Category: education

education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Siletz Reservation, Uncategorized5 Comments

History of Early Oregon Indian Education

David G. Lewis, PhD

In the 1850s, the United States made treaties with confederations of western Oregon tribes consisting of over sixty tribes consolidated on two reservations. In following decades, the U.S. government implemented on-reservation and off-reservation boarding schools in order to assimilate Indian children into American society. The initial educational protocols were based on those developed by religious missionaries in the early settlement periods for the Oregon Territory. In fact, for the first couple of decades of the reservation, missionaries were assigned to each reservation to manage the schools. At Grand Ronde, the school was run by Catholic Reverend Adrian Croquet, a missionary … Continue reading History of Early Oregon Indian Education

education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Rogue Valley, Siletz Reservation1 Comment

The Takelma Tribe’s Stories

David G. Lewis, PhD

For more than 10,000 years the Takelma peoples lived in a vast area of southern Oregon encompassing Table Rocks. Their close neighbors were the Athapaskan, Molalla and Shasta tribes who they traded and had political relations with. The region of these tribes included the Table Rocks area (Rogue River Valley) which was the traditional homelands of the Takelma tribe. The Takelma were divided by the upland Takelma and valley Takelma. They were the original Rogue River Tribe  who lived along the Rogue River and Illinois rivers. They became one of the “Rogue River tribes” along with the Athapaskan (Chasta Costa), … Continue reading The Takelma Tribe’s Stories

education, Native Issues, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Colonizing the Blood

David G. Lewis, PhD

Federal policies beginning in the 19th century have sought to take all lands and resources from native nations. Many tribes lost most of their land and resources through wars and/or treaties which forced the movement of their tribe to a federal Indian reservation. Over several decades many reservations were gradually shrunk by federal actions, either by opening parcels for white settlement, terminating whole reservations, or imposing allotment policies which allotted individual tribal members  and sold off the rest of the unallotted lands, considered surplus, to white settlers or American companies like the logging industry (Dawes Act 1887). In 20 years, … Continue reading Colonizing the Blood

education, General History, Oregon indians1 Comment

A Botanist Documents Tribal Traditions: Martin W. Gorman, Oregon Botanist

David G. Lewis, PhD

Martin W. Gorman was a botanist in Oregon at the turn of the 20th century. He worked extensively in Alaska and British Columbia among many tribes in those areas, and was based in Portland Oregon. His work was financed by a Portland Bank and so he operated as an independent researcher for much of his career. He appears to have been funded for at least one expedition a year into Alaska for some 20 years beginning in the 1880s. When in Oregon he traveled along the Columbia River, around the Portland Metro basin, through the Tualatin Valley, along the Oregon … Continue reading A Botanist Documents Tribal Traditions: Martin W. Gorman, Oregon Botanist

education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley3 Comments

Tualatin Kalapuyans and Seasonal Rounds

David G. Lewis, PhD

  The Kalapuyan tribes were about 19 tribes and bands in the Willamette Valley. The tribes and bands  in the Tualatin valley were the Tualatin Kalapuyans. Historical documents also called these people Twalaty or Atfalati. Many Tualatin villages were situated around Wapato Lake. The lake provided a vast amount of resources, reeds and sedges for basketry, fish, crayfish, waterfowl, and wapato as the major staple of the tribes. In the early 20th century the lake was drained to make more croplands. Water management in the little valley at Gaston, OR proved so expensive that in the 1990’s, many agriculturalists opted … Continue reading Tualatin Kalapuyans and Seasonal Rounds