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1892 STUDENT BODY, CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL

In this photo of Carlisle Indian School students, taken 13 years after the school opened, the stiff poses and strained expressions of the children reflect the regimented, paramilitary atmosphere. The short haircuts and uniforms for the boys and the girls' black dresses are a radical transformation from the traditional garb they wore before arriving at the school. The picture shows just how young most of the school's students were. Indian children were raised at Carlisle without seeing their families for years at a time. Carlisle's head, Richard Henry Pratt, believed that civilizing his charges could be achieved by "immersing the Indians in our civilization and, when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked."

carlisle indian students
 
CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

A Moira Productions Film in association with Datline Productions, © 2008, Lillian Lincoln Foundation