In 1918 the Carlisle Indian Industrial School shut its doors permanently. What remains of this experiment started by Richard Henry Pratt are not just buildings, but ghosts and scars that refuse to be forgotten. The structures that once constituted this exploratory school now stand where the Carlisle Army Barracks are situated today, and while it may seem as if the only observable aspects to remind us of the past are tombstones and markers, the stories still swirl in this town that became flooded with the desire to assimilate Native Americans. Pratt believed Indians possessed the ability to become a complimentary asset to American society if they received the proper education. He insisted that it was necessary to remove the Indians from the confines of the reservation in order to separate them from their culture and traditions, and transplant them to a setting that encouraged the Native Americans to learn the English language, to work for a living, as well as become useful members of society.
Carlisle developed into an appropriate location for Pratt’s experiment due to the
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These students attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School with the hope of suppressing their culture in order to adopt a more refined way of life. Pratt envisioned the students as ambassadors for his school, and anticipated that they would spread their newly acquired knowledge to others when they returned home. As Ruggles narrative illustrates, a conflicting set of cultural norms does not mean that Native American characteristics are erroneous. The legitimatization of this thought process served to convert the Native Americans into the villain while it pronounced the administrators and community members as