Captivity Outside of Prison

Content warning: These materials cover the topics of violence and childhood trauma and may be especially hard for students with loved ones who are Indigenous and/or Veterans.

Summary: In this lesson, you will look at primary sources from different time periods to investigate two forms of captivity that are different from traditional jails and prisons.

Share whatever information from this introduction you feel will help provide context for your students before they investigate the primary sources.

Introduction

NOTE: What names are we using? You might be confused to see a variety of terms in these materials: Native American, Indigenous, First Nations, and Indian. Different people prefer one term over another, based on what feels more accurate and respectful to them. The term “Indian” is used in U.S. Federal policies and was more commonly used by the general public in the past, which is why you’ll see it in these historic documents.

Native American Children in Boarding Schools

The land we now know as Maine is Wabanaki homeland. Native Americans have lived here for thousands of years, and still live here today. The Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawn,” include the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs. There are also Abenaki people living here, and people connected to tribes from other areas.

When European colonists first arrived in this part of the world, they viewed Indigenous people and their way of life as “uncivilized.” Their descendants continued to see Indigenous lives as a threat to Euro-American success and progress. Settler colonialism is when settlers create homes and a society in a new place, pushing out the Indigenous people who lived there before. It can happen in obvious ways, like warfare and taking land, and in quieter ways, like forcing Indigenous people to change their religion, language, and culture to fit the new society.

Right now, Indigenous people are still dealing with the effects of violence, both physical and cultural, against generations of their ancestors. They’ve fought to preserve their land and their culture, and they have survived. Still, history has shaped the way that families and individuals live today.

“…education has been a two-edged sword for Native people. On one hand, it has opened opportunities. On the other, it harmed us physically, psychologically and spiritually. It inflicted spiritual wounds upon Native people lasting for generations. We call these wounds ‘Soul Wounds.’”

Donna Loring, The Dark Ages of Education and a New Hope: Teaching Native American history in Maine schools, 2009

Indian boarding schools, also known as residential schools, were built in the late 1800s with a goal of teaching Native children to blend into the rest of society. A boarding school is a place away from home where you attend classes, sleep, eat, and spend all your time. In the 1800s, most white Americans thought Native Americans were inferior, uncivilized “savages.” Therefore, people who wanted to help them believed that they should be taught to live like white people.

Children were taken from or sent by their families to live and learn at the boarding schools, usually for years. They were forced to change the way they dressed and cut their hair. They were not allowed to speak their Native languages or practice traditional religions. Students were often abused by their teachers, and many dealt with the trauma for the rest of their lives. They were trained to blend into white society—to speak, act, work, and think like non-Native children.

Since they lived near the border of the United States and Canada, Wabanaki children were sent to schools in both countries. Many children never returned to their home communities after leaving school. Families were split apart. Some returned home but felt like they were no longer connected to their culture.

Maine’s World War II Prisoner of War Camps

During World War II, German soldiers were captured by the United States military. Rather than let them go free and continue to help the German military, the U.S. military transported them to America as prisoners of war (POWs). Over 370,000 German POWs were held in 500 camps across the United States.

Maine had several camps. The largest was Camp Houlton in Arookstook County. It held 3,500 POWs from 1944-1946. It had branches in Augusta, Bangor, Indian Township, Presque Isle, Seboomook, and Spencer Lake. These were more isolated parts of the state, surrounded by woods and water. Some of the camps were on Wabanaki land that had been claimed by the state.

According to accounts from prisoners, local people, and the Red Cross, the POWs were treated well. Some of them formed friendships with local farming families. Some even moved to the United States after the war or returned for friendly visits. The Geneva Convention has strict rules for how POWs can be treated. Their health and safety are protected, and they cannot be forced to work. During war, a country may treat POWs well in hopes that the enemy side will treat their captured soldiers well, too. The Houlton POW camp provided recreation, including a room for painting and crafts.

Prison is still prison, and some POWs fought for freedom. The camps were built for high security, with fences, guard towers, and barbed wire. Even so, there were multiple escape attempts. Some men managed to get away, and others were caught.

According to local memory, some of the POWs were friendly and helpful men who had been caught up in their country’s war, while others remained loyal to the Nazi party.

The Lesson:

1. Present the introductory information above to your students to give them context for the lesson. Depending on the class, they could read the introduction as a homework assignment, or you could go over it together as a class.
2. Students choose (or the teacher assigns) one or more of the primary sources to work with.
3. Without first seeing the source label information, students practice their observation and analysis skills to complete an Analysis Worksheet for each one. They can make educated guesses using whatever information they find in the sources. Note – This can be completed as a class, individually, or in small groups.
4. Discuss the sources as a class. What source did you work with? What did you learn from it? What questions do you have? How do the different sources connect to the theme, or to each other?
5. Present the source label information (the “answers”) to the students. Were you surprised by anything you learned? Have you found more connections between the different sources?
6. Optional: use the recommended activity prompts and reflection questions for further discussion.

Optional Activity #1: Compare and Contrast

When most people think of a person in captivity, they think about a person in jail. However, these primary sources have given us two examples of other types of captivity– prisoners of war and the boarding schools for Indigenous children.

Using examples from the primary sources, compare and contrast these two forms of captivity to arrive at a broader definition of what it means to be in captivity.

This can be a written assignment, or the class can work together to create a list of similarities and differences. A Venn diagram may be useful.

Optional activity #2: POW’s and the Passamaquoddy

There was a World War II German prisoner of war (POW) camp at Motahkokmikuk (Indian Township), Maine. It was on Passamaquoddy tribal territory that had been taken by the state for Conservation Corps camps. The POW camp’s leader was known for wanting to treat the prisoners fairly and ensure good living conditions.

During World War II, Native Americans, African Americans, and Japanese Americans were often treated very badly – even though many of them defended the country as soldiers and by helping the American war effort. Those Veterans sometimes returned home and were still not given the rights of full citizens. For example, in Maine, members of Wabanaki tribes were not allowed to vote until 1954.

What do you think it would have been like to be a Passamaquoddy person living near the camp? Do you think it would have been difficult to watch enemy soldiers becoming accepted by local farmers, knowing your own family had faced generations of persecution?

If you’d like to learn more: a team of indigenous archeologists excavated the site. Dr. Bonnie Newsome, a Penobscot scholar, tells the story in this webinar produced by the Abbe Museum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCj4KedU0-E [1 hour 16 min Youtube video]

Reflection questions (for class discussion or written assignment):

• Based on these sources, what was the goal of the boarding schools?
• What are the similarities and differences between boarding schools and traditional jail?
• What do you think would be some of the long-term effects on people who were in the boarding schools and on their families?
• How does perspective affect the way that the boarding schools were described? Use evidence from Mikhu Paul’s interview and Capt. Richard Pratt’s speech to answer this question.
• Why do you think the history of boarding schools still matters to Wabanaki communities today?
• Based on these sources, what was the goal of Maine’s World War II prisoner of war camps?
• What are the similarities and differences between prisoner of war camps and traditional jail?
• How do you think prisoners of war should be treated? Why?

Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.