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<\/a>The Carlisle students served as an example to the American public of the “civilized” American Indian. (\u201cSnatches from Comments of Various Prominent Papers on the Visit of the Carlisle School to the World\u2019s Fair in October\u201d in Ely Samuel Parker Scrapbooks, Vol 12, edited by Ely Samuel Parker. Accessed February 15, 2018.)<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Ely Samuel Parker, collector of articles in the scrapbook (War Department, Office of the Chief Signal Caller. Col. Ely S. Parker, 1860-1865, National Archives at College Park)<\/p><\/div>\n
Ely Samuel Parker, a Seneca-born American Indian and Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Grant,1<\/sup><\/a> included in his scrapbook collection quotes on the Carlisle School\u2019s visit and performance at the World Fair. The Carlisle School, located in Pennsylvania, was a boarding school dedicated to erasing any semblance of Native American culture: language, clothing, hairstyle, and behavior, by taking young Native Americans away from their homes and families on the reservation. As the school\u2019s founder, General Richard Pratt, famously said, the school sought to \u201ckill the Indian, save the man\u201d.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n The arrival of the students, as noted in Parker\u2019s newspaper clippings, served as a stark contrast to the Native Americans in the Midway Plaisance. While in class, we discussed how the World\u2019s Fair gave Native Americans in the Midway Plaisance more of an opportunity to present their culture, music, and dance from their own perspective, the Carlisle students demonstrate how the dominant American culture tried to stamp out Native American culture and treat it as \u201cOther\u201d.\u00a0The newspaper clippings in Parker\u2019s scrapbook serve as an example of how Americans believed that Native Americans could be civilized. They celebrate what they believed to be accomplished civilization. The article notes that the Carlisle School band of 32 instruments and choir, dressed in uniform, closed their performance with the playing of the American National Anthem at the time, \u201cAmerica\u201d or \u201cMy Country Tis of Thee\u201d.Leaving behind the drums and shakers as heard in the Native American music in class, the students picked up trumpets and trombones.Newspapers celebrated what they deemed a triumphant display of American Indian civilization. A passage from the Dubois, Pennsylvania Courier <\/em>noted, \u201cThat it will be of use in showing us\u2026that they are not outside the pale of civilizing influence, is also certain\u201d.1<\/sup><\/p>\n Members of the Carlisle School band in their uniforms. The school’s band served to erase Native American musical traditions and force the American\/European musical tradition as a way of assimilating young Native Americans into the dominant American society (Choate, John N. “Carlisle School Band Members 1879”, 1879. National Anthropological Archive. Smithsonian Institution, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.).<\/p><\/div>\n Although some musicians tried to preserve or appropriate Native American music in the late 20th<\/sup> century, the Carlisle School\u2019s performance at the World Fair demonstrates the dominant culture\u2019s determination to stamp out what they considered the \u201csavagery\u201d of Native American culture, including music.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n King, C. Richard, \u201cIndian Education\u201d in Encyclopedia of American Studies, <\/em>edited by Simon J. Bronner, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017, eas-ref.press.jhu.edu\/view?aid=325<\/p>\n \u201cSnatches from Comments of Various Prominent Papers on the Visit of the Carlisle School to the World\u2019s Fair in October\u201d in Ely Samuel Parker Scrapbooks, Vol 12, edited by Ely Samuel Parker. Accessed February 15, 2018,<\/p>\n The World\u2019s Columbian Exhibition, better known as the Chicago World Fair, in 1893 is often lauded as a premier exhibit of innovation and culture. However, the fair presented a stark contrast between what exhibition organizers deemed the civilized white culture … Continue reading