FASCINATING portrait showing Native Americans before and after being forcibly assimilated into American culture have emerged.

The photos show young men and women in traditional clothing next to comparison snaps taken just three years later showing them in smart suits and dresses with western-style haircuts.

7 Young Native American Thomas Moore, before and after assimilation, circa 1897 Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

7 Tom Torlino before in 1883 and with a trimmed western hair in 1886 Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

7 Four Native American children taken in 1880, just a year after the Carlisle Indian School opened Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

The images were taken at Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, US, which focused on rapid assimilation of Native Americans to western culture

Founded in 1879 by Captain Henry Pratt under the authority of the US federal government, Carlisle was a boarding school where Pratt infamously attempted to "Kill the Indian: Save the Man" through any means necessary.

It is estimated that more than 10,000 Native American children attended Carlisle between 1879 and 1918.

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Students were forbidden from speaking their own language, their hair was cut and they had to be dressed in suits, ties and corseted dresses.

They often didn’t go home for years and were taught trades, such as baking and blacksmithing, designed to give them a foothold in the white world after graduation.

Photographer John Choate took pictures of scores of Carlisle students before and after they went to the school – to demonstrate the transformation they underwent there.

7 A group of Navajo Native American students in 1882 were when they first arrived and a snap taken years later Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

Choate would often take these portraits at his studio and have Western props and costumes on-hand for the ‘after’ photo.

In another astonishing set of images, three Sioux Indian boys are pictured in traditional dress arriving at Carlisle in 1883.

Three years later, Choate shows them in their ‘after’ photo with their hair cut short and wearing cadet uniforms.

Experts believe Choate manipulated the lighting to make the students appear fairer in their later photos.

7 Student known as White Buffalo soon after he arrived in Carlisle in 1881, left, and some time after dressed in a suit Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

7 Three Sioux indians as they arrived at the Carlisle Indian School in 1883 and an after snap taken years later Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

7 A group of Chiricahua Apaches after arriving from a prison camp in 1887 and a later shot showing them in western-style clothes Credit: Public Domain/News Dog Media

He wanted to show that through the assimilation programme at Carlisle school, Native Americans could blend in with white society.

According to Pratt, the goal of assimilation was to be accomplished by immersing Native American children in mainstream white culture at the school and teach them English, new skills, and customs.

Since the 1970s, Native American nations have taken back control of the education of their children and started their own schools and colleges.

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