Friday, Jan. 11, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Carlisle Indian Boarding School

In 1879, the United States government undertook a project aimed at assimilating Native American youth into mainstream American culture. Amid dire predictions of the “extinction” of Native Americans without complete and rapid integration, Civil War veteran Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt spearheaded the effort to create an off-reservation boarding school. Pratt instituted a system of forced “Americanization,” abandonment of Native languages, required conversion to Christianity, and harsh military discipline, and headed north to create the Carlisle Indian Industrial School

The complex history of Carlisle is both tragic and uplifting. While Pratt and his supporters felt they were acting out of benevolence, their belief that the young Indians needed to be stripped of their “savage” customs and culture ultimately deprived the students of their heritage. Disease and harsh conditions took their toll, and hundreds of children died, with 186 still buried on the site today.