For almost 150 years, Native children were sent to residential schools

On Friday, President Joe Biden is expected to formally apologize to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians for abuses committed at federally funded and operated boarding schools. Here’s why this move is so important for Indian Country.

For over a century, Native children as young as four were removed from their homes and sent to government or religious boarding schools designed to extinguish their languages, cultures, and tribal identities. Goal: to assimilate tribes into mainstream society and eliminate government trust responsibilities to tribes in accordance with treaties, executive orders and legislation.

A Department of Home Affairs investigation with support from the Department of Home Affairs National Native American Residential School Healing Coalition identified 417 federal Indian boarding schools operating at 451 locations in 37 states or then territoriesincluding 22 schools in Alaska and seven schools in Hawaii, 1819–1969.

The coalition also published interactive map in boarding schools in the US and Canada.

The report found that religious organizations operated nearly half of the 417 federal schools, and another 59 schools operated by religious groups received federal dollars.

About 1,025 schools were not run by the federal government but by religious organizations.

How many children were sent to boarding schools?

At the turn of the 20th century, over 18,000 children were sent to schools up to 3,000 km away from their homeland. These removals were accomplished in a number of ways, including sending soldiers into communities to forcibly remove children.

The boarding school coalition he stated that by the 1920s the number had increased to over 60,000.

Nearly 900 known deaths have occurred in 417 federally run institutions, along with countless cases of trauma, abuse, neglect, poor nutrition and despair.

Biden apologizes: Biden will visit tribal lands in Arizona and apologize for 150 years of residential school abuse

At the height of the Arizona boarding school era, this was the case 59 schools. Currently, 34 of them are still open, including: half run by the Education Bureau of India and the rest by tribes or religious institutions. Boarding schools still operate to serve students from remote communities, but children return home on weekends and holidays.

In the past, parents who refused to send their children were threatened with, among others: prison sentence 19 Hopi men imprisoned in Alcatraz for the crime of not releasing the children.

The report also estimated that in fiscal year 2023, more than $23.3 billion, adjusted for inflation, was spent on operating schools and similar institutions between 1871 and 1969, and related policies.

What steps has the government taken to solve the problems?

John Collierwho in 1933 was appointed director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, implemented several reforms, including native languages and cultures in the curriculum and ordering the closure of several boarding schools and replacing them with day schools. The Johnson-O’Malley Act of 1934 provided federal funds to states to support native education and other programs.

But the damage was done. Tribal communities are struggling with the impact of thousands of children returning home without language, cultural ties and knowledge of how to parent because they have no parental role models. Children exposed to chronic stress became dysfunctional adults whose attempts at parenting created a new generation with similar problems. Entire generations have paid the price for federal policies that have been deemed failures, and former students, their families and tribes continue to grapple with the trauma.

The Office of Indian Education finances 183 primary and secondary schools and residential facilities throughout the country. The office serves 55 and the tribes manage 128 schools. These include three boarding high schools in California, Washington and Oklahoma.

BIE also operates two universities, the Haskell Indian Nations University and the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute.

The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative identified several recommendations made by survivors and their families to begin and facilitate the healing process. These include the government’s apology for abuses of the system; support for linguistic and cultural revitalization; family recovery and reunification; reforms in the education of tribal communities; and steps to reduce violence in tribal communities.

Debra Krol writes about indigenous communities at the intersection of climate, culture and trade in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Arrival to the King at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @debkrol.

Addressing indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and trade is supported by the Catena Foundation.