To Show What an Indian Can Do: Sports at Native American Boarding Schools / Edition 1

by John Bloom

Overview

This is a paperbound reprint of a work published in 2000. Independent scholar Bloom explores the history of sports programs at two federally operated boarding schools for Native Americans: the Carlisle Indian School and the Haskell Institute. Drawing upon the recollections of former students, he describes how competitive sports helped them to find a sense of community, accomplishment, and dignity otherwise lacking in the boarding school program. Bloom is also the author of A House of Cards: Baseball Card Collecting and Popular Culture (Minnesota, 1997). Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900816636524
Publication date:	03/10/2005
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

John Bloom is author of A House of Cards: Baseball Card Collecting and Popular Culture (Minnesota, 1997).

Table of Contents

ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Native American Athletics and Assimilation The Struggle over the Meaning of Sports The 1930s and Pan-Indian Pride Female Physical Fitness, Sexuality, and Pleasure Narratives of Boarding School Life Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index

Editorial Reviews

When people reflect on the Native American boarding-school experience today, images of repression often predominate, perhaps shared with a remembrance of the star power of Indian athletes such as Jim Thorpe. Bloom, an independent scholar and author of A House of Cards: Baseball Card Collecting and Popular Culture, discovered by interviewing graduates of these programs and examining the oral history records that life in a boarding school environment cannot be so easily categorized. The sports programs at places like the Carlisle Indian School or the Haskell Institute helped level the playing field for Native athletes and their fans, proving that when given an opportunity to excel they were equal to or better than their non-Native adversaries. This book makes it clear that there is no single Native American experience and that boarding schools affected different students differently--sometimes, through athletics, providing a sense of pride. For academic and specialized collections.--Mary B. Davis, Huntington Free Lib., Bronx, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"This book makes it clear that there is no single Native American experience and that boarding schools affected different students differently - sometimes, through athletics, providing a sense of pride." - Library Journal


"John Bloom offers a compelling and fresh analysis of an aspect of Indian education that was deeply laden with meaning yet little understood. I strongly recommend this book. It is well written, provocative, and rich in historical detail." -American Studies

From the Publisher