Sherman Indian High School

According to the Sherman Indian Museum, SIHS was founded by the United States government in order to assimilate Native Americans into the mainstream society.

SIHS was originally known as the Perris Indian School, which was established in 1892 under the direction of Mr. M. S. Savage. This was the first off-reservation boarding school in California. The enrollment then consisted of Southern California Indian children from the Tule River Agency to San Diego County. Students ranged in age from 5 years old to early 20s. The main subjects taught were agriculture and domestic science.

Class photo of graduating seniors at the Sherman Institute, 1919.

The 80-acre (320,000 m²) site in Perris, California, was at the corner of today's Perris Boulevard and Morgan Street. Due to an inadequate water supply to conduct the primary subjects at the school, a better location was sought. By 1901 a site in the city of Riverside was selected, at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Jackson Street. On July 19, 1901, the cornerstone was laid for the new school building of Sherman Institute. Perris Indian School remained in operation until December 1904 when the remaining students were transferred to Riverside. It was named after Congressman James S. Sherman, who helped establish funding for the school in 1900.[4]

The Mission Revival Style architecture was considered a novelty when the school was built, and the city promoted the school as one of the landmarks to visit by tourists. To meet earthquake standards, most of the original school buildings were demolished during the 1970s, and new structures were built in their place. The California Native Tribes were required to pay for the demolition and for the new buildings.[5]

During the 2008–09 school year, SIHS administration removed more than 30 staff from their facility, upsetting the students. The students protested, to no effect. Officials stated that there were not enough Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funds to pay the employees that had been let go.[6]

The Sherman Museum is currently the school's only original architecture; it was once the school's administration building. The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark and Riverside Landmark number 16.[7]

In 1995 Huell Howser Productions, in association with KCET/Los Angeles, featured Sherman Indian High School in California's Gold.[8][9]

Because of Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, students did not return home for several years.[10] Those who died were often buried in the school cemetery.

May 3 marks an old tradition amongst the local tribes where many local reservations decorate their cemeteries with flowers and replace old crosses. Sherman Indian High School designates this as Indian Flower Day.[11]

As of 2023 students living on Indian reservations make up about 68% of the student body.[12]

As of 1988, Sherman Indian high school was the most common boarding school chosen by the isolated village of Supai, Arizona, which has Havasupai Elementary School as its elementary school.[13] Supai does not have a high school.[14]

Every year, in mid-April,[15] Sherman hosts a one-day pow-wow. The event officially ends Sherman's parent-teacher conference week. SIHS holds an annual Talent Show on the Thursday of that week. The Miss Sherman Pageant also occurs during this week annually, traditionally on Friday, the evening before the pow-wow.[16]

• Reggie Attache, professional American football player, attended SIHS
• Elmer Busch, professional American football player, attended from 1907–1910
• Jean Fredericks, photographer, attended after receiving grade school education on the Third Mesa Hopi Reservation
• Matthew B. Juan, SIHS graduate, Native American hero of World War I, killed in action
• "Big Chief" Russell Moore, jazz trombonist, graduated 1933
• Bemus Pierce, professional American football player, coached Sherman Braves in 1902 and 1903

• Off-reservation boarding schools operated by the BIE
  • Chemawa Indian School
  • Flandreau Indian School
  • Riverside Indian School
• Off-reservation boarding schools operated by tribes
  • Circle of Nations Wahpeton Indian School
  • Pierre Indian Learning Center
  • Sequoyah Schools
• Saint Boniface Indian School, in Banning, California
• American Indian outing programs

• Clifford E. Trafzer; Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert; Lorene Sisquoc, eds. (2012). The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute. Oregon State University Press. ISBN 978-0870716935. OCLC 821804322.
• Paxton, Katrina A. (2006). "7. Learning Gender: Female Students at the Sherman Institute, 1907–1925". In Clifford E. Trafzer; Jean A. Keller; Lorene Sisquoc (eds.). Boarding House Blues: Revisiting American Indian Educational Experiences. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803244467. OCLC 63703921.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sherman Indian High School.

• Official website
• Sherman Indian Museum