Attempts to 'Civilize' American Indian Children
Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2001

CARLISLE, Pa. -- With its neatly trimmed lawn and plain, white gravestones, the small, well-kept cemetery near the rear gate of the U.S. Army War College at the Carlisle Barracks looks at first like many other Army cemeteries.

But a braid of sweetgrass here and a beaded hair clip there identify the site not as a soldiers' graveyard, but as the final resting place for more than 100 American Indian children who died far from home.

From 1879-1918, the Carlisle Barracks was home to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the model for a nationwide system of government-run Indian boarding schools intended to "civilize" American Indian children by teaching them farming and trades while squelching their language and traditions. More > http://www.sltrib.com/07292001/travel/116859.htm 

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