with "Established as the first Mennonite Mission (partly supported by the Federal Gov) in Indian Territory around 1879. Used primarily to educate Arapaho children, teachings are record...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

Established as the first Mennonite Mission (partly supported by the Federal Gov) in Indian Territory around 1879. Used primarily to educate Arapaho children, teachings are recorded as having covered Christian idiology, Biblical history, and Sunday School. English was the only language allowed on campus, braids were cut off, and native garb was not allowed. Haury, the man appointed by the Mennonite Church to be Superintendent, gave Sunday services to adults and children alike, attendance stated to be on average 50-100 natives. These services eventually turned to be all white gatherings, as Haury found preaching through an interpreter who "does not have a sense for the truth and whose life stands in contradiction with the same, & often does more harm than good." By 1881 a new Superintendent had been hired by the Federal Gov., and with his arrival Sunday school could no longer be held at the school. At that time they built up the Mission, complete with kitchen and dining-room in the basement, a school-room and three private rooms on the first, five rooms on the second floor, and two dormitories in the garret." They implemented farming lessons for the boys, and kitchen and household lessons for the girls. Children were taught the value of money. John H. Seger served as superintendent from 1846-1928. In 1886 he took 152 Cheyennes & Arapahoes and formed "Seger's Colony", a manual boarding school on a 100 acre farm, 50 miles from Darlington. Records show Natives at Seger's Colony worked on native bead-work, crafting teepees, bows and arrows, and moccasins for his sale to white settlements near by. This effort was encouraged by the Federal Gov., and even recommended for all other Gov.-funded boarding schools throughout the US in an essay called "The Red Man's Present Needs" by Hamlin Garland.