Incredible 140-year-old pics show Native American Indian families before and after they were forced into school and banned from wearing traditional clothes
Backed by the US federal government, the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania wrenched children from their families and banned them from speaking their own language
FASCINATING portrait showing Native Americans before and after being forcibly assimilated into American culture have emerged.
The photos show young men and women in traditional clothing next to comparison snaps taken just three years later showing them in smart suits and dresses with western-style haircuts.
The images were taken at Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, US, which focused on rapid assimilation of Native Americans to western culture
Founded in 1879 by Captain Henry Pratt under the authority of the US federal government, Carlisle was a boarding school where Pratt infamously attempted to "Kill the Indian: Save the Man" through any means necessary.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 Native American children attended Carlisle between 1879 and 1918.
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Students were forbidden from speaking their own language, their hair was cut and they had to be dressed in suits, ties and corseted dresses.
They often didn’t go home for years and were taught trades, such as baking and blacksmithing, designed to give them a foothold in the white world after graduation.
Photographer John Choate took pictures of scores of Carlisle students before and after they went to the school – to demonstrate the transformation they underwent there.
Choate would often take these portraits at his studio and have Western props and costumes on-hand for the ‘after’ photo.
In another astonishing set of images, three Sioux Indian boys are pictured in traditional dress arriving at Carlisle in 1883.
Three years later, Choate shows them in their ‘after’ photo with their hair cut short and wearing cadet uniforms.
Experts believe Choate manipulated the lighting to make the students appear fairer in their later photos.
He wanted to show that through the assimilation programme at Carlisle school, Native Americans could blend in with white society.
According to Pratt, the goal of assimilation was to be accomplished by immersing Native American children in mainstream white culture at the school and teach them English, new skills, and customs.
Since the 1970s, Native American nations have taken back control of the education of their children and started their own schools and colleges.
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