The Puyallup people are a Coast Salish group whose historic lands are along the Puyallup River Valley. They call themselves “Spuyalepabs” in their native language of Lushootseed, meaning “people from the bend at the bottom of the river.” Before settlers arrived, the Puyallup lived in villages that spread from the Cascade foothills to the shores of Puget Sound. In 1854, Puyallup leaders signed the Medicine Creek Treaty under duress. The Puyallup ceded most of their land to the US in this treaty, but due to US government treaty violations in the size and location of reservations, the Puyallup peoples joined what is now called the Puget Sound War in 1855-1856. After the war ended, the treaty was renegotiated and the Puyallup reservation was enlarged. Since then, the Puyallup have fought for tribal rights, including in the fish wars of the 1960s and 70s and the Puyallup Land Claims Settlement in 1990.
Starting in the middle of the 19th century, church groups and the United States government set up boarding schools for Indigenous children. Here, children from many tribes were taught to speak English and were educated with a focus on agriculture and manual skills. They were separated from their elders, discouraged from learning their tribal traditions, and punished for speaking languages other than English. This photo shows the buildings and students of the Puyallup Indian School on the Puyallup Reservation, sometime between 1880 and 1889. The Puyallup Indian School opened in 1860 but expanded in the 1880s and 1890s, when a number of new buildings were added, and the school grew from 125 to more than 350 pupils. Later called the Industrial Boarding School and the Cushman School, it remained open until 1920. By that time, most Indigenous children attended local public schools.
Caption on image: "Indian scholars at the Industrial Boarding School, Puyallup Reservation, W.T." ; "Views of Tacoma, Etc." Part of Hadley series "Views of Tacoma, Etc."
Caption information source: “Puyallup Tribe: The Story of Our People,” Puyallup Tribe of Indians, retrieved from http://puyallup-tribe.com/ourtribe/. Caption information source: “Assimilation Through Education: Indian Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest,” by Carolyn Marr, retrieved from https://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/marr.html.
