User:Cierradubinsky/sandbox

All children who attended Carlisle were subjected to “militaristic regimentation and disciplines,” such as cutting of their hair, changing their dress, diets, names, and learning unfamiliar conceptions of space and time. They were also forced to let go of their cultural gender roles, and assimilate to what white men believed they should do in society. Native women traditionally held important political, social and economic power within their communities, as most Native cultures promoted gender equality, and this was disrupted at Carlisle.

The Documents Concerning Mary Welch, from the Carlisle Indian Digital Resource Center, provide validation of Welch’s completion of seven years at the Carlisle school, and say that she would make a fine housekeeper or seamstress. However, Welch was a member of the Cherokee Nation, whose women are known for speaking out against the colonization and expansionism of American settlers. Some Cherokee women also attained the rank of chief. "They were not, as Euro-Americans imagine, merely chattel, servants to man, wives, and mothers." It wasn’t uncommon for Native women to be warriors, statesmen, religious leaders, and shamans (the equivalent of doctors). Carlisle instructors forced the women to learn the industrial and domestic skills appropriate to European American gender roles. For many of them, this cultural assault led to confusion, alienation, homesickness and resentment.