In this short comparative analysis activity, students will compare and contrast two images of Native American children taken at the Carlisle Indian School: one from when they initially arrived and one from several months later. Students will explore these images to discuss the changes and purpose of Indian boarding schools.
Suggested Teaching Instructions
This activity is intended as a warm-up or introduction to a unit related to policies towards Native Americans in the late 19th century. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 15-20 minutes.
Present the activity to the entire class. Prompt students to carefully examine the two photographs. Remind them to use the arrows and magnifying glass icons in the blue bar at the bottom of each document to take a closer look, but not to click "View Entire Document" during initial analysis, which would reveal the title and caption for the image.
Direct students to the first photograph (children at the Carlisle Indian School taken
several months after their arrival). Model careful analysis. Instruct them to the answer the analysis questions below:
Meet the photo.
Quickly scan the photo. What do you notice first?
Observe its parts.
List the people, objects and activities you see.
Write one sentence summarizing this photo.
Try to make sense of it.
Why do you think this photo was taken?
Direct students to the second photograph (children upon arrival at Carlisle Indian School, taken months earlier). Ask students to answer the same questions for this photo.
Next instruct students to compare and contrast the photographs. Ask them what major differences are apparent. During this discussion, ask students how these two images may be directly related to each other. If students hypothesize that they depict the same children, ask them to provide evidence that supports that view.
Ask students to guess how much time had passed between the photographs (four months). Then direct them to click on "When You're Done."
They will be instructed to click on "View Entire Document" for each photograph, where they will learn that the children depicted were Chiracahua Apache students 1) after training at the Carlisle Indian School, and 2) upon their arrival.
Students should respond to the following:
- How do the photograph titles change your analysis of them?
- What do these two photos tell you about the Carlisle Indian School?
You can provide the following additional information about these photographs:
These Chiracahua Apache students were photographed at the Carlisle Indian School, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, upon their
arrival in 1886 and then again four months later. At Carlisle and other schools, Native American students were required to abandon traditional ways and learn a trade. Richard Henry Pratt, a former Army officer, founded this military-style school in 1879 to train American Indians to become leaders upon returning to their reservations.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, known as the Office of Indian Affairs until 1947, ran schools like Carlisle both on and off Indian reservations. The schools were part of the Federal Government's attempt to "Americanize" Native children through assimilation. Scholars have repeatedly cited Indian school policies and practices as playing a critical role in the systematic decimation of traditional cultures and languages.
