More than a Game: The Carlisle Indians Take to the Gridiron, 1893-1917

Author / Creator

Adams, David Wallace

Part of

The Western historical quarterly, 2001-04, Vol.32 (1), p.25-53

DOI

10.2307/3650836

Summary

• When students at Carlisle Indian School asked to play football, Superintendent Richard Pratt agreed, believing that the sight of Indians competing against the best college teams in the country would advance the school's assimilationist vision. But as this essay makes clear, Pratt was unable to control the meaning that journalists, spectators, and players read into Indian-white football.