#17: The Gravy Had No Lumps

(This article, written by my mother, appeared in a slightly different form in Native American Times)

by Theda GoodFox Kresge

A “Gravy Reunion” is to be held July 4, 2009, in Pawnee, OK at the former Pawnee Boarding School. Once a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) institution, most alumni remember the boarding school by the less bureaucratic label of “Gravy U”; during the institution’s 80 years existence, however, an unknown student whose fame is forever etched in the annals of anonymity christened the government school with its infamous name “Gravy.” The nickname probably surfaced from the savory chipped-beef gravy that was a limitless breakfast staple. Another student pundit tacked on “U,” and the institution fast became “Gravy U,” remaining so even after the school’s closure in 1958.

The reunion will be held at the former dining-hall building where today the Pawnee Tribal College resides.

The 1803 Louisiana Purchase included the area of Oklahoma that later became home to the Cherokee Nation following the “Trail of Tears.” History records that during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, 45,690 Indians were relocated from their lands in Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska into Indian Territory. After the Civil War, the Cherokees agreed to allow other tribes to settle on certain portions of the territory.

With the tribes’ removals, the U.S. government’s focus became the assimilating of the Indian people into the mainstream “white” culture. Carlisle Indian School was established 1879 in an abandoned army barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Richard Henry Pratt, an army officer, served as the superintendent for 25 years. Pratt’s motto of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man” figured prominently in the education of Indian youth. It meant rejecting tribal culture and adapting to white society. The Carlisle model prevailed throughout reservation and non-reservation Indian boarding schools that soon followed.

On November 11, 1878, the Pawnee Boarding School opened. Initially, the goal was to establish an Industrial Trade School which would train the Indian girls as seamstresses and train the boys into farm work. The curricular emphasis was on “work”; this meant that students, ages six through teen years, were given “details.” Details consisted of dormitory housekeeping: bed-making, daily cleaning of floors, the washrooms, showers, toilets, etc. Students did the laundry for the entire school at the commercial type laundry building. Older girls were given the detail work of meal preparations for the entire student population in the dining room and kitchen building. The boys had farm and dairy work. These details and more were part of the students’ daily activities—along with their school attendance and educational activities.

Following the Land Run of 1889, the town of Pawnee came into existence just over a mile from the boarding school.

In the beginning, children from the Pawnee, Ponca, Otoe-Missouri, Tonkawa, Kaw, Shawnee, Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes were enrolled. The boarding school was co-ed from the start. Enrollment hovered around 200. There were 9 grades.

For untold Indian children, their entire education was institutional learning overseen by U.S. Indian policy. Many who graduated from the ninth grade at the Pawnee School finished their high school years at the Chilocco Indian School located near the Kansas border or at the Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, KS.

The adults who oversaw the students in early years of the Pawnee Boarding School were called “disciplinarians” which was later changed to “matrons.” The rattle of keys on the matrons’ large round key rings was a constant sound as they walked the halls of the dormitories. Many rooms were always locked.

The Pawnee Boarding School closed May 22, 1958. It is listed today on the National Register of Historic Places.

Where once the Pawnee Industrial School sought to assimilate Indian students away from their tribal nations, the Pawnee Nation College is now transforming the former Gravy U buildings into an emerging tribal university. In keeping with the principles of self-determination which serve to strengthen Tribal Nations, the College has adopted the slogan: “Indigenizing Higher Education.” Dr. Todd Fuller, Pawnee Nation College President, describes this slogan as applying “the Native perspective to all areas” of the college including in its administration, polices and procedures, and educational curricula, while maintaining an academically rigorous resource for Tribal students.

Organizers of this reunion have scant idea of surviving alumni of Gravy U but are prepared for 1 or 50. The afternoon event begins at 1:00 p.m. Relatives and friends are welcome. For information about the reunion, the email address is: gravyreunion@gmail.com . A website can be viewed at http://www.GravyU.com