The success and failure of Methodist Indian Missions in the United States makes a fascinating history. The missionaries that set out to convert the Native Americans achieved tremendous successes and even more spectacular failures. The clash of cultures and values along with the inability of many of many missionaries to see value in the Native American way of life created what was often an adversarial relationship.

            This paper will be divided up into three parts. The first will deal with beginnings of United Methodist attempts at “converting” the Native Americans as well as some of the common experiences that shaped Native American perception of the white settlers. The second part will deal with some of the cultural conflicts that existed between missionaries and Native Americans. The third part of the paper will examine some specific Methodist Missions and their practices and their effects on the Indians.

Beginnings

            One could say that the beginnings of Methodist ministry to the Native Americans would start during John Wesley’s visit to America in 1736. Wesley assumed that the Indians were “ready as little children, eager and fit ‘receive the gospel in its simplicity.’”[1] This was not the case as his ministry got off to a rather shaky start. In fact, one could say that Wesley’s attempts to save the Creeks failed, and he ended up leaving America depressed and disheartened. [2]

            In Heitzenrater’s book Wesley and the People Called Methodists, Heitzenrater describes Chief Tomochichi of the Creeks, as having strong feelings about Christianity. Apparently, his father had been killed by Spanish settlers after his refusal to be baptized.[3] One can see how this would make the Chief suspicious of Christianity. In fact, if Wesley had been aware at how the Indians had often been mistreated by the white settlers, he would have understood their reluctance to accept the “white man’s religion.” If we look at the time before Wesley’s coming to America, we can see instance after instance of Native Americans being misused, cheated, killed, and misunderstood. Because of their experiences with the white settlers, it is entirely understandable why they would associate Christianity with those that had so mistreated them.

            No history of anything in America is complete without looking at the impact on Native Americans. In the early days of the settlement of the New World, charters issued by Spain or England that allowed for the exploration of land did not allow for the seizure of any land from “Christian” peoples. These charters also stated that the exploring parties were also charged with imparting the Gospel on the “heathen” peoples.[4] One can certainly see the problem here, as we had explorers and settlers that had no qualms about taking lands that were not theirs, yet then felt compelled to try to convert and save the native peoples by imparting a religion that forbade the very thing the Europeans were doing, specifically stealing.

            When Europeans first appeared on the shores of America, most native tribes simply viewed them as another people with which they could trade. In fact, most tribes welcomed the settlers and often aided the Jamestown and Mayflower colonies, who likely would have starved had the Indians not assisted them. The Indians taught them how to bake breads, brought food for the now famous Thanksgiving feast, and taught them how to cultivate and grow native crops. The settlers responded to the generosity of the Indians by seizing the tribal homelands and the Native American’s large fields of grains.[5] This certainly did not create an atmosphere of goodwill between these people.

            Though not a Methodist, one of the first missionaries of any note was the Mayflower’s John Elliot. Though he was primary assigned as pastor, he took the time to learn the language of the Massachusetts Indians and managed to impress not only the Indians but the Puritan settlers as well. His ministry grew rapidly and at its height had 14 towns of “praying Indians.”  He also worked on establishing many schools.[6]

            However, the Puritans kept seizing lands, and eventually relationships between the white settlers and the Indians broke down completely. During this conflict, certain English immigrants claimed that the Pequot’s had killed a number of English traders the Pequot’s claimed cheated them. Eventually, a large group of English settlers participated in the massacre of over 400 Pequot men, women, and children in one of the Pequot villages. Catton Mather, one of the participants, called the massacre a “sweet sacrifice to God.”[7] In fact, scripture was widely used to justify such actions, and Captain John Underhill claimed of this atrocity, “Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents…we had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings.”[8]

It was incidences like this that caused Indian resistance to become unrestrained as they faces increasing encroachment on their land.

            Though the incidences above are not necessarily “Methodist” in nature, this background is vital in understanding some of the root of the conflict. As stated earlier, the white settlers and those who committed such acts considered themselves civilized and the Indians as “savages.” They often found comfort in Scripture in justifying certain heinous acts against the native peoples. The Indian response can be best understood by the words of  Chief Monocue of the Wyandote who summed it up rather nicely.

            “White men cheat Indians,” Monocue is quoted as saying, “(they) take their money, skins, and furs for a trifle. Now your Good Book forbids this. Why not then do what it tells you? Then Indians would do right too.”[9]

            White men would commonly include all Indians into a single negative classification which, as we saw earlier with the Pequot massacre, allowed them to justify terrible acts. The Indians too had a tendency to look upon the Christian missionaries as the same as all the white people they knew who had lied to them, deceived them, and defrauded them. With limited contact with missionaries and more contact with “un-Christianized” white settlers, it is easy to see how the Indians grew to distrust any European settler. Also, the missionaries being somewhat ethnocentric seemed to make a point of not understanding Indian culture and society.[10]

            So it was into this web of distrust that the early Methodist Missionaries found themselves. In the next section of this paper we will explore the conflicts that the Methodist Missionaries faced.

Cultural Conflict as Words Collide

            The first Methodist missionaries did not arrive until 1769. Those that arrived before this date were generally not referred to as Indian missionaries. Much of this initial activity began in the southeastern section of the United States, and this area is often referred to as “The Cradle of American Indian Methodism.”[11] The tribes that were influenced and ministered to included the Muskogee, Iroquois, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and the Creek. Most of these tribes were pretty much established in permanent communities and agriculturally based. The natives lived a rich spiritual life and the tribes had, among themselves, generally found ways to coexist.

The Spirit of the Creator pervaded everything, giving conscious significance to everything composing the tribal citizen’s environment. The ethical relationships of tribal citizens among themselves were based on this consciousness. Being outside of this relationship was, for the individual, a condition of banishment, which was far more painful than personal incarceration. Territorial rights were observed by tribes living adjacent to one another and disputes were settled peacefully to preserve the balance of power. Disputes that flared into violence were quickly extinguished to keep lines of communication open for trade and other international traffic.[12]

So, contrary to the notion that the Indians lived a “savage” life, it is seen here that their society and culture was complex, as were the relationships between tribes. They were also very politically savvy, as most of the tribes understood that they could be used as pawns by the European factions that often fought against each other. The Indians would often take sides to their advantage, yet most attempted to remain neutral. Many of the white settlers and missionaries, however, failed to see this complex culture and often viewed Indian culture as inferior to their own.

            In attempting to minister and “save” the Indians, many missionaries hoped to convince them of their sinfulness and “rudeness.” One Methodist missionary writes: “Our plan of preaching to them was to convince them of their guilt, misery, and helplessness by reason and experience: Not appealing to the Scriptures as the law by which they were condemned, but to their own knowledge of right and wrong.  The Gospel proffering to them an immediate change of heart, was seized by them as Heaven’s best blessing of ruined men.”[13] Early Methodist missionaries tended toward a belief that the heart of conversion was a deep emotional conviction of one’s own depravity. However, they always felt that many of the Native Americans were not really “sorry” for their sins, but simply masquerading.[14]

            It was with these attitudes and some degree of ethnocentric ideas that these missionaries set about their work. White missionaries and settlers often questioned the “quality” of Indian culture. Missionary John Pitezel writes: “They were generally true to each other, and as moral as a people unrenewed by Divine Grace could be expected to be.”[15] He goes on to state that he felt that Native Americans could be “ignorant, morally polluted, and debased to the level of the brute.”[16]

            Language was always a problem. Among the Ojibway, for example, there was no dominant dialect among the various tribes which led to the question of whether the missionary work should be done in the local language. Missionary Peter Jones, who was competent in English and various Ojibway languages, was one of the few missionaries to bridge this gap as he translated the Lord’s Prayer and Apostles Creed into the native Ojibway languages. He was joined by George Copeway who translated the Gospel of Luke into Ojibway as well.[17] This seemed to be a question that plagued the Indian missionaries throughout the years of Indian missions. As we will see later, most missionaries resisted using the native language of the Indians. Copeway and Jones were exceptions to the rules.

            Other cultural conflicts often centered on the topic of clothes, or as we should say, lack thereof. The often prudish missionaries would be uncomfortable around the sometimes scantily clothed native peoples. Some were able to overcome these prejudices such as William Johnson from the Kansas City Manual Training School, who felt that one could really not judge the Indians by their attire. Northern Indians, he stated, needed more clothes because it was colder while Southern Indians needed and wore less. Southern nudity, in fact, caused upset among many of the missionaries and this issue would always cause conflict.[18] What this researcher has found and the reader will too is that as we study some of the specific Indian Missions later in this paper, the problem was mostly dealt with by forbidding Indian students at the schools to wear native clothing, which seemed to make the missionaries more comfortable, but not the Indians.

            What some feel was a positive result of this cultural conflict, at least among the missionaries to the Ojibway, was the improvement of the lot of the Ojibway women. Many of the missionaries felt that the native women were poorly treated and afforded few if any rights and tended to be treated more as property than human beings. Christian morality, according to the missionaries, felt that this was a poor practice. The Indians who were converted to Christianity tended to learn to treat the women of their tribe much more humanely.[19]

            Ultimately, what made a missionary successful, whether they were Methodist or not, was the ability to make positive contacts based on beliefs held in common by both Indians and whites. Failure by missionaries to recognize the significance of Indian religious beliefs is called by many the greatest lost opportunity. Trivializing Native American religious beliefs, at least among the Ojibway, prevented many missionaries from reaching the Indians with the “white man’s religion.” It became unclear to the Indians if they felt they were being preached the Gospel of Christ or the Gospel of America. Basically, missionary efforts that failed did so because of the tensions between the two cultures.[20]

Methodist Indian Missions: Stories of Contrasts and Similarities

            As we can see from the previous material, Methodist missionaries were trying to preach the gospel to a people that had been over time cheated, massacred, marginalized, misunderstood, and cast as inferior. Yet in spite of these odds, there were many successful Methodist Indian Missions in the United States of which the Chickasaw Academy we will examine in some detail. The missionaries were filled with the zeal of spreading the Gospel, yet they were not always able to free themselves from some of the prejudices that they carried with them. Most believed that “civilizing” the Native Americans was the best thing for them, convinced themselves of what they felt was a superior culture and religion.

            During the 1800’s, many missions began to spring up. One of the more successful ones was the Chickasaw Academy. Many of the Indians from the Southeastern “cradle of American Indian Methodism” were moved from their native lands to the Indian Territories in Oklahoma. It is in these Indian Territories that the Chickasaw Academy was founded. It is important to understand that almost none of the tribes that now live in Oklahoma were native to that region. These tribes were forced off their native lands due to new treaties and agreements with the United States. Many of these were forced journeys, and this was traumatic and difficult for these peoples and is often referred to as the “Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.”[21]  Many of the Indians moved from the Southeastern United States in the 1830’s had accepted Christianity and worked with many Methodist ministers and many of these ministers were on the “Trail of Tears” and some did try to stand up to the government to stop the forced relocation.

A shadow on our Methodist History reveals that for the most part our church structure refused to become involved or to stand with their preachers in this regard. The journey was paved with disease, starvation, exposure, and massive loss through deaths and separation. The spirit of endurance and survival grew out of strong family relationships and tribal relationships, and by the native spiritual traditions and the spiritual traditions of Christianity which had come to Oklahoma with them.[22]

This journey was filled with much suffering and in some cases the cause of great resentment against the government.

            After settling in their new home, the leaders of the Chickasaw tribe felt the need to establish a school for their children, and in 1842 petitioned the United States Government for a manual labor school. There were many disputes over funding and more than a few bureaucratic bungles. At one point the contract to start the school was held up for six months by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the petition languished on some desk. Finally, in 1847, the school was approved and an amount appropriated was $50.00 per student. The Chickasaws had also pledged $6000.00 toward the endeavor as well.[23]

            The school was started under Wesley Browning, and it is stated that the mission flourished at the beginning with 25 to 30 scholars. The money from the Chickasaws was slow in coming, with only $2000.00 arriving in 1847. Construction also proceeded rather slowly as Brown wanted the mission to be self-sufficient, so he rented land for farming, sought to establish a mill. The mill, however, was an ill-fated project that was to cause him a lot of trouble and eventually be one of the factors in him being replaced. The millwright had left early, high water swept away the dam that had been constructed for the mill, workers sickened, horses died, and the crops washed out. Other monies came in, but by 1850 approximately $8000.00 had been spent on the academy and there was nothing to show for it. The Chickasaws were reluctant to give over the rest of their promised funds, and Browning did not take this well, and managed to further damage his case by being openly critical of the Bureau of Indian affairs as well as insult local tribal leaders. He was soon replaced.[24]

            The replacement, John C Robinson, arrived in 1851, a minister from the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He had previously worked with the Choctaw Nations and believed that the best way to improve the life of the Indian was through education. He seemed the right man for the  job.

            When Robinson arrived, he made an effort to open the Academy under the original terms of the 1847 agreement along with some other changes.  The Chickasaws were quite enthusiastic and upped their appropriation per student from $50.00 to $75.00. Robinson expanded operations, extended Christianity among the students, and provided good counsel to the Indians. Over time, the academy became an object of some pride with the Methodist Missionary Society, who stated, “The Chickasaw Academy, under the care of Reverend J. C. Robinson and most excellent wife, is indeed a model school.”[25]

            Robinson had, according to those around him, and extraordinary gift for dealing with people. Behind this gift was that he never doubted he was doing the work of God. Under his leadership, the mission showed steady educational progress. In 1852 he had only 60 students, but by January 1, 1853 he was at the academy capacity of 120. These students were taught English, reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, geography, American History, and Ancient History.[26]

            Yet, the Academy was also known for teaching manual skills, especially agricultural pursuits. Robinson writes:

We think it not enough, in order to make a boy a good farmer, merely to teach him to hoe corn, chop wood, and make a fence, but to bring the subject before h him, requiring also the full exercise of an enlightened mind as a noble, elevated calling.[27]

            As a result, the Chickasaws were generally very pleased with the academy. Also, to keep the Methodists happy, there was a Sunday school and two weekly Bible studies. When Robinson arrived after the disaster of Brown’s mill experience, he was shocked at what appeared to be low morale. But as time went by, he felt things improved greatly. He notes that at least 22 students became Methodists.

            It is thought that this was one of the most successful missions for the reason that it functioned in a favorable environment.  The Chickasaws wanted things to go well and were generally enthusiastic and were very supportive of the school financially. Robinson’s leadership is often cited, as he was described as having a “dynamic spirit” with a knack for diplomacy coupled with limited ego. He was known to have credited God and his associates with the success of the academy, and the Chickasaw academy stands as an example of “greatness” if all parties cooperated together.[28]

            When things did not go so well, the Indians often felt alienated and off balance. Often these problems arose though the inability of missionaries to relate to Indian culture and religion. It seemed that the solution, as mentioned earlier in this paper, was to teach “white ways” at the expense of any of the Indian ways. This was a commonality of many of the boarding schools, and is gone into in some detail regarding the Methvin Institute, founded by  John Jasper Methvin, a missionary to the Western Tribes who served as Superintendent of the Methodist Choctaw School in 1885, serving there 23 years.

            Boarding schools lifted the Indian students out of native contexts and immersed them into American culture. What was wanted was “godly, civilized, educated” children and boarding schools accomplished the task of separating the children from the “old ways” and made them more “educatable.”[29]

            A common practice at Methvin’s and other institutes was to give the children new and more American names. Also, the schools taught in English, and there was no attempt to bridge the communication gap by mixing languages. The missionaries often felt that this was necessary because of all the different dialects and languages spoken among the tribes, but it was very difficult for the students who sometimes knew no English at all.[30]

            The changes made to the students were to force them to cut their hair or braids, give them entirely new clothing, and separate them from their families for months at a time. One student, Guy Quetone, described being forcibly held down to have his hair cut. One can see why the students sometimes had a difficult time adjusting.[31]

            Although in these schools there was a tremendous amount of teaching and a real belief that they were working for the betterment of the Indian life, the mission of the schools often was to “Christianize and Civilize the Indian.”[32] The problem was that many missionaries and schools were too ethnocentric. Many could not even conceive of Christianity in any other form. Many Methodist missionaries viewed Indian religions and customs as something that was demonic and bad.

            Methvin’s academy also concentrated on teaching manual labor skills as well as intellectual pursuits. The goal was to educate the Indians with skills that would allow them to operate more fully in white society. Generally, cooking, washing, and housework were taught for the girls. Farming and livestock tending was taught to the boys, and in many ways was similar in this respect to the Chickasaw Academy.

            It could be argued successfully that teaching the Indians Christianity, English, and “white” ways did much to lift them up out of poverty and help them to integrate better into what was becoming the dominant society. It could be argued successfully that the missionaries did much good, and that they truly believed that they were bringing God’s word and salvation to the Indians. And we all know that hindsight is always, as the cliché goes, 20/20. Yet, these missions did leave a legacy of stripping away much of the cultural identity of the Indians. Much more time could have been spent in trying to understand and relate to the culture and language of Americas native peoples.

            The tribes that benefited most from the  mission work were able to maintain ties to both ways. Kiowas tribal leader Stumbling Bear best sums things up by saying, “White man’s road heap good, better than Indian Road. But not all the ways of the white man better than all the Indian Ways. Some Indian ways best.”[33]

Bibliography

Barclay, Wade Crawford, Early American Methodism Volume II: 1769-1844, The Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church, New York 1950

Berkhofer, Robert F., Salvation and the Savage: An Analysis of Protestant Missions and American Indian Response, University of Kentucky Press, 1965

Heitzenrater, Richard P., Wesley and the People Called Methodists, Abingdon Press, 1995

Isern, Thomas D., “Chickasaw Academy,” Methodist History, Volume 19,  April 1981, p.

131-145.

Milner, Clyde A III, O’ Neil, Floyd A., Churchmen and the Western Indians: 1820-1920, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982

Noley, Homer, First White Frost: Native Americans and United Methodism, Abingdon Press, 1991

Norwood, Frederick A, “Conflict of Cultures: Methodist Efforts With the Ojibway, 1830-1880,” Religion In Life, Volume 48, August 1979, pp. 360-376.

Phillips, Anita, “On and Beyond the Trail of Tears,” www.okumc.org, 2001