Article Summary –
The investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland revealed that at least 973 Native American children died in the abusive U.S. government boarding school system, with marked and unmarked graves found at 65 of the over 400 schools intended to forcibly assimilate Native American children. Haaland emphasized the systematic effort to eradicate Native cultures, while survivors recounted severe mistreatment, including physical punishment and cultural suppression, which led to long-term trauma and limited life prospects. Recommendations include a formal government apology and substantial investment in healing programs for Native American communities, commensurate with the $23.3 billion spent on the boarding schools.
At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system, according to an investigation released Tuesday. Officials urged the government to apologize for the schools.
The investigation commissioned by Interior Sec. Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at 65 of over 400 U.S. boarding schools established to forcibly assimilate Native American children. The causes of death included sickness and abuse during a 150-year period ending in 1969, officials said.
More children may have died after becoming sick at school and being sent home, officials noted.
The findings follow listening sessions held throughout the U.S. in which former students shared stories of harsh and degrading treatment while separated from their families.
“The federal government took deliberate actions through boarding school policies to isolate children from their families, deny their identities, and steal from them the languages, cultures, and connections foundational to Native people,” Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, stated in a Tuesday call with reporters.
“Make no mistake,” she added, “This was a concerted attempt to eradicate the ‘Indian problem,’ to either assimilate or destroy native peoples altogether.”
In a 2022 report, officials estimated more than 500 children died at the schools. The federal government passed laws in 1819 to support these schools, which were still operating in the 1960s.
The schools gave Native American kids English names, made them perform manual labor, and put them through military drills, officials said.
Former students shared tearful recollections in Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Michigan, Arizona, Alaska, and other states. They talked about being punished for speaking their native language, getting locked in basements, and having their hair cut to stamp out their identities. They were sometimes subjected to solitary confinement, beatings, and food withholding. Many left the schools with only basic vocational skills and few job prospects.
Donovan Archambault, 85, former chairman of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, said he was mistreated at boarding schools, forced to cut his hair, and prevented from speaking his native language. The experience led him to drink heavily before turning his life around. He wrote a book about his school days several years ago.
“An apology is needed. They should apologize,” Archambault told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. “But there also needs to be broader education about what happened to us. It’s part of a forgotten history.”
Haaland said she was personally “sorry beyond words” but suggested a formal apology should come from the federal government. She did not confirm if she would push President Joe Biden to issue one.
“An apology is needed. They should apologize. But there also needs to be a broader education about what happened to us. It’s part of a forgotten history.”
Donovan Archambault, former chairman, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
Interior Department officials recommended government investment in education, violence prevention, and the revitalization of indigenous languages to help Native American communities heal from boarding school traumas. Spending should be proportional to the $23.3 billion adjusted for inflation that funded the schools, officials said.
Religious and private institutions that ran many schools received federal money as partners in the campaign to “civilize” Indigenous students, the report noted.
By 1926, more than 80% of Indigenous school-age children—some 60,000—were attending boarding schools run by the federal government or religious organizations, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
The Minnesota-based group has tallied more than 100 additional schools not on the government list that were run by churches without federal support.
U.S. Catholic bishops apologized for the church’s role in trauma the children experienced. In 2022, Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with boarding schools in Canada, acknowledging the destruction of cultures and families.
Legislation pending before Congress seeks to establish a “Truth and Healing Commission” to document and acknowledge past injustices related to boarding schools. The measure is sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and backed by Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
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