Perceptions/Attitudes Towards Native Americans in Carlisle

2nd Proposal

Focus

The focus of my research will largely be cenetered around the public perception of Native Americans in Carlisle, the impact (if any) that the US declaration concerning indigenous peoples had on Carlisle, and any events that occured in 1876 that eventually led to the formation of the Carlisle Indian School. I plan to give an in depth look into the Native American related events published in the newspapers printed in Carlisle in 1876, giving special attention to editorials and to letters to the editor in order to get a sense of public sentiment. I will use this as a starting point in hopes of explaining Captain Richard Henry Pratt’s motivations behind founding the school three years later and how the citizens of Carlisle felt about the school.

Significance

This research is significant in several ways. The school represented an attempt in assimilating Native American children into the culture of the United States. However, only three years before its inception, the official stance of the United States government couldn’t be more different. The policy of the United States was to isolate Native Americans by forcing them onto reservations, and all those who refused were considered enemies of the state. I feel that this disconnect between policies has not been fully explained, especially in Carlisle. Furthermore, the Indian school, itself, is increidbly significant to the town of Carlisle - and is seen as one of the first national attempts in assimilating Native Americans. I feel as though my research will paint a picture of town sentiments towards Native Americans and the reactions to the violence out west in 1876 and the years just before the foundation of the Indian school, which will help fill in a small, but significant, transitional gap in Carlisle history.

Context

1876 is an extremely significant year in American history for many reasons. The nation celebrated its centennial in Philadelphia and elsewhere and a long, heated presidential race was held. However, 1876 was especially significant nationwide in regards to Native American/US relations. First, the government ordered all indigeneous peoples on to reservations on January 31 of that years, esentially declaring war on Native Americans refusing to surrender to US control. That summer, the Indian Wars out west make national headlines - including the Battle of Rosebud on June 17 and the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25. Battles also continued into October and November. While Pennsylvania remained on the outside of the controversy out west, Pennsylvania newspapers brought the stories of Custer last stand any many others to the doorsteps of Carlilse residents. Patriotism, anger, frustration, sympathy, and a whole range of emotions and reactions were very real in a town that was thousands of miles away from the action. However, a little part of these very serious events were brought to Carlisle not too long after the violence in the form of the Carlisle Indian School - when hundreds of Native American children were brought to the small Pennsylvania town. I think it is very important to understand the evolution of the public attitudes towards having hundreds of Native Americans brought to the town after months and months of hearing about conflicts with various Native American tribes. There are also a couple of other questions that I believe are interesting - Why Carlisle? Was Carlisle more sympathetic to Native American assimilation than other towns within Pennsylvania? or the East Coast for the matter? and how was Pratt able to convince the town to institute this fairly radical attempt of assimilation? I believe that through researching the newspapers of 1876 and just after I should be able to piece together a general context of the town of Carlisle that will help explain the events and attitudes in the years that just preceded the formation of the school - in turn, answering many of these questions.

Methodology

So far I have found a little more than half a dozen articles from the Carlisle Herald from 1876 that discuss Native Americans and the conflict out west. What I have found so far, is that the “Native American problem” was not really talked about until the battle of Little Bighorn. The death of Gernal Custer seems to have been a very significant moment at that time. Articles were extremely patriotic and referred to Custer and his soldeirs as “brave” and describe them as heros. These articles also suggest that the Sioux and the other tribes federal soldiers were fighting were “savages” and portray these indigenous tribes as extremely primitive, almost like animals. However, the articles and editorials published in the Carlisle Herald later that fall suggest a growing frustration and more educated view towards Native Americans in general. A few of the articles aknowledge the presence of several “friendly” tribes out west and criticise the lack of an effective federal policy towards Native Americans. One article suggsts that the United States government should embrace a more peaceful approach to Native American assimilation, similar to the policy enforced by the Canadian Government in 1876. It appears, based on these articles that Sitting Bull and the Sioux were largely villified, as oppossed to Native Americans in general by the fall of 1876.

I am by no means done with my research and I plan on looking at much more microfilm, in addition to looking at documents in the Cumberland County Hisotrical Society and the Carlisle Archives, however this seems to be a logical starting point and enough information to give me reason to believe that there will be enough valuable information on my topic to stick with it. I plan on looking at Dickinsonian articles or any type of UPS debates/literature that may have been written about the Native American wars/perception of Native Americans and also any other materials that may be recommended to me by the Cumberland County archivists. I believe that the majority of my research will be from newspaper articles/editorials on microfilm, but I am sure there are some other primary sources that will prove to be valuable. It will be difficult to find these sources, seeing how I will have to dig through a lot of material that has absolutely nothing to do with my topic, but I think I will be alright.

Timeline

I believe I will have the majority of my research done by the end of this week - early next week at the latest. At that point, I will focus the majority of my time on finishing my wiki, writing an outline, and doing a rough draft of the paper - which should be ready by the end of the following week. Then the finial draft should be done the beginning of the week after.