Chicago World's Columbian Exposition

White man's schooling of the Native Americans helped cause the disintegration of the beliefs, customs and ways of life of the natives residents of "Turtle Island". One of the sources that helped their culture vanish, not completely, were the Native American boarding schools. The boarding schools put the Native Americans through so much pain,

Pratt then turned his attention to native children. He saw the example of the Hampton Institute for Negroes, which taught children industrial skills. He concluded that to transform natives, one had to start with the children. In 1879, the government consented to Pratt’s request. He went to Dakota Territory to find students for his new Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Pratt determined the only way to change them was "assimilation through total immersion." The school was established in an abandoned army post. The children wore military uniforms and cut their hair. In the first few years, the children suffered epidemics of cholera, influenza, and tuberculosis. As a result, they made a cemetery on the school.

The Chicago World Fair was an extraordinary attraction during the contrasting Gilded Age as innovations were constantly forming and shifting the world into a new age of technology. Celebrating Columbus's discovery of America, millions of people and many familiar faces such as Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Thomas Edison and etc., came together in the “White City” to witness a dream-like fantasy. Furthermore, the fair was an impactful influence that was formed by the architect, Daniel Burnham, and created a proud unification within the country. However, the fair was also the making of one of the first serial killers in America, H.H Holmes. Holmes trapped people inside his “hotel” and committed murder to an estimated count of 200 people. The unimaginable

A World’s Fair is an “[I]nternational exposition that features exhibits dealing with commerce, industry, and science.” (World Book Encyclopedia 412) Entertainment is also present along with cultural activities. In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, although inaugurated a year late, commemorated the discovery of America. I feel that the Exposition displayed some of the more beautiful architecture of its time; its immense buildings and sculptures drew heavily from Greek and other classical styles, and it could possible be because of the sweeping popularity in Beaux Arts architecture.

Since there was always a strong bond between children, parents, and other members of the tribe, the “loss of the children to school was… like a death in the family and community” (Devens 288). Because this bond was severed at a young age, children had to grow up without the love and guidance of their tribe and instead with the harsh punishments that teachers gave out when the children did not follow instructions. Not only were children torn apart from their tribal community, but when they graduated from their respective boarding schools and returned home, there was a language barrier between their tribe and themselves, leaving children unable to communicate with their families. Since boarding schools were taught in English, there would be punishment if any teacher found a student speaking their native language. There was an emphasis of not speaking their native language at school and instead learning English, American Indian children pushed their native language to the back of their mind and eventually they were unable to speak it at all. These dramatic effects of boarding schools impacted the American Indian community greatly, much more than the land allotments, as family and tribe values and the education of their children were more important to them than the land allotments. American Indian children

In the late 1800s, Captain Richard Henry Pratt set out to “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”(A Plea to “Citizenize” Indians). The goal to erase Indian cultures and replace it with white American culture was sought to be achieved through boarding schools. Pratt was the creator of the first Indian boarding school: Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. These government-funded boarding schools would take children from their homes on reservation, often for them to not see their family again until they are grown(lecture). Pratt’s goal was to eliminate the Indian culture and incorporate the Indian people into the more “civilized”(Marr) American culture. This meant forcing the Indian students to speak only English and to give up all cultural traditions, religions, names and take up Christianity and American sounding names. Students were put into these boarding schools with little or no contact with their families for “eight to nine months of the year” (Marr). These schools operated with minimal funds, so the education was very insufficient. It was clear from the beginning; the actual goal was not to give quality education for the Native American children but to get rid of the Indian culture.

The Native American children were educated at Carlisle in order to make a “better” transition into society for post-bellum America. Carlisle was located in Pennsylvania and was a reform school for Native American children. “Carlisle fills young Indians with the spirit of loyalty to the stars and stripes, and moves them out into your communities to show by their conduct and ability that the Indian is no different from the white or colored, that he has the inalienable right to liberty and opportunity that the white and the negro have (Paul Prucha 68).” The Native Americans didn’t have the liberty to live on their land as they were before the whites arrived; “By 1979, my people were no longer free, but were confined on reservations under the rule of agents (Standing Bear 69-71).” The Native American children such as Luther Standing Bear were taken from their families, land, and tradition to be reformed into a civilized American. Luther Standing Bear recalls his time at Carlisle; “The task before us was not only that of accepting new ideas and adopting new manners, but physical changes and discomfort had to be borne un complainingly until the body adjusted itself to new tastes and habits (Standing Bear 69-71).” The Native American children’s names, attire, religion, and diet were changed to that of the white Americans. “…the change in clothing, housing, food, and confinement combined with lonesomeness was too much, and in three years nearly one half of the children from the Plains were dead… (Standing Bear

Given the nickname the "White City" because of its elegant and pristine buildings, the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 was one of the most powerful events in American history. There were long lasting impacts on American culture, economy, and technology- the fair brought new advancements in virtually every aspect of daily life. It was held “to commemorate Columbus’s discovery of the New World” (Larson 15). The fair was a symbol of the expertise America possessed, but simultaneously highlighted the hardships that surrounded it. The fair increased wages, marketed more products for public use, and produced architectural feats that challenged the ones that stood at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. There was much more to the fair behind the showstopping displays that it created. Behind the exotic Algerian belly dancers and astonishing replicas of famous cities, the corporate world was establishing its dominance. Labor unions struggled to fight for fair wages and working time. Although disturbances and disagreements in the construction of the fair foreshadowed a negative ending, breakthroughs such as white lead paint and the Ferris Wheel attracted many visitors. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 is a vivid exhibit of the independent cultural, economical, and technological superpower that America would grow to become in the future.

This was a very important report because prior to it, Native American children were being sent to boarding schools were their heritage was frowned upon. “Recommendations included building day schools in Native American communities and the reform of boarding schools for Native American children.” (Parkay, F. 2001) This report was considered a landmark one because of the issues it highlighted of the educational issues plaguing the Native American community at the

In the closing years of the 19th century, The United States of America stood before the world as a divided nation in the ruins of a deadly civil war. After years of tragedy and hardship, it was time for the states to turn a new leaf and start a new chapter of prosperity. To accomplish such, America’s greatest minds were assembled to construct a fair so magnificent, it would not only usher in a new age of American civilization. but establish the foundation of the urban world. The finished project became known as the White City. This venue for the World’s Columbian Exposition left a multitude of positive and negative impacts on the social, political and economic scale. Socially, this event introduced the foundation of the modern American living and lifestyles. Politically, the 1893 Columbian Exposition put The United States on the map. While economically, the Fair had succeeded at the cost of cultivating a new rise in crime and fraudulent activity. Although it barely turned a profit, finance was one of many factors in determining whether the Fair truly was the transitional event sparking the rise of a global superpower. In summary, the 1893 Columbian Exposition to a significant extent was a watershed event in US history providing a blueprint for a global superpower entering the 20th century.

The Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA became the first boarding school for Native American children in 1879. Here deculturalization methods were employed. From this methodology and perspective, the patronizing term cultural deprivation has come to imply that a group is without culture altogether (Nieto and Bode, 2008, p. 176). One of the perceived deficiencies of Native Americans was their propensity to share which caused the European Americans to label them as socialists which was anathema to the dominant group’s philosophy. Richard Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle School, sought to instill individualism and self responsibility in order to break Indians from a socialist style of sharing.

The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 was one of the most memorable and historical moments in American history other than the Civil War. However, some people do not know what went on during the fair. They only think that people came together and the Ferris wheel that was there, now in Navy Pier, debut there. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893 may be a memorable event. But the majority of Americans don't know how extraordinary it was.

Richard Henry Pratt was born in 1840 in Rushford, New York. And at the age of 20, Pratt joined the Union Army and served in the American Civil War. Being accustomed to the military lifestyle and becoming a commander in Fort Arbuckle working with the black and Indian troops, he assumed that the American Natives needed to learn how to live in a white man’s world. With that being said, he believed that with educating the natives they would learn to fit in the Anglo world. He was known for the phrase “Kill the Indian, save the man”. He practically wanted to tech the Indians a different way of living, by removing them from their reservations and taking them far away from their roots, so they were able to forget the native life style.

As the city of Chicago prepped for the 1893 World’s Fair Columbian Exposition, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World, people all over the world brought artifacts to the city. To keep these artifacts in the city long after the Exposition ended, Edward Ayer and Marshall Field established the Columbian Museum. Built using Field’s money, Columbian Museum would go on to house world artifacts as well as function as a research institution. As time passed, the museum eventually changed names to the Field Museum of Natural History and moved buildings to its much larger current location on Museum Campus. Today, the Field Museum continues to be an innovating research institution and stable of the Chicagoland community.

After reading Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools by Ward Churchill, I have come to realization of some matters. First of all, while your goal might had been to civilize the Indians by teaching them English, manners, and change their whole appearance, the outcome was totally different. Your goal might have been successful to you, in the end you got what you wanted: to kill the Indian and Save the Man. But also, you stole those kid’s identities by taking them away from their families. You traumatized them, and making them go through so many forms of abuse. “Kill the Indian, save the men” or like U.S. Indian Commissioner William A. Jones said in 1903, the goal was to “exterminate the