This is a new national monument on the 18th century Carlisle Army Barracks in Pennsylvania, which also hosts the Army War College and the Army Heritage and Education Center. The base is currently open to visitors on weekdays, but there are no park site visitor services yet.

“All the Indian there is in the race should be dead.
Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

Richard Pratt, founder & superintendent

From 1879 to 1918, towards the end of its War on Native America, the US Army established a boarding school here, a re-education camp far from native reservations. There are only a few Native American graves left on base, as many were repatriated by law after 1990, but otherwise, not much remains of the school that once set the standard for ‘assimilation’. Around 8,000 children from 150 tribes were taken from their parents and shipped off to this school—as happened at other schools across the country—for the expressed purpose of ending their culture. Considered a step forward from massacres, forcing natives to become white was the primary goal from day one. While today, many such students might gain PhDs in Native American studies in recognition of the value of their cultural contributions to our civilization, prejudice meant there was practically only one way for these students to excel: on the field.

Unlike college admissions or job hiring, there is no effective way to cheat by race in sports like track & field. Once allowed to compete, the results are judged fairly, regardless of color. The field above is still known as ‘Indian Field’, but officially it is named after Frank MT Pleasant Jr, a student—and member of the Tuscarora Nation—here for 12 years around 1900, known for his prowess in football and track. In 1908, he placed 6th in two events at the Olympics in London. He earned his degree in 1910 at the neighboring Dickinson College, the first native to do so. He served honorably in WWI and later played semi-pro football. While he and other athletes like baseball hall of famer ‘Chief’ Bender are remembered here, they’re all overshadowed by another classmate.

In 1907, a Sac & Fox youth was walking by the track above when he stopped to watch the high jumpers. He had been to many different schools growing up, and he had run away from most. This was his second time here; the first cut short by the death of his father. Jim Thorpe walked up to the bar and jumped 5’9”—a school record—in his street clothes. He would excel at virtually every sport he tried: ballroom dancing, baseball, boxing, handball, lacrosse—a native sport—, and tennis. The football coach, ‘Pop’ Warner, didn’t want his school’s track star injured, but Jim asked for a chance to play. He ran through the opposing team back and forth, and then said, “coach, nobody is going to tackle Jim”. And nobody did. Jim set all kinds of college football records, rushing almost 2,000 yards a season, scoring hundreds of points with over 25 touchdowns a year, according to incomplete records.

At the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, Jim Thorpe competed in the two most challenging competitions, the pentathlon and the decathlon, which require mastery of 5 and 10 different events respectively: 100 m, 400 m, long jump, high jump and shot put for the pentathlon and the same five plus the discus, javelin, 110 hurdles, pole vault and 1500 m for the decathlon. Despite someone stealing his shoes before the competition, Thorpe found two mismatched shoes and still won 8 of 15 events outright, winning the gold medal in both combined events. Later, Thorpe would go on to play professional baseball, basketball and football. Considering how well-rounded he was, in my opinion, Jim Thorpe is the greatest athlete in history.

So, if you want to take a lap on the same track where Jim Thorpe began his athletic career, bring a map and your real id and go to the base visitor center between 10 am and 3 pm on a weekday—not a Federal holiday—and get your criminal background check. But consider the cultural cost of Indian schools, the families broken, the languages silenced, the oral histories lost, the natural and medicinal secrets forgotten, and the songs and dances not taught, just so white people would feel more comfortable with Native Americans. Fortunately, the Sac and Fox Nation survives in Oklahoma—they were removed from the Great Lakes region in the 1870s—and many other tribes still thrive today as well.