{"id":24659,"date":"2021-11-30T12:21:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T20:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=24659"},"modified":"2023-11-21T09:35:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T17:35:53","slug":"three-arapaho-boys-reclaiming-their-lives-and-retelling-their-stories","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/three-arapaho-boys-reclaiming-their-lives-and-retelling-their-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Arapaho Boys: Reclaiming Their Lives and Retelling Their Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published in tandem with the Independent Lens documentary <\/em>Home from School: The Children of Carlisle<\/a><\/p>\n

By Jordan Dresser<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n

When the Indian wars were coming to a close in the late 1800s, three little Arapaho boys made a long journey from their home in Wyoming to a new residence in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The boys were going to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School, in order to be assimilated\u00a0from their Arapaho culture\u00a0to the new white world. For some students, it was cloaked as an opportunity. For others, who were forced to attend, it was a nightmare. <\/span><\/p>\n\"Carlisle\n

Founded in 1879 by Richard Henry Pratt, Carlisle was one of the first Indian boarding schools to emerge in the United States. It ran like a military camp. The purpose of the school was to strip Indian children of their cultural identity and shape them into English-speaking students who bore no resemblance to the great tribal nations they belonged to. Children came from tribes from all over, but mostly the West. Carlisle was located on the East Coast and away from their source communities: this was an intentional tool to isolate and, in a sense, break the students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And break them they did. The school had a cemetery that, at one time, housed 180 graves, some of them listed as unknown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\"The\n

Three of the known graves belonged to Little Chief, Little Plume, and Horse. Within a year or so after arriving to Carlisle by train, on March 11, 1881, all three boys died:\u00a0Little Chief, whose name became “Dickens Nor,” was 14 years old when he arrived at the school, and died on January 22, 1883; the youngest of the three, Little Plume, whose name was anglicized to Hayes Vanderbilt Friday, was 9 years old when he arrived, and 10 when he died; 11-year-old Horse, renamed Horace Washington, died just over a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Descendants of Chiefs<\/b><\/h3>\n

Given their short lives, the historical information on the three boys is limited. But their lineages are known and significant. Little Chief was the son of Chief Sharp Nose, and Little Plume and Horse were descendants\u00a0of Chief Black Coal<\/span> and<\/span> Chief Friday. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Arapahoes

Arapahoes in Washington D.C. as part of the Sioux Delegation of 1877. Top Row, left to right: Antoine Janis, Young Spotted Tail, Joe Merrivale; seated: Touch-the-Clouds (Minnicouju Lakota), and (l-r) Northern Arapaho leaders Sharp Nose, Black Coal, and Friday<\/strong> [courtesy Library of Congress]<\/em><\/p><\/div>Chief Black Coal was a prominent leader of the Northern Arapaho people during the latter half of the 19th century. A monument at his grave is inscribed: “Erected by the Northern Arapahoes in honor of a brave and honest man.” <\/span>Chief Friday<\/span><\/a> has his own fascinating story, as explained here by his great-grandson and Northern Arapaho Elder Hubert Friday, which also includes how Chief Friday came to learn English and thus be able to communicate with white settlers: <\/span><\/p>\n