ABSTRACT
The musical “civilizing” mission in the United States was one in which Christian saviorism and White superiority were entangled. Tied to the church and morality, the arts were a fundamental tool used in the educational colonization of Native Americans and the White saviorist attempt to erase and replace Native American culture. At the Native American boarding school, The Carlisle Indian School, students were forced to abandon their identities and culture. Western classical music teaching through the choral ensemble and marching band was touted as a means to “civilize” the “savage Indian.” Similarly, African American music traditions, described as “strange” and “vulgar” were considered “uncivilized” and therefore in need of Western classical musical saviorism. This chapter traces the historical conflation of musical morality with Western classical musical practices and the ways in which these discourses manifested in musical performances by The Carlisle Indian School’s Band and Choir and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
