"Right in the Midst of My Own People": Native American Women and the Field Matron Program

Abstract

IN JANUARY 1892 INDIAN AGENT Major George LeR. Brown asked Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) for assistance with Pine Ridge reservation population. Little more than a year after Sioux attempts to reclaim a fading tribal past ended tragically at Wounded Knee, he found precious little evidence of individual or community progress toward civilization. The agent, arguing that the pressing need [here] is for better homes and better cooking, requested appointment of a field matron.1 Implementing an innovative Indian Service program begun in 1890, field matrons promoted assimilation through intensive domestic work with Indian women. Brown believed that Julia Kocer was an ideal candidate for post. Interested in introducing tribal women to ways of Women, she appeared to personify certified civilizer reformers and OIA policy makers hoped to attract to program. Major Brown saw Kocer as a potential catalyst for change at Pine Ridge. The OIA, however, did not share his enthusiasm.2 Neither impeccable qualifications nor genuine interest could alter fact that Julia Kocer differed from other prospective field matrons. They were all Anglo-Americans. Educated, competent, and respectable, she was a mixed-blood Arikara Indian. The first Native American field matron might have been Julia Kocer. Assimilated and concerned with welfare of her Arikara peers, she clearly represented new Indian woman OIA hoped to create.3 Nonetheless, field matron corps remained closed to women like her until 1895. Then, Indian women could join AngloAmerican women in helping their tribal peers accept White Woman's [sic] road. From 1895 to 1905, they played an active and occasionally prominent role in civilization work. Neither their participation nor their visibility, though, could guarantee a permanent place in program. While field matrons continued their work on reservations until 1930s, Native American involvement declined rapidly after 1905. The story of Native American field matrons is a special, albeit abbreviated, chapter in larger history of field matron pro-