The Indian Student Placement Program: An Assessment of Mormon Theology and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Contribution to 20th Century Indigenous Child Removal Trends

Abstract

This paper examines the 20th-century Indigenous child removal trends in the United States with a specific focus on Mormon involvement and influence. Due to the important role Native Americans played in Mormon prophecy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created programs that aimed to academically and spiritually educate Native youth. More specifically, programs such as the Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP) housed Native children with predominantly Mormon families during the school year from 1954 to 1996. However, shifts in Church leadership and attitude throughout this period strongly suggested mental and physical abuse and destruction of tribal identity. By weighing scholarly arguments and referencing the Book of Mormon, this paper will evaluate the extent to which the ISPP can be justified by theology and to what degree the LDS Church contributed to 20th-century assimilation and acculturation trends.