Item Detail
-
17446
-
0
-
0
-
English
-
Public Schooling in Territorial Arizona : Republicanism, Protestanism, and Assimilation
-
Journal of Arizona History
-
2005
-
46
-
no.2
-
95-134
-
Assesses the effort to create Arizona public schools as models of Protestant Americanism and republican ideals during the territorial period. Although controlled by Anglo-Protestants, Arizona Territory had large minorities of Catholic, Mormon, and Native American children that were seen as targets for assimilation. Passage of Arizona's School Act of 1871 began the development of public schools by providing tax-supported funding. Catholic parochial school advocates opposed public schools, as did Mormons, but families living in poverty saw them as opportunities for their children to be educated. Indian children attended reservation schools or boarding schools, where they could be Americanized away from other children. Despite the efforts of Arizona educators to instill Protestant republican values into the public schools, the factors of race, religion, culture, and ethnicity ultimately rendered the goal impossible to achieve.