Captain Richard Henry Pratt (1840-1924) was a U.S. military officer who founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1879. This institution became the flagship model for Native American boarding schools in the United States, operating until 1918. Born in Rushford, New York, Pratt enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment at the outbreak of the American Civil War. He served in various cavalry regiments and participated in the Indian Wars on the Great Plains. Pratt’s experience supervising Native American prisoners of war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, played a pivotal role in shaping his views on Native American assimilation. During this period, he began to believe that education was key to integrating Native Americans into white American society. This belief led him to develop a unique approach to education, which he would later implement at Carlisle.
In 1879, Pratt established the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at the historic Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania. The school’s mission was to assimilate Native American children by removing them from their homes, families, communities, and culture. Pratt’s educational philosophy was encapsulated in his infamous motto: “Kill the Indian, save the man.” His curriculum focused on English language immersion, Christian religious practices, industrial and domestic skills training, and cultural assimilation through European-American-style clothing and customs.
While Pratt believed Native Americans were equal to European Americans, his methods of forced assimilation have been heavily criticized. The Carlisle school became a template for similar institutions across the United States, contributing to the loss of Native American languages, cultures, and traditions. In recent years, there has been increased scrutiny of the boarding school system’s impact on Native American communities. In June 2021, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland launched a federal investigation into boarding schools such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Despite the controversial nature of his work, Pratt is also associated with the first recorded use of the word “racism,” which he used in 1902 to criticize racial segregation in the United States. This highlights the complex and often contradictory aspects of Pratt’s legacy, as he both advocated for assimilation and critiqued racial discrimination. Today, his legacy serves as a reminder of the complex and often fraught history of Native American education and assimilation policies in the United States.