The Red Man Newspapers

By Erin Scheske

The Red Man newspapers are a series of publications created by the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, published from 1910 – 1917. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was a boarding school for Native Americans, where Native children were stripped from their native cultures and were forced to assimilate into white culture. These newspapers were written, illustrated, and put together by Native Americans; however, much of the contents of these newspapers have been heavily edited and censored by white people. The Red Man newspapers explicitly state that they are intended for Native Americans, but one can infer that a white audience may have been a target as well based on the contents of some of the newspapers.  

“Preparing for Tanning,” October 1912
“The Indian Stenographer,” November 1913

On the surface, The Red Man school newspapers, produced by the Carlisle Indian Press, appear to be a monthly newspaper production where children at the boarding school could write articles about their tribes or current events involving Native matters, as well as illustrate images to be displayed throughout the newspaper. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, and other boarding schools during the time, had the main focus of assimilating Native Americans into white culture. While at these boarding schools, it was very difficult for Natives to resist assimilation but, through The Red Man journals and a few other Native publications, Natives were able to stay connected with and learn about their cultures. Despite the fact that these articles were heavily censored and edited by white people, these articles helped keep a sense of belonging and dignity to the Natives at the boarding schools. 

Cover of September 1914 issue
“Hopi Girl Making Piki (Bread),” May 1913

The newspaper looks to be a way of spreading Native American culture within and around the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, however, as Isaac Stein argues, the true intentions of The Red Man are much darker and saddening. Stein writes that The Red Man newspapers were written as a funding mechanism to uphold racist ideas held by the Carlisle Administration. One of these racist ideas was that American Indians and Black Americans could not rise toward the status of white Americans. The Red Man newspapers are important for us to understand as they serve as an illusion to the real horrors and intentions of the Carlisle Indian Industrial school. The Carlisle school would advertise these newspapers to Natives as a way for them to explore and indulge in their own native cultures, but would then put the funds from the newspapers right back into the assimilation process against native culture. Although The Red Man newspapers did serve as a way for Native children to write and read about their Native roots, the newspapers themselves represent and support the exact opposite of their surface meanings.

Citations

Issac Stein, “Lift the Red, Stay in the Black: The Public and Private Economies of Race Ideas at the Carlisle Indian School, 1879 – 1904,” Chicago Journal of History, Vol. 7, (Autumn 2016). 

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, The Carlisle Indian Press, The Red Man: October 1912, May 1913, November 1913, September 1914.