--- title: "Unlearning Racism: Orange Shirt Day in the USA" date: 2022-09-29 author: "Courtney Robertson" featured_image: "https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/E9460325-500B-4D28-8B33-92EB5989D8B1.avif" categories: - name: "Reflections" url: "/category/reflections.md" --- # Unlearning Racism: Orange Shirt Day in the USA I live in a place that has historically been on the front lines of racism. I am only a few miles north of the [Mason Dixon line](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason%E2%80%93Dixon_line) – the invisible boundary between slaves and free people in the USA that spans much of Pennsylvania and Maryland. South of that line continued to permit slavery for nearly 100 years. My home city of [Chambersburg was burned to the ground](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/mccausland-chambersburg.htm) as both armies marched 25 miles west to Gettysburg. Rebels demanded provisions and money or face destruction. The Rebel troops went on to Gettysburg with no additional support and ultimately lost the battle. USA Civil War covered many issues and [was not a battle intended to end slavery](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html#:~:text=The%20southern%20landscape%20was%20devastated,million%20African%20Americans%20were%20free.), but it did put in motion addition events that would result in freeing slaves. History is all around me. Yet there’s one area I really hadn’t explored. I remember in 10th grade learning about the [Carlisle Indian School](https://carlisleindian.historicalsociety.com/), located about 20 miles north from my home. Just a year ago, a coworker shared with me about [Orange Shirt Day.](https://www.orangeshirtday.org/) While primarily a Canadian observance, it seemed fitting that I take a day to visit the historical exhibits nearby and learn more about this part of my local history. Richard Henry Pratt,[ founder of the school](https://carlisleindian.historicalsociety.com/history-of-the-carlisle-indian-school/), believed “that to ‘civilize’ the Indian would be to turn him into a copy of his God-fearing, soil-tilling, white brother”. It seemed to me that the efforts of the school were to remove the culture of its students and to replace generations of identity with an American approach, largely of European descent. Students from the school graduated with hopes of taking newly learned trades back to their reservations, but found little opportunity there. It was such a somber experience to take in all this exhibit offered. ![The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was established to assimilate Native Americans into Euro-American culture through the erasure of their langua...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2C5D9798-24DE-4DD3-BFCF-EEAB6D145E9B-scaled.jpeg)![The image depicts the Fort Marion Prisoners in 1875, beginning their journey to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, where they were issued unifo...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/5872A03B-39D2-4662-BA02-D4D29B9A1D58-scaled.jpeg)![The image depicts the process of assimilation of Indigenous children into Western culture upon their arrival to Carlisle, which involved stripping ...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/0D2B403E-205F-4C25-B12F-DEF5CAF18027-scaled.jpeg)![A person holds a gun.](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/9482539E-9F70-4FF4-984C-AF3E06B21604-scaled.jpeg)![A person in a retro-style dress is standing in a museum, their face framed by a picture as she visits the Carlisle Indian School on their way to Wa...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/A0F38272-C3EB-446E-9628-EFBB37A49AA4-scaled.jpeg)![A group of people are gathered in the picture.](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/BD2DB3E9-93CA-4007-836C-87ABF9FC5407-scaled.jpeg)![This image is a list of noted Indian chiefs who have visited the Indian Training School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Full Text: Gift of Nana Pratt Ha...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/6667389D-9D87-4F46-A459-43B83A2F3B18-scaled.jpeg)![Frank Engler was a student at the Carlisle Indian School who was sent home against their wishes, but eventually found employment at the Haskell Ind...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/5097B6C3-7C60-48DB-9483-1491CC0BCB05-scaled.jpeg)![Nellie Robertson is gifting a Carlisle Indian person with a book inscribed to commemorate an eventful day in memory of Tat Carlile. Full Text: Š GI...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4C69AEA0-50D4-4B12-9BF5-21BB5F99AF6D-scaled.jpeg)![John Leslie was a student at the Carlisle Indian School who learned photography and took photographs of the school, its students, and the Conodogui...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09224CF4-6C06-4136-8922-58A4D71C88BA-scaled.jpeg)![In this image, three Pueblo students from Laguna, N.M. are shown in "before" and "after" photos taken four years apart at the Carlisle Indian Schoo...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4CA3BA4D-9FE7-4991-8724-9D3184FD659B-scaled.jpeg)![Carlisle used a variety of extracurricular activities to help its students form an American identity. Full Text: Extracurricular Activities Transfo...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/CF5DF8B8-E16B-4222-BCF5-F301EE79D6AA-scaled.jpeg)![Two Native American students from Carlisle School are performing a duet from the opera "The Captain of Plymouth" at the school's commencement in 19...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/123FD0F3-FBA3-40FD-A261-0BD7E166A564-scaled.jpeg)![This image is advertising the May 1910 edition of "The Red Man" magazine, formerly known as "The Indian Craftsman," which is published by the U.S. ...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/E2B62CDD-A562-4FE7-B9FA-00D629BE3E88-scaled.jpeg)![The image depicts the vocational training program at the Carlisle school, which was intended to teach students useful skills and values to support ...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/5EB3A10E-98B2-498A-B5CD-10839226C7C6-scaled.jpeg)![A group of Native American students are gathered outside of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, United States. Full Text: UnitedStates NDIA...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/43208870-3276-47DB-B36C-B445E0A549E8-scaled.jpeg)![The War Department requested the transfer of the Carlisle Barracks back to them in 1918, causing a chaotic period of students transferring to other...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/A93C9945-0AB3-4D01-9E98-7679BCB0E914-scaled.jpeg)![Carlisle School provided Native Americans with educational and employment opportunities, but returning to their reservations was often difficult du...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/00B8CF28-D002-4E93-AAAC-DA1E2B12F144-scaled.jpeg)![Orange Shirt Day display for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/E9460325-500B-4D28-8B33-92EB5989D8B1-scaled.jpeg)![The Mt. Tabor AME Zion Church was formed in 1870 by freed slaves who had traveled north to Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania, and served as a communi...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/7C2AF058-52C1-40FB-87BA-7A7959DD8B49-scaled.jpeg)An odd contrast to the work of taking captive the Indigenous children by celebrating in the very same years that this region was a safe space for those fleeing slavery and an exhibit about housing prisoners of war. ![A collection of red chairs occupies the room, illuminated by a stained glass window.](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_8346-scaled.jpg)![In this image, the Pennsylvania Legislature's Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 is discussed, along with the influence of the Underground Railroad on A...](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_8347-scaled.jpg)![A painting of the Pine Grove Prisoner of War Camp hangs in an art gallery, part of an art exhibition in a museum room.](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_8348-scaled.jpg)![In this image, hundreds of German and Japanese prisoners of war are being held at the Pine Grove POW Camp in the United States during World War II....](https://courtneyr.dev/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_8349-scaled.jpg)See also: [Calls to Action (PDF) \[PDF\]](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf)