American Indian Boarding Schools came into affect in the late nineteenth century. The first school and still in operation is the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon, however, the most notable school was the Carlisle Indian School located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Richard H. Pratt got the idea in 1875 for the Carlisle Indian School after running detail at the St. Augustine prison in Florida where seventy-two of the "most hostile" of the Indians from the Plains were imprisoned. At the prison, he had the Indian inmates educated and it proved to be successful.
In 1878, Pratt commissioned the United States' government to turn an old army post in Carlisle, Pennsylvania into a boarding school for American Indians. In September of the following year Pratt traveled to the Dakota Territory with an interpreter and a teacher from the St. Augustine prison. His goal was to recruit thirty-six students from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agency (Reservation).
Pratt found the Chiefs (Spotted Tail, Milk, Two Strike, and White Thunder) reluctant to allow the children to leave the agency to travel to the east coast and attend the white man's school. The reluctant Chiefs reminded Pratt of the broken treaties and the taken of land and therefore why should they trust their children to Pratt. Pratt told the Chiefs that if they would have known English they would have understood the treaty language and therefore violations of the treaties would not have taken place.
While Pratt was in the Dakota Territory, two students of his educational experiment in St. Augustine recruited Indian children from their own tribes. These tribes consisted of the Kiowa and Cheyenne tribes.
The children arrived in Carlisle on October 6, 1879 and soon the assimilation began. The boys were dressed in military uniforms, the girls wore Victorian style dresses. Both male and female were forced to have their hair cut, which to the Lakota the cutting of the hair was symbolic of mourning.
The children had a difficult time adjusting to their new living conditions. Under military rule and organized into companies they were expected to march to their classes, from their classes, and to the dining hall for meals. Speaking in their native language was prohibited.
If the children broke any rules their punishment was determined by an organized justice system of their peers. The most severe punishment would take them to the guardhouse that still stands today.
A printing program was developed at the school and was popular among the local community. The school's newspaper was available at the local post office and via subscription nation wide. The newspaper brought in revenue for the school and promoted Pratt's "kill the Indian, save the man", plan.
Funding for the school not only came from the revenue made on the newspapers, but also from former abolitionists and Quakers. The sponsors came as guests to special programs such as concerts and dramas that were written and performed by the students. The event was advertised through brochures printed by the students and announced in school newspaper.
Illness and death among the children were common. Many of the children suffered from separation anxiety, smallpox and tuberculosis. As most of the children were sent back to their reservations, many others passed away at the school, which made it necessary for a cemetery. A hundred and ninety children are buried in the cemetery, with the majority of those buried are from the Apache tribe. Today the cemetery at the school attracts visitors each year.
In 1905, Geronimo visited the Carlisle school on his way to the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. for President Teddy Roosevelt. Along with Geronimo were American Horse and Hollow Horn Bear from the Lakota, Little Plume from the Blackfoot, Buckskin Charlie from the Ute, and Quanah Parker from the Comanche. The tribe leaders rode on horseback dressed in full regalia down the streets of Carlisle and later addressed the children of the school.
The Carlisle Indian School closed in 1918.
Sources:
Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
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