Only Half the Story

While working on my entry for the History Would Have Burned this Page Challenge I reached out to a couple sources to see if I could get permissions to use a photo of the school as the featured image for my piece.

In my inquiries I included a draft of my story that I was working on and explained what usage of the photo would consist of. Thankfully, a photographer for the Lexington Herald Leader put me in touch with an editor who granted me permission to use a photo from an article featured on their site.

Another source I contacted was the Save the Choctaw Academy Facebook page. Instead of permission for photo use I received a message attacking me for not having proof of the claims I was making in my piece, drawing unfair connections between Choctaw and other Indian boarding schools, and being the reason that people don't want to preserve the Choctaw Academy historical site.

I considered not responding to the message but the educator in me can't always ignore the urge to correct misconceptions. I tried to do so graciously and pointed out details from the main source in my research, Great Crossings: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Age of Jackson by Christina Snyder. I had noticed this same book happened to be featured quite prominently on the Save Choctaw Facebook page. So given that the page administrators were so keen to promote the book, I thought it would be fair to direct them to look a little closer between the covers.

In writing a response to the message it certainly prompted me to examine the purpose in preserving historical sites. The person who messaged me was clearly upset that I wanted to share a piece of Choctaw's history that wasn't squeaky clean. They stated that "No one wants to restore evil places" and that in writing the story I chose to write I was creating an obstacle to their endeavor to preserve Choctaw Academy. This was something I wholeheartedly disagreed with. I've included my response below because I feel it offers some important followup reflections to my piece "The Missing Blunt Boy".

Dear Only Half the Story Historian,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my message. I do apologize for any offense taken at my request. I did want to at least attempt to respond to some of your questions and explain my aims in writing my piece a little more clearly. But do know that I am a supporter of the preservation of the historic site and in no way did I want to misconstrue the history of Choctaw.

As mentioned in my piece, the primary resource used in researching historical context for my piece was Great Crossings: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Age of Jackson by Christina Snyder. I highly recommend the book for its very thorough account of Choctaw Academy’s history as well as the figures and events that influenced the school.

Here are some page numbers to reference if you have access to a copy of the book and some quotes from key passages.

Johnson misappropriation of funds - (Snyder 239-241)

“By 1840, Johnson and his associates pocketed at least $10,000 each year by cutting corners whenever feasible” (240).

Native Boys’ Names not recorded & poor English proficiency- (Snyder 165-166)

“As usual, school officials had failed to write down the students’ Native names when they arrived, and now Henderson had to determine who was Blunt’s son” (165).

“While Henderson insisted that the boys could now ‘speak good English’, not one could tell the name of his father, nor even the Indian name by which he was called himself before he left the nation’” (165).

“Even allowing for these miscommunications and omissions, the students probably did not have a firm grip on English, even after three years of schooling” (166).

In regards to similarities to Carlisle, though the means of establishing the school and its declared are different for Choctaw, a loss of Native culture was still an outcome whether it was intended or not. As Snyder notes, “students at the academy missed out on the knowledge and morals they would have acquired at home. Cut off from the rituals, ceremonies, and epic storytelling that were at the core of Indian education they failed to learn – or incompletely learned – the values esteemed by their nations, especially the generosity and hard work necessary to foster communal ethic.” Later she quotes an alumnae of Choctaw, James Gardner, who wrote “We are desirous to educate our sons but experience has taught us that education in books alone is but poorly calculated to improve and better the condition of the red people.” Snyder concludes the section by stating that “Even if graduates were good scholars, they were not always good Choctaws.”

Additionally, many of the issues uncovered in Peter Pitchlynn’s investigation in 1840 are similar to the ones detailed in the Meriam Report published in 1928 after investigations into the federal boarding school system: filthy conditions, inadequate diet, crowded quarters, and use of students for manual labor (Snyder 240).

Of course there are differences between Choctaw and the institutions that were modeled after Carlisle, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t also similarities. Choctaw certainly preceded the darkest days of the Indian Boarding School era, but it still had its shadowy parts. As with most chapters in human history there is both good and evil, light and dark. Choctaw’s history is such an example. Instead of trying to sort it into categories of black and white terms it has to be considered in its grayness and nuance.

The prompt I was writing to was to tell the story of a figure or event erased from history and the story I wanted to tell was of Jack Vacca’s experience. And in no way was my goal to silence the other stories that have poured out of Choctaw. As I indicate in my piece, Billy Blunt loved Choctaw and he begged to return. But as Snyder notes, in 1940, “most students professed a ‘constant desire to go home’” (241).

Preservation of Choctaw’s history and legacy had to include the good and the bad. The successes and perspectives of students like Joel Barrow, William Treyhern, Antoine Bourbonnaise, and Anthony Navarre should be shared. But so should the stories of Adam Nail, James Gardner, and Jack Vacca. The motto “educate or perish” seems quite fitting from a present day vantage point. Students were educated and some students perished.

I would not label Choctaw an “evil place”, it is like many historical and modern institutions, a place where both good and evil acts occurred. But even if it were a place of only evil, to say that “No one wants to restore evil places” may not be accurate. I can think of one place in particular that has no good to boast but has been intentionally preserved: Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Such a place is preserved because of the important lessons to learn from what transpired there in the hopes of preventing such heinous things from happening again. There are valuable lessons to learn today from what transpired at Choctaw and as uncomfortable as it might be some of those lessons involve pointing out the blemishes in the school’s past, not covering them up.

I hope that the Choctaw site can be preserved to declare the instances of empowerment through education and the crossing of cultural boundaries. But also to admit when negligence and corruption sullied affairs. I would love to take my students to such a place where they can see the good and the bad of Choctaw’s past and come to learn of its historical significance.

Again I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I am grateful for the opportunity to dialogue. It helped me examine where parts of my conclusion were too emotional and sensational as well as see that the Carlisle link was not as fleshed out as it needed to be for readers unfamiliar with the context of the two schools. My objective did not change in wanting to tell the story of Jack Vacca’s trip to D.C. for questioning and to point out the ramifications of Johnson not releasing the boys upon first receiving the request. I do hope readers see the nuance presented in both Billy’s affection for Choctaw and the sorrow of what happened to Orsler Vacca and orphan Aaron. Both perspectives matter, but the purpose of my piece was to share the story of a boy who lost his brother and eventually his homeland during this time period.

I wish you the best in your endeavors to save Choctaw Academy. There is certainly a rich history and diverse collection of stories connected to the site. It would be a shame for all the voices that echo in such a place to be lost.

Best,

D.K. Shepard

I did not receive any response after sending this message so I have no idea if it was even read, but I'm glad I wrote it. I feel even more confident about the purpose of writing "The Missing Blunt Boy" and I've arrived – at least for now – at a stance of why some historical sites are worth preserving even if the history isn't always one to be proud of.