"From 1879 until 1918, over 10,000 Native American children from 140 tribes attended Carlisle. Only 158 graduated."
(“Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” 2015)
(“Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” 2015)
For my third blog posting I decided to review the Wikipedia
page about the Carlisle
Indian Industrial
School. The school was located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
and was in existence from 1879 to 1918. At this time in American history many people
thought that Native American children needed let go of their Native American
cultures and assimilate to the white culture in America. The Carlisle
Indian Industrial
School was a boarding
school far from their reservations where the Native American children could be
taught new skills that could help them “mainstream” and find employment. Unfortunately, as soon as the children arrived
at the school they lost parts of their culture and identities. Upon arrival their hair was cut and their
names were changed to non-Native American names. Apparently, there were even incidents of
violence against the children who had more difficulty with assimilating during
their time at the school. The Carlisle Indian Industrial
School saw over ten
thousand students enter its doors, however, only 158 students actually
graduated. During their time at the
school students were given the task of learning English. The children also had to stop wearing Native
American style clothes and were forced to wear clothes that non-natives
typically wore. The children were subjected
to strict discipline at Carlisle. During the summer the school had the students
work as domestic servants or farm workers at homes in the area. Overall, it was very interesting to learn
about the Carlisle school, even though it is a
sad part of American history. I highly recommend
the article for anyone who is interested in the subject (“Carlisle Indian
Industrial School,”
2015).
"Between 1899 and 1904, Carlisle issued thirty to forty-five degrees a
year. "Educating the Indian Race. Graduating Class of Carlisle, PA." ca.
1890s"
(“Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” 2015)
(“Carlisle Indian Industrial School,” 2015)
Works Cited
“Carlisle
Indian Industrial
School.” Wikipedia.org.
22 June 2015. Web. 1 August 2015.
It's hard to believe that this occurred within the United States. Such a drastic difference between then and now. I feel every nation has made its mistakes but I feel American, in general, has come along way since this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThis was disgraceful and again reflects the tyranny of our disgraceful government. The more I read about what our government has done to its own citizens, the more disdain I have for it. Unfortunately I don't believe we have evolved that much. Think about this in the grand scheme of time, this event was only yesterday. They have made minor concessions for the Natives in this country. How dysfunctional could a school be if only .02% is your graduating success story?? Government hard at work as usual. This blog isn't about the government but it really is about the government. What kind of civilized human beings would do such a horrific act as this and then 100 years later preach to us about diversity and tolerance while oppressing the natives still?? Unbelievable!!
ReplyDeleteIn reading, viewing and then digesting the writings and videos, I question whether the goal of the Carlisle school was education. When the initial statements are to rid the Indians of the Culture. Additionally when you look at Statistical information who is that furnished for? In seeing some of the Native people involved in the Indian Action Movements that had provided representation they were educated to properly acknowledge the rights and wrongs within the system, and also through their "knowledge gained" were better able to promote/assist their cause. I think to a point the statiscal information may have been skewed to promote the US agenda at the time. I don’t believe that the US Government really had the interests of the Indian Nations success as the priority.
ReplyDelete