John Demos, Department of History, Yale University, is the author of “The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic” (2014) Early in the 1800s, a group of eminent Protestant ministers founded a special school in the little town of Cornwall, Connecticut for “heathen youth” drawn from all corners of the earth. Their express goal was to "save" the entire world in the shortest time imaginable by converting these boys, educating and civilizing them, then sending them back to found similar projects in their respective homelands. After a seemingly brilliant beginning, the project ran afoul of racism when two Cherokee students courted (and eventually married) local women. The result was scandal, widespread controversy, threats of violence, and permanent closure of the school.
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