To promote assimilation, American Indian children were given free education and were inducted into federally funded boarding schools across the country.
Policy makers at the time hoped that the early immersion of native born children would help them become "proper" and productive citizens. One of the first boarding schools was the Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879 on Pennsylvania
The founder, Henry Pratt, believed that education was key in order to "kill the Indian and save the man." The theory of the boarding school became known as "assimilation through education."
