[Photograph of the Chickasaw Male Academy at the Harley Institute, Tishomingo Indian Territory]

December 23, 1891, reproduction
Oklahoma Historical Society Photograph Collection
Oklahoma Historical Society and the Gateway to Oklahoma History

Seven of Vanderbilt’s eight Chickasaw students graduated in the Harley Institute Class of 1893. The Chickasaw Nation ran a comprehensive education system with thirteen primary schools and five boarding academies for high school students, including Harley.  The Nation supported higher education for their graduates in the States and offered employment opportunities for educated tribespeople.  In Remaining Chickasaw in Indian Territory, 1830s-1907, historian Wendy St. Jean characterized “the Chickasaw approach to education” as “a remarkable combination of activities designed to foster Indian young people’s national allegiance and attachment to the Chickasaws’ cultural traditions and government.”  The Institute was dismantled just before Oklahoma statehood.