The Carlisle Indian School
Carlisle Indian School:
• Founded in 1879 by Lt. Richard
Henry Pratt.
• The first off-reservation boarding
school.
• It was one of the main 19th century
efforts by the US government to
assimilate Native American children
from 140 tribes in the area to the
majority culture.
The Carlisle Indian School
In the late 18th century:
•With increasing European
immigration, settlers found it
necessary to assimilate Native
Americans into the culture.
• George Washington and Henry Knox
supported educating native
children, in efforts to "civilize
Native Americans into the EuropeanAmerican society.
• Many saw Native Americans as equals
but felt that their society was
inferior.
Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt
Pratt served during the Civil War
• Responsibility was to command Native
Americans who were enlisted to fight.
During this time, Lt. Pratt made an
effort to:
• Better conditions for the Native
Americans
• Culturally assimilate them into European
culture
• Educate them
Why?
Pratt convinced the tribal leaders that
the reason they were able to take
Indian land was because they were
uneducated.
Many of the first students were sent
voluntarily.
Students were taught:
Math
English
Art
Music
And eventually, they were taught about their own cultures
Not everything was all Gravy…
Soon, death tolls began to rise in the school.
Students were:
Getting sick (tuberculosis)
Trying to escape
Beaten forMourning,
Speaking their native languages or
Violating the harsh, military rules.
“The boys and girls at Carlisle Indian School were trained to …
serve as domestics and farm hands and to leave off all ideas
or beliefs that came to them from their Native communities,
including and particularly, their belief that they were entitled
to land, life, liberty, and dignity.... separated from all that is
familiar; stripped, shorn, robbed of their very self; and
ultimately renamed.”
-Ann Rinaldi,
Historical fiction author
on her research of the
Carlisle Indian
School.
The Carlisle Closes.
1904:
Pratt was forced to step down
He and government officials came to
conflict over Pratt’s outspoken need
to assimilate Native Americans
By the time the school had closed,
12,000 students had passed through
the doors of the Carlisle Indian School.
Very few graduated from the full program
and more than double had attempted to
run away.
PURITANS!
Puritans:
• English Protestants in the 16th
and 17th centuries
• Originally from England
• Grew upset with the Church
of England and were
extremists
• Called Puritans because they
wanted to ‘purify’ the
church and their own lives.
PURITANS!
Puritans:
• Experienced a self imposed isolation when they moved to
the United States.
• Mostly settled in the New
England area
• Lived in small, successful
communities for over 100
years.
• But their communities started
to face trouble when their strict beliefs became
cumbersome.
Puritan Beliefs:
PURITANS!
• Predestination: They believed that God would decide
if they were ‘saved’ or not.
• The belief was that they had
nothing to do with their
destiny.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
• Considered by many to be the first American Poet
• The wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet
• A religious woman who loved
her family and husband
• Wrote much of her poetry out of
loneliness while her husband
was out on business.
• Broke the Puritan boundaries by
writing the first love poems
To My Dear and Loving Husband
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.