Ebook cultivating the rosebuds book

site_link post a commentEstablished by the Cherokee Nation in 1851 in present day eastern Oklahoma the nondenominational Cherokee Female Seminary was one of the most important schools in the history of American Indian education Devon Mihesuah explores its curriculum faculty administration and educational philosophy Recipient of a 1995 Critics Choice Award of the American Educational Studies Association 24 photos Cultivating the Rosebuds The Education of Women at the Cherokee Female Seminary 1851 1909Cultivating the Rosebuds invites a conversation about the education of women at the Cherokee Female Seminary from 1851 to 1909 It s by no means the final word on the subject as Devon Mihesuah makes clear instead Mihesuah poses fascinating questions and sets the stage for research and investigations to come She does an able job of explaining how unique this institution and for that matter the Cherokee values and assumptions undergirding it truly was in the larger context of female education and Native American education at the time The book also points out how the school s requirements and curriculum 1 highlighted distinctions of physiology full blood mixed blood etc and cultural adherence traditionalist assimilationist etc among the students and 2 prepared the young rose buds for a true woman role in which Native women might never be wholly accepted by the mainstream that is white United States I was particularly interested in Mihesuah s discussion about the Mount Holyoke connection to the development of the Cherokee Female Seminary and how in later years an Eastern feminist New Woman ideal challenged the domestic model that preceded it This led to some Cherokee alumnae becoming graduates of universities across the United States and later businesswomen educators and even prominent physicians I was also intrigued by examples of the curious ways in which students at the institution came to view their own revised history as citizens of the Cherokee Nation The book left me wanting to know especially about the memoirs and journals and other extant firsthand accounts of student experiences at the seminary The greatest strength of this book is its impressive documentation and citations as well as generous appendices detailing the women who studied graduated from and or taught at the institution I read this for specific research purposes as well as for general information and enjoyment and I was satisfied on all counts English Good information English