The 1904 Fort Shaw Indian Girls' Basketball Team
Did you know! That in 1904, a group of seven girls in Montana were the champions of basketball? Probably not, because THE PATRIARCHY, but these young women, from seven Indian tribes throughout Montana and Idaho, beat a nearby high school boys’ team, THEN beat the men’s teams at two Montana universities. Then they became World Champions at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. YES WIN ALL THE 1904 BASKETBALL.
They attended Fort Shaw Indian Boarding School and OH BOY Indian boarding schools were their own other thing, so let’s say “boooooo” and then say once more that these ladies were awesome.
If you want to learn more about the team, check out this article and this one. To read more about American Indian boarding schools and their history of assimilation, go here. And there’s also a book!: Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School Basketball Champions of the World
