Professor J.A. Lippincott
The Relationship between Pratt and Lippincott
By Anna Lovett Class of 2010
Captain Pratt established Carlisle Indian School with a clear plan in mind. To solve the Indian problem, the Indians had to be educated in the white man’s way at boarding schools away from the influence of the reservations. Pratt transformed the image of the students from savage Indians to civilized Americans by trading their Indians clothes for uniforms and cutting their long hair into the style of the white man. Just as Pratt rapidly changed their appearance, he sought to rapidly change their entire culture and way of life to assimilate them into white civilization. All skills useful to the Plains Indians were replaced by vocational skills like carpentry or printing. Students were not permitted to speak their native tongue, only being allowed to speak in English. In addition, Pratt also stressed the need for Christianity to fully integrate the Indians into civilized society.
When Pratt arrived in Carlisle in 1879, Dickinson College promptly offered support, and a friendship was soon established between the two institutions. One of the first relationships Pratt established was with Joshua Allen Lippincott, professor of mathematics and astronomy at Dickinson College. As chaplain for the initial years of the school, Lippincott was one of the first Dickinsonians to help establish a strong Christian influence at the Carlisle Indian School. Every Sunday, the Indian students would attend morning service at a local church they belonged to. Afternoon services would then be conducted by Lippincott at the Carlisle Indian School. The fact that the Indian School’s Sunday schedule replicated Dickinson’s was not a coincidence. The use of Dickinson as a model for religious practices was most likely suggested by Lippincott to Pratt. As chaplain to the Indian School, Lippincott also performed other religious duties such as funerals. In March 1883, The Morning Star reported Lippincott conducting the funeral of William Snake, the nephew of Standing Bear. Lippincott’s service to the Carlisle Indian School was greatly appreciated by Pratt who remarked that he was “indebted [to Rev. Dr. Lippincott] for [his] faithful and zealous services as a chaplain.”(1)
Lippincott believed in the importance of Christianity in integrating Carlisle Indian School students into society. Lippincott once remarked on the importance of religion saying, “[t]he maximum of conscious power in the process of character forming, is reached when the soul is moved by highest activity by conscious religious experience. Religion is one of the most potent of all influence that away the hearts of men...love toward God, and good will to men…are enforced under the most solemn sanctions to make this transforming power, and to seek it with all assiduity is of the highest wisdom. Therefore seek wisdom, get understanding.”(2) Lippincott probably conveyed a similar message to the Indian students, seeing conversion, or a higher understanding of Christianity, as an important measure in understanding the white man’s way.
In addition to Lippincott’s regular visits to the Indian School, his interest in the issues of Indian education was the basis for the special relationship existed between the students at Carlisle Indian School and Professor Lippincott. Ellwood Dorian, an Indian student, wrote a letter home describing Lippincott as “a very good man; [who] comes out every Sunday and talks to us about the Bible, and we all like him because he is very kind to us.”(3) Ellwood refers to a sermon when Lippincott explains the significance of the New Year and its relations to the season, showing Lippincott’s interest in the education of the students beyond Christianity. Evidence of Lippincott’s belief in Pratt’s system and care for the welfare of the students was also shown when he traveled to the Midwest in September, 1882 to help recruit students for CIS. In his report to Pratt, Lippincott recounts conversations with Indian leaders who were being taken advantage of because of the absence of definite and clear titles to their land. Lippincott sympathized with them remarking “that the chief employment of the Indian in the initial stages of his civilization must be grazing and agriculture, and no people can be expected to improve land that may be taken from them at any time by a mere caprice of an officer of the government.”(4) The necessity for Pratt’s program of vocational training and education was Lippincott’s point of persuasion resulting in Lippincott’s return to Carlisle with fifty-one Indian children.
Naturally, the importance of education to Lippincott extended beyond Indian education. As expressed in a letter to Governor Robinson of Kansas, Lippincott explained that the University of Kansas produces “men and woman whose influence shall be more sturdily wielded, more deftly directed to the accomplishment of the better ends of a nobler citizenship because of the privileges here enjoyed”(5) Parallels to the Indian education can be derived from this comment. Although the education at Carlisle Indian School was not as advanced as the education at either the University of Kansas or Dickinson College, this letter clearly states Lippincott’s belief in education as a means for success. Through education, citizenship is established, and through citizenship, the Indian would be able to find a place in society.
In 1883, Lippincott was elected Chancellor of the University of Kansas. Leaving Carlisle, now home to the firmly establish Carlisle Indian School, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where another Indian school was being formed. The Haskell Institute was established in 1884 to provide education for Indian students. Although Haskell followed many of the methods of Carlisle, its location was contrary to a primary philosophy of the Carlisle Indian School. To effectively integrate Indians, they had to be removed entirely from the vicinity of reservations.” Whether Lippincott continued his involvement in Indian education in the Midwest is uncertain, however Lippincott did continue his relationship with Pratt. The Red Man continued to publish news about Lippincott long after he left Carlisle. Most of those articles were updates on Lippincott and his career. One article from the August edition of The Red Man in 1892 happily announced Lippincott’s return from Kansas to take up the pastorate of the Arch Street Methodist Church of Philadelphia. Nearly ten years after his departure from Carlisle, Lippincott was still known to Carlisle Indian School.
Upon his return to Pennsylvania, Lippincott’s relationship with Pratt and the Carlisle Indian School continued. In March 1898, Lippincott gave the commencement speech at Carlisle Indian School. Encouraging the graduates to not return to a life on the reservation, Lippincott urged the students to continue living among white civilization. He articulated, “You are not to be Indians anymore! The Indian is DEAD in you. Someone says that the only good Indian is a Dead Indian! Be men and women, but not Indians! Let all that is INDIAN within you die! Then you will be men and women, freemen, American citizens.” Pratt commented on this speech saying, “I have never fired a bigger shot, and never hit the bull’s eye more centre.”(6) This speech was probably the inspiration for Pratt’s best known phrase, “Kill the Indian to save the man." Pratt and Lippincott believed that for an Indian to be completely integrated into American society, their Indian culture had to be completely erased. Pratt has been criticized by many who read this phrase and see the blatant racial slur instead of looking at the context of the quote. The same can be applied to Lippincott’s speech. Although the eradication of the Indian culture in the Carlisle students is often viewed negatively, Pratt and many of his contemporaries believed that is was the only way for Indians to be successfully integrated. Whether Pratt’s solution to the Indian problem was successful or not is debatable. However, it is certain that Pratt and his supporters, like Lippincott, only acted with the best intentions for Indians.
Through his friendship with Pratt, Lippincott established a unique relationship between the two institutes. The atmosphere of Christian missionary on Dickinson campus first took root with Lippincott’s weekly visits to the Indian School. A liberal arts philosophy of education and citizenship can also be applied to Pratt’s goals for the Carlisle Indian School. As The Red Man in March 1889 quoted the NY Daily Sentinel, “[t]he way to civilize the Indian is to begin with the rising generation and work up.”(7) Lippincott and Pratt believed that education was the key to civilizing the rising generation. Two pillars of Dickinson College and Carlisle Indian School, religion and education, were united and strengthened through the dedication of professors like Lippincott.
Endnotes:
1“Sabbath School,” The Morning Star 3, no. 3 (October 1882): 3.
2 Quoted in “Commencement,” Topeka Weekly Capital 11, no. 23 (June 13, 1889): 6.
3Ellwood Dorian, “Monthly Home Letters,” Eadle Keatah Toh 2, no. 7 (February 1882): 5.
4“Dr. Lippincott’s Report,” The Morning Star 3, no. 2 (September 1882): 1.
5Lippincott, Joshua Allen, to Charles Robinson, 2 June 1888, Charles and Sara T. Robinson Collection, manuscript division, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS.
6“Dr. Lippincott.” The Red Man 14, no. 10 (March 1898): 6.
7Quoted in “Recent Comments on Indian Matters From Out Leading Papers,” The Red Man 9, no. 4 (March 1889): 6.
