Source 1: Image

Male Students in the Country

Around 1895
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/male-students-country


These photographs show Indigenous students from Carlisle Indian School working on a farm. Farm work was part of the school’s Outing System. After being a student at the school for at least two years, some children sent to live with a white family. The boys would do farm work, while the girls would help in the household.

The students were also enrolled in the local public school. The goal of the program was to fully integrate students into White American culture and learn how to be “civilized,” while also learning valuable skills for life after school.

Pay close attention to the caption at the bottom of the image.

When the program was first created, Captain Richard Pratt, the head of Carlisle Indian School, had to beg families to take in his students because people were afraid of them. However, after a few years, the school began receiving many requests from families who wanted students to work for them. In 1903, there were 948 students in the Outing System.

Source 2: Image

Camp Houlton Prisoners of War Picking Potatoes

1945
Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum (Houlton Museum)


This is a photograph of a prisoner of war at Camp Houlton in Aroostook County, Maine. He is harvesting potatoes in a field. German prisoners of war were brought to America to keep them out of their country’s army and to provide labor to America during World War II.

With so many people fighting in World War II, America had a labor shortage. There were not enough farmers in America to feed the country. Prisoners of war helped fill that gap.

Aroostook County is known for its potato farming. Potatoes are an excellent crop to provide for the community since they are filling and have many uses. At Camp Houlton, potato farming was the most typical job that a prisoner of war could have.

Thanks to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war had protected rights. They could not be forced to work. However, many prisoners chose to farm because they could earn a little money. The prisoners saved to buy small treats such as chocolate, tobacco, and beer.

The prisoners worked with local farmers and many formed strong, yet unconventional, relationships. Some even returned to visit Maine families after the war.

Source 3: Artifact

Maine State Prison Pung Sleigh

c.a. 1900
Maine State Museum 2016.56.9


This sleigh was made by prisoners at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine, around 1900. It is called a “pung sleigh” and has two sets of runners (the long blades underneath that slide on snow, like skis). There are two rows of seats for riders to sit in.

There is a long history of prisoners working at the Maine State Prison. In the early years, prisoners were forced to do hard labor in limestone quarries. Later, prisoners built different products in workshops. The prison trained people as blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, and cooks.

In the 1840s, the prison shops also taught sleigh-making, carriage-making, cabinetmaking, and painting. Prisoners could make a little money when people bought the goods they made. This sled was built in the sleigh-making workshop, which closed in 1915.

The Maine State Prison moved from Thomaston to Warren in 2002. Today, prisoners can still work in a shop. They are paid a small hourly wage. They mostly make wooden products like bowls and cutting boards, which are sold in the State Prison Showroom (also known as “the Prison Shop”) in Thomaston.

Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.

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