Downloadable Content
Download audio
Other
Scillens, Christine (audio interview #1 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION< - This is the first of three interviews conducted for a Women&aposs Studies class focused on women during WWII. The interviewer and narrator knew each other from classes that they took in the American Indian Studies program. The narrator was open and willing to share her experiences, particularly because of the interviewer&aposs known familiarity with and respect for native traditions and culture.
- Date
- 2019-12-23
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
- Language
- Notes
- File: aicscillens1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-7:37)... Scillens was born on the Indian Reservation. Her grandfather was one of the sons of Crazy Horse and according to her grandmother he did not like to fight and tried to make the peace. Scillens&apos grandmother came from Canada and her parents were both born in the Dakotas, her mother in North Dakota and her father in South Dakota. They met through a "deal" made by each of their parents, and her mother did not see her father until the day before the wedding day. She was sixteen and he was fifteen. Each family brought things for the other like horses and the ceremony was very traditional Sioux. They smoked a peace pipe and were wrapped in a blanket to symbolize unity if they ever split they had to break the blanket apart. When her parents married they lived in a tent so they could get up and move when they wanted to. This was about 1918, during WWI. (7:37-10:59)... Scillens was born out where her grandmother lived in North Dakota. She was always around the whole tribe during her childhood, going back and forth between North and South Dakota. She is the oldest of her seven sisters she also had two brothers. The children were born in the home, with her grandparents helping with the delivery. There was an "introduction to world" ceremony for each child given by her paternal grandparents the child was given a name then, too. (10:59-14:54)... Scillens's tribe has a matriarchal tradition and although the men have the honor and glory, the women run things behind the scenes. Her grandmother was the most powerful medicine woman in the tribe. If anyone was sick they went to her for help. The medicine woman used herbs and Scillens recalls that once when she and her sister were very ill they were given skunk oil to drink. The next day they were up and running around. Her grandmother had a leather pouch decorated with beads in which she carried her herbs and cures. She dressed traditionally and wore moccasins all of the time. (14:54-17:42)... Scillens wore moccasins until the government came in and she had to go to school and wear shoes. When she saw her grandmother, she wore her moccasins again. Before Scillens started school, she made her own toys and learned to entertain herself. She had corn husk dolls but mostly played with cats and dogs. There were many children around with whom Scillens played her mother&aposs brother had a large family with several children so there was always someone to play with. (17:42-20:19)... Around the time that Scillens started school in 1926, the government came in and made the land a Reservation. Scillens&apos parents did not want to become citizens, which was part of the deal from the government in order to get land. Scillens did not speak English until she went to school. If any of the Indians spoke their native language in school they were punished. (20:19-24:34)... When the government came in and made the Indian children go to school, it was like a military regulation. The soldiers would threaten the Indians that if their children were not in school the parents would be taken away and put in jail. The school to which Scillens was sent was about 150 miles away from the Reservation. She went home for three months in the summer. The school made her wear shoes and gave her clothes the school forced the Indian children to forget their culture and the children were punished if they did not assimilate. They would be punished if they made the slightest noise in line or if they were talking in line. It was like being in the military with strict guidelines and rules. (24:34-28:59)... The teachers at the school Scillens attended were very strict and religious and expected the children to believe what they thought. Scillens was told that she was a Catholic and was taught the prayers but they did not mean anything to her. She always thought she should be able to pray the way she wanted. She does not dislike White people as a rule, but the teachers at the school were all old spinster type White women who were very religious. (28:59-32:01)... Scillens ate quite a variety of foods when she lived with her family, but at the school they ate mostly vegetables. When her parents were living on the Reservation they were expected to live the life of a cattle rancher and housewife. Her mother got a sewing machine and learned to sew. (32:01-37:15)... Before Scillens went to school, she wore the traditional clothing. She wore a buckskin dress and had long hair. At the boarding school, they cut her hair and she had to wear "civilized" clothes. Her parents were very sad when they saw her when she came back from school. She thinks that they resented the way she was forced to assimilate to White culture. Although Scillens&apos parents learned to speak English in school, her grandparents did not speak any English. (37:15-38:27)... Scillens was around both sets of her grandparents and went back and forth from North to South Dakota. She describes it as a hard life but recalls that she wasn't affected by the Depression, noting that you can't miss what you don't have. (38:27-40:29)... When Roosevelt was running for President, Scillens recalls Republicans coming to the Reservation telling the Indians what the Republicans would do for them if they were elected. The Indians were very skeptical and Scillens thinks there was a lot of "hanky panky" going on behind the scenes. (40:29-44:53)... On the Reservation where Scillens lived, there were two trading posts run by Whites. These were the only places the Indians could do their trading and they had horses to get around. Food and cotton goods would be brought for trade and Scillens father brought cattle. Scillens comments that the attitude of the White people toward the Indians was good - basically it had to be. End of tape File: aicscillens2.mp3 (0:00-3:54)... Scillens did not have many restrictions as a child at home and she was thought of as an individual by the family. Children were expected to learn things from experience. She helped her mother with the garden, and also helped her cook. As she got older, she went on horseback to round up the cattle. The boys and girls did the same kind of work and they were always busy. (3:54-7:33)... Scillens&apos s family lived in a two bedroom house that was furnished with the furniture her father made. Her family was very close and during the summer, when she was home from school, the family was together for dinner almost every night, sitting at a big wooden table. About twenty people came for dinner on any given night. The cooking was done outside because the house would get so hot. (7:33-14:23)... Scillens did not celebrate traditional American holidays like Christmas, but she recalls the annual Sun dance in July when everyone gathered in the Black Hills in South Dakota for a renewal of life. It was a time for fasting for adults and as children came to a certain age they were expected to do certain things the boys, as they entered puberty, were expected to go on a "vision quest" by themselves in the mountains and the girls would go into a teepee and fast and the elder women of the tribe would come and tell them the facts of life. Scillens was told about this when she was very young and she always expected it. The boys were sent on their vision quest to find their identity and respect for themselves and women. They were always taught to respect women and it was only when they were sent to school by the government and came back to the Reservation that trouble began. Girls were always taught to respect elders. (14:23-16:52)... When Scillens mother was very ill, there was a ceremony for her, but Scillens was not allowed to come home from school. In the fall, there was a ceremony thanking the great spirit for the bountiful summer. And when someone died, there was a ceremony that dictated a one year mourning period. (16:52-19:33)... Scillens was taught as a child that one did not die, but rather came back to live another life. Her grandmother told her that she was alive before as an old lady because she had her ears pierced as a baby. Scillens does not mourn when someone dies she believes that they are not really gone. (19:33-21:22)... Scillens attended the government boarding school through high school. Social life there consisted mainly of some dances or picnics. On Saturdays they let Scillens go to the movies but they had to sign in and out. The students also had to sign in and out if they went from one dormitory to another. (21:22-25:11)... One of the women at the school thought it was necessary for all the girls to wear girdles, and Scillens recalls that her girdle was too big. She had not even formed as a woman yet. They had to wear long, straight denim dresses, black stockings and black high top shoes. (25:11-29:34)... All of the clothing was tagged with the student's name. There were two dresses, one for school and one for work. When Scillens lost her work dress, she had take her school dress off and go to eat in the dinning room wearing just her underwear. The teachers punished her for losing her dress. As students got older, the punishment was deep cleaning. Siblings were all separated and Scillens and her sisters went to different schools. The government separated families to force them to assimilate better into society. (29:34-32:10)... Scillens liked art in high school and she would talk to her art teacher. She would look at her teacher&apos s fashion magazines and could make patterns of the clothes she saw. Her teacher told her she should be a fashion designer and Scillens ran with the idea for a while but later did not pursue it. When she went back home to the Reservation and saw how bad conditions were, she thought she needed to help her people instead of going out into society to be a fashion designer. (32:10-34:55)... The people on the Reservation thought Scillens was trying to be like the White people and resented her somewhat. The older people would ignore her and she was very hurt by that. They thought she had forgotten the language, but once she showed them she did not forget the language she was more accepted. (34:55-39:25)... Scillens&apos ambitions in high school was to go back to the Reservation but nothing that she learned in school applied to Reservation life. For example, she was taught to cook on a stove in school, but there were only wood stoves on the Reservation. She was trained to make it in the White culture but not on the Reservation. The women were taught more menial jobs and the boys were taught welding and carpentry. The girls were made to go work in the hospitals as nurses and were used this way. (39:25-43:17)... When Scillens was out of high school she went to work at a summer resort as a waitress and stayed in the housing provided by the resort. She had to go to a class to be trained as a waitress. Before she went to work at the resort , she was told that they were not allowed to socialize with the customers and that they had to think about the reputation of the school which was sending the girls there. (43:17-44:35)... After high school and before college Scillens worked in Kansas City for the government and then went to college for two years. About the time the war started she was in college but receiving letters from her girlfriends about how much money they were making working for the government. Scillens decided school could wait and she was sent to Chicago. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO< - Christine Scillens is a Teton Sioux woman who joined the Army Nurses Corps during WWII. She was active in the American Indian Movement and the American Indian Studies program at CSULB. Born on a South Dakota reservation, Scillens was put into a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) boarding school when she was only six years old. She continued in various schools, going home only in the summer, until she entered college in Kansas City. After two years in college, she moved to Chicago and went to work in the BIA office there. In 1942, she enlisted in the Women&aposs Army Corps, signing up for overseas duty. After training, she was sent to a medical station in New Caledonia, where she remained for six months. She then went to Fort Mason in San Franciso, where she worked in the hospital. She married a man serving in the Navy in 1944. After she was discharged in 1945, she moved to Vallejo, where her husband was stationed. She eventually moved to the Los Angeles area. TOPICS- family background; early life and cultural traditions; schooling; life at boarding school; assimilation and parents; roles on the Reservation; home life on the Reservation; celebrations and ceremonies; spiritual beliefs; life in high school; reservation reaction to Scillens coming back; ambitions in high school; working at summer resort; college in Kan
- Rights Note
- This repository item may be used for classroom presentations, unpublished papers, and other educational, research, or scholarly use. Other uses, especially publication in any form, such as in dissertations, theses, articles, or web pages are not permitted without the express written permission of the individual collection&aposs copyright holder(s). Please contact the CSULB Library Administration should you require permission to publish or distribute any content from this collection or if you need additional information or assistance in using these materials: http://www.csulb.edu/library/Common/SubmittedForms/digital_rep_request.html
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Visibility | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7562205596161208-aicscillens1.mp3 | 2023-10-18 | Public | Download |
|
5961940467352396-aicscillens2.mp3 | 2023-10-18 | Public | Download |