During the early 20th century, U.S. colonial policies extended beyond the mainland to territories like the Philippines. As part of the American effort to assimilate Indigenous populations, Filipino students were sometimes sent to Native American boarding schools. These institutions, originally established to assimilate Native American youth into Western culture, also served as a means to instill colonial ideals in Filipinos.
Historical Context
Following the U.S. annexation of the Philippines in 1898, the American government sought to implement its education system across the islands. The goal was to "civilize" Filipino youth through Western education. Some Filipinos were sent to boarding schools in the mainland United States, including institutions originally intended for Native American children, such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Purpose and Impact
The decision to send Filipinos to these schools was rooted in the belief that they could learn the values of Western civilization in an environment already designed for forced assimilation. By placing them alongside Native American students, the U.S. government reinforced a racial hierarchy and furthered its colonial agenda.
Cultural Erasure: Both Native American and Filipino students faced attempts to erase their cultural identities. They were prohibited from speaking their native languages and practicing their traditions.
Industrial Training: Like Native American students, Filipinos were subjected to vocational training that emphasized labor skills over academic achievement.
Constructed Identities: By imposing a homogenized "Native American" identity on both groups, the government justified its broader colonial practices.
1904-Worlds-Fair-Exhibition-of-the-Igorot-Filipino-People
After the Philippine-American War ended in 1902, Americans became fascinated by the natives of the newly acquired territory, which led to the development of anthropological exhibits showcasing what “primitive” life was like in the Philippines. During this time period, anthropologists adopted an evolutionary perspective rooted in white superiority. One of the exhibits featured the Igorot people, who anthropologist Albert Jenks believed were the most uncivilized tribe in the Philippines. These exhibits/human zoos sparked the creation of negative stereotypes of both the Igorot people and the Filipino community. Students will view the video segment from Asian Americans and engage in activities and discussions to explore the power of perception and its impact on shaping the identities of Asian Americans. Students will also examine the U.S. politics and scientific theories that shaped the perception of Americans and sought to justify U.S. colonization in the Pacific and the mistreatment of the Filipino community.
Playing Indian, Playing Filipino: Native American and Filipino Interactions at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Alyssa A. Hunziker
A 1912 photograph in the New York Herald features five Indigenous peoples in varying states of “Indian” dress, including feathers, headdresses, and beaded necklaces. Among the portrait of these “Indians in New York” is Stephen Glori, “a Filipino.” Like his Native American counterparts, Glori is dressed in a Plains-style headdress that was popular in portraits and touring Indian shows at the time (fig. 1).1 Simultaneously labeled as one of the Indians in the image and as a Filipino, Glori’s presence in the photograph recalls the shifting and slippery racial categories for Filipinos in the aftermath of the Spanish–American and Philippine–American Wars. By the time the image was taken in 1912, Glori, a former student of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, had joined a traveling Indian show in New York and changed his identity from Stephen Glori, a Filipino, to Stephen Red Leaf, https://theasa.net/sites/default/files/72.2_Hunziker%2C%20Alyssa%20A..pdf
Examples
Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Filipinos were among the student body at Carlisle, which was notorious for its strict discipline and cultural assimilation efforts.
Hampton Institute: Initially established for freed African Americans, the Hampton Institute also enrolled Native American and Filipino students, promoting the same assimilationist policies.
Footnotes
Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928. University Press of Kansas, 1995.
Kramer, Paul A. The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines. University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Trennert, Robert A. "Educating Indian Girls at Nonreservation Boarding Schools, 1878-1920." Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, 1982, pp. 271-290.
"Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center." Dickinson College, https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu.
"Hampton Institute Archives." Hampton University, https://libguides.hamptonu.edu/archives.
"Kill the Indian in him, and save the man": R. H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans
This resource includes the full text from Captain Richard Henry Pratt's speech in which he used the now well-known phrase to describe his philosophy of assimilation: "Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." The speech was delivered in 1892 during the National Conference of Charities and Correction, held in Denver. Colorado.
The full text copy of his speech as printed in the published proceedings of the conference was drawn from the HathiTrust Digital Library. (A transcribed copy of the full speech is available in Word.doc format as well.) The ideas expressed in Pratt's speech are central to the development of the Carlisle Indian School (founded 1879) and other boarding schools across the country, which aimed to "civilize" and "Americanize" the Indian.
The Journey of Engracio Baculy
One prominent example is Engracio Baculy, a Filipino student who attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Baculy was among the first Filipinos sent to the institution as part of a colonial education experiment. Upon arrival, he was subjected to the same rigorous assimilation process experienced by Native American students. He spent time in Cuba , learned Spanish and was sent to attend Indian School as an orphan.
Cultural Suppression: Baculy was required to adopt Western clothing, cut his hair, and abandon his Filipino identity.
Vocational Training: He was enrolled in industrial training programs that prepared him for manual labor rather than academic pursuits.
Language Barriers: Prohibited from speaking his native language, Baculy faced challenges in adapting to English instruction.
Engracio Baculi Student Information Card
Student information card of Engracio Baculi, a student from the Philippines, who entered the school on June 2, 1910 and departed on October 4, 1910.
These materials include correspondence regarding a request from Major Frederick S. Foltz to enroll Engracio Baculy, a minor from the Philippines in his care, at the Carlisle Indian School. The request was granted on the condition that Foltz cover all of Baculy's expenses.
Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians
“ Once sold, chinos journeyed to Mexico on the great ships of the Manila Galleon, which linked the Spanish Philippines to the rest of the empire. Chapter 3 examines their passage to the Americas, showing that the transpacific slave trade, which functioned through individual licenses and via contraband, influenced the development of the monopoly slave-trading system (asiento). Slave traders working on the Atlantic responded to the competition on the Pacific by calling on the Spanish crown to prohibit the influx of slaves via the port of Acapulco. This pressure on the transpacific trade coincided with official efforts to liberate Indian slaves, which ultimately led to the end of chino slavery “
“ At the same time, free Filipinos were frequently confused with chino slaves – a situation that had serious consequences for Filipinos’ relations with colonial institutions and enslaved individuals. Some immigrants resented having their indigenous identity questioned and sought to maintain a sense of their Indian-ness by keeping their distance from chino slaves. The majority, however, expressed solidarity with chino slaves. Filipino artisans, for example, took on chino slaves as apprentices and taught them marketable skills. Similarly, Filipino traders incorporated chinos into their own credit networks to facilitate self purchase. “ “ To defend their property rights, masters started to brand chino slaves on the face, rather than on the chest or arm as they did with Africans, in order to dissuade them from fleeing and “passing” as free Indians. This horrifying development shows that Indian communities welcomed runaway chino slaves and, by extension, that slave owners sought visible markers of their slaves’ status.”
“ In seventeenth-century Mexico, the term “Indian” was almost never used in reference to chino slaves.4 People who were categorized as “chino Indians” (indios chinos) were indigenous people from the Philippines.5 The term, for instance, was used in treasury records from Acapulco to refer to free Filipino sailors who served on the Manila Galleon. Chino slaves were not called indios chinos because the term connoted Indian identity, and Indians were supposed to be free. Masters and colonial officials therefore rarely coupled the words “Indian” and “slave.” Tellingly, in the eighteenth century, decades after the end of chino slavery, the term “chino” came to refer to individuals of mixed Indian and African ancestry (castas).6 By that time, the word “chino” had entered the lexicon for people who were Indians. As such, scholars who group together free and enslaved chinos, using the terms “indio chino” and “chino” interchangeably, ignore critical differences and detract from our understanding of these people’s experiences in distinct historical periods. “
FIRST TRIBE
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