In the April 16, 1894, edition of The New York Times, an article chronicled the journey of American Indian students from the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania to New York City.

Seventy students descended upon the city, according to the paper: “Among the Oneida Indians was Josiah Archiquette, who claimed to be descended from the ‡ Gen. Archiquette who was on Lafayette’s staff.”

The article regales its readers with the sights and sounds the students found in Central Park, the Bowery and window shopping along the street. On their last day in the city, the school’s band and glee club performed at Plymouth Church the night before they boarded the Pennsylvania railroad back to Carlisle.

The 115-year-old story may be dated in its tone and descriptions, but the memory of the Carlisle School, and other boarding era schools, is very much alive in Indian Country.

Many Oneida have firsthand knowledge of the schools, while others, like the kids at the Early Learning Center who are interested in the subject, have read Sweetgrass Basket, a novel about two sisters attending a boarding school in the 1920s and 1930s.

With the help of Kandice Watson (Wolf Clan), education and cultural outreach director for the Nation, Marlene Carvell, author of the book, visited the ELC. (Kandice was a student of Marlene’s at Cazenovia College.)

The protagonists in the novel are both based upon the author’s husband’s aunt, Margaret, who was sent away to boarding school at 13 and never returned home until she was 20.

“When I asked Aunt Margaret what they did for fun, she said they would hide in their rooms so they could speak Mohawk,” said Marlene, explaining to the four girls in the book club that the children in the boarding schools were forbidden to speak their own language.

“Pratt [the superintendent of the Carlisle School] wanted to make the Indians white, and then there would be no more ‘Indian problem.’ His motto was ‘Kill the Indian, save the man.’ He meant it culturally.

What the school did was take away the Indians’ history and culture.”

Kandice, who wrote her master’s thesis on Indian boarding schools, elaborated on Marlene’s narrative, telling the children: “Indian people used to live a communal existence, everyone shared. The boarding schools wanted to make them think as individuals. The first thing they did at school was to take their regalia away and put them in a uniform.

“My mom was at a boarding school; so it wasn’t so long ago. There are still a lot of people alive who went to boarding schools. My mom was 9 when she went and didn’t leave until she was 16. She went with her sister and brother to the Thomas Indian School.”

Life in the schools involved morning classes and afternoon work. In the summer, the children were sent away to work in other people’s homes.

During the discussion, Aliyah Frederick (Turtle Clan) responded to a question Marlene asked about bravery in the book. “Bravery was when her sister runs away, and I think she was brave to run away [from the school].”

Insightful words from an 8-year-old.

‡ The Gen. Archiquette referenced from the Revolutionary War most likely was Peter Otsiquette, whose name underwent several metamorphoses. He was a young Oneida man whom the Marquis de Lafayette invited to accompany him back to his native France after the Revolutionary War. A French speaker, Peter Otsiquette, was possibly of the Wolf Clan.

Peter stayed as the Marquis’ guest in France for three years, returning to his Oneida home in 1788. Upon returning to his nation, Peter married an Oneida woman and had two children. Peter’s life was cut short, however. In 1792, he died while on a diplomatic mission to Philadelphia. One historical source suggests that an estimated 10,000 people attended his funeral, including his own Oneida people, the U.S. Secretary of War, officers and infantrymen.