Testing the Limits of Colonial Parenting: Navajo Domestic Workers, the Intermountain Indian School, and the Urban Relocation Program, 1950–1962

Abstract

Abstract Closely examining the experiences of mostly female Navajo students, this article demonstrates that the Intermountain Indian School played a pivotal role in carrying out postwar Indian Policy. Like Progressive Era Indian boarding schools, its gendered curriculum prepared students to assimilate as low-status workers into American society and move away from their reservation communities. However, beginning with the first graduating class, Navajo students took advantage of the training but did not necessarily conform to policy makers’ expectations.