They Called It Prairie Light - (North American Indian Prose Award) by K Tsianina Lomawaima (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Established in 1884 and operative for nearly a century, the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma was one of a series of off-reservation boarding schools intended to assimilate American Indian children into mainstream American life. Critics have characterized the schools as destroyers of Indian communities and cultures, but the reality that K. Tsianina Lomawaima discloses was much more complex.

Lomawaima allows the Chilocco students to speak for themselves. In recollections juxtaposed against the official records of racist ideology and repressive practice, students from the 1920s and 1930s recall their loneliness and demoralization but also remember with pride the love and mutual support binding them together--the forging of new pan-Indian identities and reinforcement of old tribal ones.

From the Back Cover

Lomawaima allows the Chilocco student to speak for themselves. In recollections juxtaposed against the official records of racist ideology and repressive practice, student from the 1920s and 1930s recall their loneliness and demoralization but also remember with pride the love and mutual support binding them together- the forging of now pan-Indian identities and reinforcement of old tribal ones.

Review Quotes

"[An] engaging and insightful book. . . . The author steers a thoughtful course through this material: her prose is lucid, her judgments carefully weighed. She tempers the seriousness of her undertaking with compassion and, at times, humor--always responding faithfully to the voices she records."--Native Peoples

"A valuable case study and an important contribution to American Indian and educational history."--American Indian Quarterly

"An inspiring and illuminating case study that should be included in the library of anyone interested in Indian-white relations and Indian history."--Western Historical Quarterly

About the Author

K. Tsianina Lomawaima is an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona and the daughter of a former Chilocco student.