Carlisle Journeys: Celebrating the American Indian Sports Legacy

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS), the first U.S. Government off-reservation school for American Indian Children, was located at the Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA and operated from 1879 – 1918. The Carlisle Indian School left an indelible mark upon the sports that Indigenous Americans have played over the past century and a half. Like the school itself, Carlisle’s legendary athletic teams and rigorous training programs influenced the complex legacies that used sports as a kind of propaganda tool and at the same time modeled the success of the track and football teams for other off-reservation boarding schools. The 2016 Carlisle Journeys conference will provide a forum for exploring these tensions and achievements of Native Americans in athletics.

We look forward to broad participation by the local community, Dickinson College students and faculty, local high school sports programs, educators and Carlisle Barracks personnel. Events will be held at the Historical Society and local lacrosse fields. We are issuing a call for papers to draw from a wide range of experts, academics and descendants of Carlisle Indian School students.

For more information about Carlisle Journeys and to register visit carlislejourneys.org