OPPORTUNITIES for Work with The AMERICAN INDIAN Elmer E. Lindquist INTERCHURCH WORLD MOVEMENT OF NORTH AMERICA 45 West 18th Street New York City Pricte: 2 cents each: 20 cents per dozen: $1.50 per hundred. OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORK WITH THE AMERICAN INDIAN By Elmer E. Lindquist T here are approximately 336,000 In- dians in continental United States. They are to be found in practically every state in the union, but chiefly on the 147 reservations and in scattered communities throughout twenty states. There are tribal bands and clans exceeding 150 in number, all speaking different languages and dialects. In Canada there are 100,000 Indians, in Alaska 37,000, in Mexico 3,000,000, and in Central and South America — no one knows, but a conservative estimate would place them at 12,000,000. In the “red man’s con- tinent” therefore, there are still Indians. In the United States in 1890, the census figures showed 248,253. Since that time, there has been an increase in population due to bet- ter living conditions, and a more ready ad- justment to the demands of modern life. Nine thousand Indian youths heard their country’s call in the late war, six thousand being volunteers. The Indian of the old trail was a religious being. The very perils and hardships of the chase and warpath created in him a longing for some relationship with the un- seen world of mystery round about him. So he established such relationships as he could through fastings and visions, sacrifices and immolations. The spirits which gave him good success in the chase and thus staved off starvation and famine were not to go unhonored or unsung. They became the “baalim” of the nomad’s land, with the medicine men or priests as the chief expo- nents of this worship. 3 But the old Indian has passed on, leaving behind chiefly such vestiges of the old regime as "war paint and feathers, bow and arrow, blanket and moccasin. The Indian of today is just coming into citizenship. He must meet the demands of this new transition period. He has entered upon the highway of knowledge and can- not turn back to the old trails. Yet the old nomadic habits, the tyranny of custom and superstition, the downward pull of the past, the evils of present-day civilization consti- tute so many barriers to the red man’s ad- vance. Right here the “Jesus Road,” as the Indians call Christianity, opens up a new and living way with its appeal for a vital relationship with God as Father and Jesus Christ as elder brother, with its insistence on “a fair chance for every man at every good thing.” The very presence of the native American in such numbers and in such widely scat- tered areas on the “red man’s continent” offers a present-day challenge to missionary endeavor and to the assimilating, all-encom- passing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ Last year less than one dollar per capita was spent by Protestant churches to edu- cate and Christianize the American Indian. Today less than one-third of the Indians are related to the various Christian com- munions; approximately 46,000 are neglected by Christian agencies. The present situation calls for a states- manlike program of advance with the follow- ing definite objectives: I The speedy evangelization of pagan tribes and portions of tribes. “The evangel- ization of the Indian in this generation” is the watchword. The work must be primarily personal. The “friendship road” is the highway open to their hearts. This calls for personal workers, an increasingly larger number who will go from camp to camp. 4 from tepee to tepee, from lodge to lodge, teaching them the ways of a covenant-keeping God with whom there can be neither “bar- barian, Scythian, bondman nor freeman, but all are one in Christ Jesus.” II An adequate program of religious edu- cation. Of the more than 300 government Indian schools, 200 are day schools, 70 res- ervation boarding schools, 2 sanitariums, and 24 non-reservation schools. There are also 9 tribal schools in eastern Oklahoma. The average attendance is given as 25,822. Non- reservation schools carry the largest enrol- ment. There are 29,463 Indians enrolled in public or private schools. The Roman Cath- olics have 47 mission schools and the Protes- tants 25. The combined enrolment is not calculated to exceed 5,000. To create a Christian atmosphere in gov- ernment schools is no easy task. There is great need for teachers and employees who will enter the Government Indian Service with the ambition of “placing upon another the impress of a high and lofty character and sharing with this other his own best vision.” Field matrons are greatly needed on reservations and in Indian communities. Mission schools must be greatly strength- ened. Some of the government schools are now being closed or consolidated. Public schools are not yet provided in sufficient numbers and in suitable locations to meet the needs of the Indian youth. Thousands of children are not in school. Fully 7,000 Navajos are without school facilities. Not only must there be a substantial material equipment for these mission schools, but they must be manned by a devoted and loyal band of teachers. These schools are largely industrial and demand teachers who have had vocational as well as academic train- ing. The material for religious education must be adapted to the needs of a primitive peo- 5 pie, to give expression to their thinking, vrhich is concrete and not abstract. This calls, among other things, for religious work directors for key institutions who shall work out and direct a unified program where there shall be a united approach on the part of all Protestant agencies, a federation of Christian activities including the Christian Associations. III A program of applied social Chris- tianity in Indian communities and on reser- vations. It must be intensely practical and should embody the social message of the gospel in all its applications to modern life. The Indian has little conception of organ- ized life. He needs therefore to know com- munity organization at its best. This calls for community leaders and community centers which will furnish a natural rallying ground for the returned students and which will hold the young people steady as they come back home from school. IV Discovering and developing a trained native Christian leadership. “Every race in the end must be elevated by its own edu- cated leadership,” said a wise leader of his people. That is the crying need in the Indian country today. That the Indian is capable of leadership we all recognize. To help provide that leadership a training school for Indians is already in operation. The present plans call for an enlargement and de- velopment of this school through union effort until it shall become a power in the Indian life of our country. Agencies at Work with the Indian The United States Government maintains a Bureau of Indian Affairs under the De- partment of the Interior. There_ are ap- proximately 6,000 employees, one-third being Indians. There are twenty different boards and so- cieties representing the Protestant churches 6 at work among the Indians in the United States. In addition, there are several impor- tant branches of the Young Men’s Christian Association and of the Young Women’s Christian Association, a few independent mis- sions and the Roman Catholics. The Indian Rights Association, the National Indian Asso- ciation and the John Eliot Society are help- ful organizations. Types of Work I Government Service. To those con- sidering the Government Indian Service the following positions are open; teachers in academic, industrial and vocational depart- ments ; home economics, the trades, agricul- ture, nursing, medical work, field matrons; clerical work. There are also certain ad- ministrative and executive positions such as superintendencies and principalships. Appli- cations should be made through the regular channels of the Civil Service Bureau, Wash- ington, D. C. II Evangelistic ‘work, calling for or- dained missionaries, Bible colporteurs, itin- erant preachers and Bible teachers for house to house visitation; superintendents in charge of mission stations where there are native pastors, catechists, interpreters and helpers. Apply to your denominational home mission board or society doing work among Indians. III Teachers in missions schools in aca- demic, industrial and vocational subjects; directors of community centers and commu- nity houses involving a unified social and recreational program ; field matrons giving attention to home economics, housing, sanita- tion ; deaconess luork. Apply as above. IV Industrial Work: Trained agricul- turists, mechanics, farm superintendents, eta Apply as above. V Medical Work'. Physicians and ser- geons, nurses for hospital and field work. Apply as above. 7 VI Directors of religious education in government schools; Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A. Secretaries, including student, county and community work. Apply, Joint Commit- tee Indian Missions of the Home Missions Council ; Y. M. C. A. International Commit- tee for Indian Work and Y. W. C. A. Na- tional Board. No. 475, LW. I. 10. Feb. 1920.