It was the late 19th century. The Civil War had ended more than a decade ago. Reconstruction was coming to an end across the South. The battles between the U.S. Army and Native Americans, which overlapped the Civil War and spanned decades, were coming to an end. And American government leaders were looking for ways to integrate Native Americans into the white man’s way of life.
They created a system of boarding schools forcing Native American children to leave behind their Indian language and traditions.
American military leader Richard Henry Pratt was considered progressive for his time because he believed Native Americans were as capable as the white race, if given equal opportunity. It was that premise that led him to create The Carlisle Industrial School in 1879. The mission of the school: “Kill the Indian” and “Save the Man.”
Carlisle offered a sub-par education and trained its students to perform low-level jobs. While there, about 200 children died – perhaps from the combination of a brutal lifestyle and exposure to European diseases for which they had little to no immunity. Their isolation from their families and communities, as we understand today, made them even more vulnerable to disease.
A cemetery holding the remains of students is still on the campus of what is now the U.S. Army War College. But some Indian tribal officials say they can’t fully heal from this intergenerational trauma until they bring their loved ones home.
Filmmaker Geoff O’Gara wrote, directed, and co-produced the documentary, Home From School: The Children of Carlisle, and he joins us from West Virginia Public Broadcasting in Charleston.
Home From School: The Children of Carlisle is part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers and it screens 7:30 PM, February 24, 2023 at Jengo’s Playhouse.
