The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was founded in 1879. Before it was closed in 1918 ten thousand American Indian children were sent there to be shorn of their native identity, to be “civilized.” The great experiment was a great failure. Less than one tenth of the students graduated, many more died at the school, traumatized by disease, loneliness, and despair. Those who returned to their homes or who were dispersed into the dominant society were unable to live wholly in either world; they were dislocated in their minds and hearts.
