Description

Opened in 1879 in Pennsylvania, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School was the first government-run boarding school for Native Americans. Civil War veteran Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt spearheaded the effort to create an off-reservation boarding school with the goal of forced assimilation. The Army transferred Carlisle Barracks, a military post not in regular use, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for use as a boarding school.

Students were forced to cut their hair, change their names, stop speaking their Native languages, convert to Christianity, and endure harsh discipline including corporal punishment and solitary confinement. This approach was ultimately used by hundreds of other Native American boarding schools, some operated by the government and many more operated by churches. There are 186 graves at the site of students who died while attending Carlisle.

Pratt, like many others at that time, believed that the only hope for Native American survival was to shed all native culture and customs and assimilate fully into white American culture. His common refrain was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” 

Yet initial student recruitment for the school was also about control of the tribes. The Department of War directed Pratt to travel to the Dakota Territory and recruit the first students from the Oglala Sioux and Brule Sioux. Government leaders essentially held hostage the children of tribal leaders to try to ensure good behavior of the tribes. The school was presented to the tribes as an opportunity for children to learn English and be better able to protect the tribe’s interests in the future. Many parents and tribal leaders initially embraced the opportunity for their children to learn, while others remained skeptical of any efforts by the U.S. government. (Carlisle Indian School Project)