Haskell Indian Nations University

skills in tailoring, wagon making, blacksmithing, harness making, painting, shoe making, and farming, reflecting trades common to their mostly rural and small town environments of reservations. Girls studied cooking, sewing and homemaking. As was typical of many such rural schools, most of the students' food was produced on the associated Haskell farm. Older students were expected to work while at the school, as in the model of Tuskegee Institute and similar independent institutions.
According to many sources, school living conditions during the 1880s and 1890s were harsh. Organized under the semi-military system of the Carlisle Indian School, students wore uniforms to enforce conformity and end tribal identification. Their hair was cut when they entered school, which was especially painful for the boys, as in most tribes, adult men kept long hair. The children marched to classes and exercised regularly. Students were often physically punished if they failed to follow the rules of the institute. At least 103 …