"American Experience" In the White Man's Image Soundtrack (1992)

Synopsis

In 1875, Captain Richard Pratt ordered 72 Indian warriors suspected who had fought white colonists to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Once there, Pratt began an experiment which involved teaching Indians to read and write, making them learn English and forcing them to be Christians, barring Native languages and religions, and putting even children as young as five in uniforms and drilling them like soldiers. "Kill the Indian and the save the man," was Pratt's brutal motto. A film about cultural genocide that Richard Pratt began to forcibly assimilate Native Americans into white culture with the creation of the Carlilse School for Indians in 1879. Pratt's school, and others like it, claimed noble intentions. The death toll was high from physical abuse and disease. Similar efforts in Australis and Canada are considered genocide, leading to investigations and official government apologies. These forced assimilation efforts lasted well into the 1930s, when they were abandoned as destructive and worsening poverty, unemployment, and suicide rates.

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