Indian Boarding Schools

The travesty of what happened to our children and community under the Government sponsored Indian Boarding Schools must not be forgotten.

"The government, the organized religion, tried to and in some ways robbed me of my heritage, my culture, my dignity, my language, my spirituality, my innocence, my rights to be a native, an Indian, an indigenous person." - Dora Brought Plenty

There were more than 523 government-funded, and often church-run, Indian Boarding schools across the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries. Indian children were forcibly abducted by government agents, sent to schools hundreds of miles away, and beaten, starved, or otherwise abused when they spoke their Native languages.

Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

"This report shows for the first time that between 1819 and 1969, the United States operated or supported 408 boarding schools across 37 states (or then-territories), including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii. This report identifies each of those schools by name and location, some of which operated across multiple sites.

This report confirms that the United States directly targeted American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children in the pursuit of a policy of cultural assimilation that coincided with Indian territorial dispossession. It identifies the Federal Indian boarding schools that were used as a means for these ends, along with at least 53 burial sites for children across this system- with more site discoveries and data expected as we continue our research.

The report highlights some of the conditions these children endured at these schools and raises important questions about the short-term and long-term consequences of the Federal Indian boarding school system on Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, and the Native Hawaiian Community. I am recommending further investigation to examine those consequences.

This report places the Federal Indian boarding school system in its historical context, explaining that the United States established this system as part of a broader objective to dispossess Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community of their territories to support the expansion of the United States.

The Federal Indian boarding school policy was intentionally targeted at American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children to assimilate them and, consequently, take their territories. I believe that this historical context is important to understanding the intent and scale of the Federal Indian boarding school system, and why it persisted for 150 years."

Ongoing efforts to repatriate the remains of Indian Children.

Learn more about the ongoing investigations and efforts to bring children home with dignity and honor across Turtle Island; From Canada, the United States through South America.