Book Discussion - Thursday, February 10, 2005

This is the spirited story of Esther Burnett Horne, an accomplished and inspiring educator in Indian boarding schools. Born in 1909, Horne grew up attending Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and often visited relatives on the Shoshone Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Motivated by teachers like Ella Deloria and Ruth Muskrat Bronson, Horne devoted her life to educating Indian children. She began teaching at Wahpeton Indian School in Wahpeton, North Dakota, in 1930 and remained active in education until her death in 1999. Her experiences as student and teacher have enable Horne to provide a detailed portrait of Indian Boarding Schools. We learn about daily life at Haskell and about the challenges and rewards of teaching for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Wahpeton. Above all, Horne’s life illuminates the ongoing struggle by Native teachers and students to retain their cultural identities within a government educational system designed to assimilate them. Esther Horne and Sally McBeth developed this life history in a truly collaborative manner. McBeth carefully documents both Horne’s personal history and the creation of this work.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER: Dr. Sally McBeth is a Professor in the department of Anthropology, and Women’s Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. She holds a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Washington State University. Her teaching interests focus on multiculturalism, sex and gender, Native American cultures, and life history research methods. Her field work in cultural anthropology has mainly dealt with Native American culture and history. The author of numerous journal articles, she has also published two books: Ethnic Identity and the Boarding School Experience (1983) and Essie’s Story: The Life and Legacy of a Shoshone Teacher (1998). The latter book, Essie’s Story... was a lifelong history co-authored with Esther Burnett Horne, a Shoshone Indian woman born in 1909.

Book Discussion - Tuesday, March 8, 2005

This is the spirited story of Esther Burnett Horne, an accomplished and inspiring educator in Indian boarding schools. Motivated by teachers like Ella Deloria and Ruth Muskrat Bronson, Horne devoted her life to educating Indian children. She began teaching at Wahpeton Indian School in Wahpeton, North Dakota, in 1930 and remained active in education throughout her life. Her experiences as student and teacher have enabled Horne to provide a detailed portrait of Indian boarding schools. Above all, Horne's life illuminates the ongoing struggle by Native teachers and students to retain their cultural identities within a government educational system designed to assimilate them. In this facinating life story, Horne sees Sacajawea as a personal metaphor, by which she makes sense of her own life as a Native American in a nation that reveres the written word over oral tradition.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER: Dr. Birgit Hans has been a member of the Indian Studies Department at the University of North Dakota since 1991. Her specialty is American Indian literature and oral traditions, but she also teaches writing and history courses and has an interest in popular literature. As a former German citizen, she is interested in European perceptions of American Indian cultures.

Artwork designed by Jake Thompson and Merry Ketterling.
Symbolism of artwork: Education is a MOUNTAIN to shoot for and one must learn self-discipline, endure suffering and insurmountable obstacles to get to the top. The ARROW at the top of the MOUNTAIN symbolizes strength and achievement, as the top is reached and aiming for more. It is also symbolic of prayers flying to the Great Spirit, asking for his support. The Morning STAR symbolizes the length between past and present. The FIVE FEATHERS represent the five reservations that are part of North Dakota and the PIPE is a symbol of strength and spirituality. The TIPIs stand at the four DIRECTIONS.