The federal government on Wednesday detailed for the first time the brutality and treatment Native American children suffered when they were forcibly moved into U.S. boarding schools during the course of 150 years. Deborah Parker, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and a member of the Tulalip Tribe in Washington, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
American Indian Boarding Schools: A Legacy of Pain and Resilience
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For over a century, American Indian boarding schools aimed to assimilate Indigenous children by forcibly removing them from their families and erasing their cultural identity. These institutions, funded by the government and often run by religious groups, left deep scars on generations of Native communities. This page presents key insights into their history, along with a collection of around 50 videos that bring the voices of survivors and experts to the forefront. Understanding this painful past is essential to recognizing its lasting impact today.
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De Amerikaanse Heropvoedingsinternaten voor Inheemse Volkeren: Een nalatenschap van pijn en veerkracht
Meer dan een eeuw lang hadden Amerikaanse heropvoedingsinternaten als doel inheemse kinderen te assimileren door hen gedwongen bij hun families weg te halen en hun culturele identiteit uit te wissen. Deze instellingen, gefinancierd door de overheid en vaak gerund door religieuze groeperingen, hebben diepe wonden achtergelaten in generaties van inheemse gemeenschappen. Op deze pagina vindt u de belangrijkste inzichten over hun geschiedenis, samen met een verzameling van ongeveer 50 video’s waarin overlevenden en experts hun stem laten horen. Het begrijpen van dit pijnlijke verleden is essentieel om de blijvende impact ervan vandaag de dag te erkennen.
American Indian Boarding Schools: A Small US Town Digs for the Truth | Foreign Correspondent
26 mei 2022 GENOA
On the frozen plains of Nebraska, a grim search is underway.
The community is trying to locate an old cemetery that was once on the grounds of the US Indian Genoa Industrial School.
‘A cemetery at a school is not the norm – that you could die and then you’re gonna be buried out the door?’ Judi gaiashkibos, Commission on Indian Affairs, Nebraska
The State Archaeologist is using ground penetrating radar to try and locate an old cemetery that is somewhere on the grounds of the former Genoa U.S Indian Industrial School.
The Genoa school was one of a network of institutions for Native American children set up in the 19th and 20th centuries across the U.S.A.
Their purpose was to assimilate indigenous children into the white man’s world.
By 1926, it’s estimated more than 80% of Native American children were enrolled in these institutions.
“We’ve been severed from our language, from our culture, from our practices over a whole course of time, but the boarding school era did a number on our people where we almost did not recuperate from it.” Redwing Thomas, Teacher, Santee Sioux Nation.
Last year, the discovery of more than a thousand graves of children at the sites of former boarding schools in Canada pushed the U.S.A to examine its own history.
ABC journalist Stan Grant, whose family was impacted by Australia’s assimilationist policies of forcibly removing children from families, presents this powerful story.
He tells the story of a community in Nebraska trying to uncover the truth about one of the country’s largest and longest running boarding schools.
‘We were taught in school about Native American boarding schools, assimilation’, says Genoa resident Nikki Drozd ‘but we weren’t aware of the cemetery…I didn’t stop to think about the children that died here.’
This month, the US Department of the Interior has published the first major government investigation of the country’s boarding school history.
It estimated that up to tens of thousands of children could have died while attending these state-sanctioned institutions.
‘We’re still looking for those children that died’, says Judi gaiashkibos. ‘I can’t rest until I feel I’ve exhausted every possible avenue to find the children’.
The disturbing truth behind America’s indigenous boarding schools | Fault Lines Documentary
24 nov 2021 #BoardingSchool #Indigenous #Documentary
For roughly a century, the United States government forced Indigenous children to attend boarding schools far from their families and communities.
Hundreds of thousands of children were placed in institutions across the country, starting in the late 1800s and continuing into the 1970s.
The government’s goal was to prevent the continuation of Indigenous societies, attempting to strip the children of their cultures and punishing them for speaking their languages.
Those running the schools abused many children, and an unknown number never came home.
In June 2021, the federal government announced for the first time that it would investigate former boarding schools, including possible sites where children could be buried.
Fault Lines speaks with the descendants of boarding school students and those who survived the institutions themselves to learn how they are trying to heal from this trauma.
The Native American boarding schools were a system of government-run or church-run boarding schools that were established in the United States and Canada during the 19th and 20th centuries with the aim of assimilating Indigenous peoples into Euro-American culture. The key points of Native American boarding schools include:
Forced Assimilation: The primary goal of Native American boarding schools was to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children into Western/European culture and eradicate their Native identity, language, and culture. This was done through various means, including banning Native languages, customs, and religious practices, and enforcing Western-style clothing, hairstyles, and names.
Removal of Children: Indigenous children, often as young as five years old, were forcibly removed from their families and communities and sent to boarding schools, sometimes far away from their homes. This resulted in the loss of their family, community, and cultural connections, leading to significant trauma and loss of cultural heritage.
Coercive Methods: Native American boarding schools used coercive methods to suppress Indigenous cultures, including punishment for speaking Native languages, shaming Native practices, and imposing harsh discipline and corporal punishment. Students were often forced to abandon their traditional beliefs and adopt Christianity.
Poor Living Conditions: Many Native American boarding schools had substandard living conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate food, and lack of medical care. These conditions contributed to the spread of diseases, resulting in illness and death among Indigenous students.
Impact on Native Communities: The Native American boarding school system had a profound and lasting impact on Native communities. It resulted in the loss of Native languages, cultural practices, and traditional knowledge. Many Indigenous individuals and communities continue to face intergenerational trauma, loss of cultural identity, and social issues resulting from the boarding school experience.
Historical Legacy: The Native American boarding school system is considered a dark chapter in the history of Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada. The legacy of Native American boarding schools is still felt today, as Indigenous communities continue to work towards healing, cultural revitalization, and addressing the intergenerational impacts of the boarding school system.
Recognition and Reconciliation Efforts: In recent years, there have been efforts towards recognition, truth-telling, and reconciliation regarding the Native American boarding schools. Some governments and institutions have issued formal apologies, and there are ongoing efforts to support Indigenous communities in healing, cultural preservation, and education. However, the impacts of the boarding school system are deep-rooted and continue to be addressed by Indigenous peoples and their allies.
1 Report details brutal treatment of Indigenous children attending U.S. boarding schools
12 mei 2022
2 Survivors Of Native American Boarding Schools Discuss Dark History In The US
11 okt 2021
Yvonne Walker-Keshick is one of thousands of Native American kids who were sent to Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic boarding school in Michigan between 1829 and 1983. “Everything that was Native American, they tried to destroy,” she tells NBC News’ Antonia Hylton. While the school has since been torn down, survivors and archivists are determined to make sure their stories are heard.
Educational: This video is essential viewing
3 Buried Truths: America’s Indigenous Boarding Schools | Fault Lines
24 nov. 2021
For roughly a century, the United States government forced Indigenous children to attend boarding schools far from their families and communities.
Hundreds of thousands of children were placed in institutions across the country, starting in the late 1800s and continuing into the 1970s.
The government’s goal was to prevent the continuation of Indigenous societies, attempting to strip the children of their cultures and punishing them for speaking their languages.
Those running the schools abused many children, and an unknown number never came home.
In June 2021, the federal government announced for the first time that it would investigate former boarding schools, including possible sites where children could be buried.
Fault Lines speaks with the descendants of boarding school students and those who survived the institutions themselves to learn how they are trying to heal from this trauma.
4 What will a US investigation into Native American boarding schools uncover? | The Stream
Live gestreamd op 13 jul. 2021
Now the US Department of the Interior wants an investigation with a focus on finding records of children who died while they attended the schools and locating unmarked graves. The investigation’s announcement followed recent discoveries of nearly 1,000 secret graves at three former schools for Indigenous children in Canada.
A modern and comprehensive study of boarding schools and their forced assimilation policies has never been done by the US government, and much of its history – including the official number of schools and its attendees – is still not known. Advocates of boarding school survivors say the institutions have been a major source of intergenerational trauma felt in Native American communities to this day.
In this episode of The Stream, we’ll discuss the legacy of Native American boarding schools and what a federal investigation of its abuses will mean to Native communities.
5 Ontario school with history of abuse linked to U.S.-based cult | School of secrets
12 nov. 2021
About The Fifth Estate: For four decades The Fifth Estate has been Canada’s premier investigative documentary program. Hosts Bob McKeown, Gillian Findlay and Mark Kelley continue a tradition of provocative and fearless journalism. The Fifth Estate brings in-depth investigations that matter to Canadians — delivering a dazzling parade of political leaders, controversial characters and ordinary people whose lives were touched by triumph or tragedy.
6 Schools tried to forcibly assimilate Indigenous kids. Can the U.S. make amends?
24 jun. 2021
7 Impact of Unresolved Trauma on American Indian Health Equity | Donald Warne
8 Why Historical Trauma Must Inform American Indian Healthcare
9 New abuse revelations at U.S.-based cult tied to Ontario private school | School of secrets
21 jan. 2022
10 Colorado college reckons with a troubling legacy of erasing Indigenous culture
11 mei 2022
11 Native American Boarding Schools: A Lost History
Native American Boarding Schools
9 jan. 2019
Educational: This video is essential viewing
13 IN FOCUS Discussion: Native American Boarding Schools
3 aug. 2021
According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, nearly 83 percent of Native American school-aged children were attending boarding schools by 1926. The organization said that for more than 150 years, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities, punished for preserving their tribal identity, and forced to take on white Christian values, religion, culture, and language. It is believed that most U.S. citizens do not know about the existence of these boarding schools or the intergenerational trauma suffered by Native American communities.
In June, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced her department would be launching an investigation, called the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. It’s said to be a comprehensive review of the troubled legacy of federal boarding school policies and preparation of a report, expected to be completed in April 2022, detailing available historical records, with an emphasis on cemeteries or potential burial sites. This comes after the recent discovery of 215 unmarked graves by the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Sec. Haaland wrote that she is a product of “these horrific assimilation policies.” She explained that her maternal grandparents were stolen from their families when they were only eight years old and forced to live away from their parents, culture, and communities for five years. She said that the historical attempt to wipe out Indigenous identities continues to manifest itself in the disparities our Native American communities face, such as long-standing intergenerational trauma, cycles of violence and abuse, disappearance, premature deaths, and additional undocumented physiological and psychological impacts.
To this day, residential boarding schools continue to operate through the U.S. Interior Department and the Bureau of Indian Education. However, the department said that in sharp contrast to policies of the past, these schools now aim to provide a quality education to students from across Indian Country and empower Indigenous youth to better themselves and their communities as they seek to practice their spirituality, learn their language, and carry their culture forward. However, the process of healing, justice, and reconciliation is just beginning and it starts with bringing these traumatic events to light.
In July, Utah Diné Bikéyah sent a letter to Sec. Haaland to offer their assistance in the investigation. All 11 members of their board attended these residential schools as children and are now a network capable of reaching hundreds, if not thousands of other attendees. They are currently collecting stories internally and have a non-comprehensive list of resources and locations of facilities in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
Denae Shanidiin, director of MMIWhoIsMissing and Angelo Baca, cultural resources coordinator at Utah Diné Bikéyah joined ABC4’s Rosie Nguyen for an IN FOCUS Discussion. They provided background on the history of residential boarding schools, the recent uncoverings of murdered children at facilities in Canada, the experiences of their family members and friends who attended these schools, how the assimilation left deep societal scars on our Native American population, the letter sent to Sec. Deb Haaland, and what they hope comes out of it.
14 ‘Children did die here’: Michigan’s Indigenous boarding schools
15 Woman remembers Michigan boarding school’s dark history
16 Jim Crow of the North – Full-Length Documentary
00:00 “Aryans Only. No African American blood or descent.”
03:17 Minnesota Leads Integration
06:01 A Black Family Moves Into A White Neighborhood
11:53 The Beginning of Racial Covenants
15:01 Mapping Prejudice
16:28 Who Benefits From Urban Planning?
19:50 Supreme Court Upholds Racial Covenants
20:59 The Invisible Color Lines
22:52 Citizen Terrorism
27:21 Redlining: Government Approved
31:15 Jim Crow of the North
34:16 Manufacturing Urban Poverty
39:05 Racial Covenants in the Suburbs
41:38 Fair Housing and the American Dream
46:00 1968 Fair Housing Act
47:39 35W and the Destruction of Black Communities
50:43 The Past Influences the Present
51:38 Mapping the History of Housing Discrimination
55:14 More Than Bricks and Mortar
56:30 Credits and More to Watch
03:17 Minnesota Leads Integration
06:01 A Black Family Moves Into A White Neighborhood
11:53 The Beginning of Racial Covenants
15:01 Mapping Prejudice
16:28 Who Benefits From Urban Planning?
19:50 Supreme Court Upholds Racial Covenants
20:59 The Invisible Color Lines
22:52 Citizen Terrorism
27:21 Redlining: Government Approved
31:15 Jim Crow of the North
34:16 Manufacturing Urban Poverty
39:05 Racial Covenants in the Suburbs
41:38 Fair Housing and the American Dream
46:00 1968 Fair Housing Act
47:39 35W and the Destruction of Black Communities
50:43 The Past Influences the Present
51:38 Mapping the History of Housing Discrimination
55:14 More Than Bricks and Mortar
56:30 Credits and More to Watch
17 Unseen Tears: The Native American Boarding School Experience in Western New York Part 1
4 nov. 2013
18 Unseen Tears The Native American Boarding (Residential) School Experience in Western New York Part 2
19 Unseen Tears The Native American Boarding (Residential) School Experience in Western New York Part 3
21 Benjamin Madley – An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe
27 sep. 2017
22 Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT
13 mrt 2023
Educational: This video is essential viewing
23 The Reckoning: Native American Boarding Schools’ Painful History Unearthed
Back to menu IMPORTENT CONTENT Listening recommended Must
24 Native American Boarding Schools: A Lost History
Educational: This video is essential viewing
25 The Dark History of Indian Boarding Schools: A Century of Trauma and Longing for Reconciliation
17 feb 2025
26 Investigations Into Abuse At Native American Boarding Schools Going Back To 19th Century | Symone
11 okt 2022
October 10th, 2022, is National Indigenous Peoples Day. Creative Director of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition Kenrick Escalanti discuss the history of mistreatment of indigenous people in Native American boarding schools in the U.S. and what Congress needs to do to bring justice and closure to the survivors.
27 Nick Estes: Indian Boarding Schools Were Part of “Horrific Genocidal Process” by the U.S.
13 mei 2022
The Interior Department has documented the deaths of more than 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States which operated from 1819 to 1969. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher, and the report located 53 burial sites at former schools. The report was ordered by the first Indigenous cabinet member, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8. “It’s kind of a misnomer to actually call these educational institutions or schools themselves when you didn’t have very many people graduating, let alone surviving the dire conditions of those schools,” says Nick Estes, historian and co-founder of The Red Nation. Estes says the institutions were part of a “genocidal process” of “dispossession and theft of Indigenous people’s lands and resources.”
28 Colorado Voices: An Indian Boarding School
In première gegaan op 19 nov 2021
The Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School was one of hundreds of institutions set up in the latter part of the 19th century to erase Native American culture. The rallying cry of the day was “Kill the Indian – Save the Man.” Today, Fort Lewis College is finally reckoning with this troubling history and hopes for reconciliation and healing.
29 – 2022 Report on Indian Board Schools – U.S. Department of Interior
We discuss the recently published United States Department of the Interior Report on Native American Boarding Schools which discovered 431 Federal Indian Boarding Schools and discusses many of the atrocities which took place there.
30 Dakota Exile | Full Documentary
17 aug 2021
Beginning in 1862, the federal and state government began to drive the Dakota people from Minnesota. The story of their exile is told through the words of Dakota elders and tribal historians.
02:12 Dakota creation story
02:58 History of Dakota treaties, forced culture change, and US – Dakota war
05:49 Dakota men killed through mass execution in Mankato, largest in US history
07:50 Dakota people exiled to Dakota Territory settling in Crow Creek
12:20 Gabrielle Renville and Dakota leaders approached government to secure a reservation
15:25 Assiniboine and Dakota moved west to Montana and north to Canada
22:48 Dawes Act opened reservation land for homesteading, goal to Americanize Native Americans
26:30 Role of Christian missionaries to impact Dakota assimilation
30:10 1883 ban on Native American ceremonies and traditions
34:19 Native American grandmothers were keepers of language and culture
35:30 Native American children were targets of assimilation, sent to boarding schools
41:18 Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized eradication of native languages not necessary for education of Native American children
47:00 20 years after 1862 decree to ban Dakota people from Minnesota, some returned and resettled
49:15 Prairie Island became a blended Native American and white community
51:49 Dakota remember 38 men killed in mass execution through Mankato powwow
31 Investigation Into Native American Boarding Schools In Indiana | WTHR Documentary
5 apr 2022
Native American children lost their lives at two boarding schools in Indiana between 1883 and 1895. As the U.S. Department of the Interior makes plans to release the result of their investigation into these institutions, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources is taking a closer look at how many more children remain unaccounted for in grave sites across the state.
32 US finds 500 Native American boarding school deaths so far
12 mei 2022
A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native American boarding schools that for over a century sought to assimilate Indigenous children into white society has identified more than 500 student deaths at the institutions, but officials say that figure could grow exponentially as research continues.
The Interior Department report released Wednesday expands to more than 400, including 15 in Washington state, the number of schools that were known to have operated across the U.S. for 150 years, starting in the early 19th century and coinciding with the removal of many tribes from their ancestral lands. It identified the deaths in records for about 20 of the schools.
Educational: This video is essential viewing
Educational: This video is essential viewing
33 Reading the Photographs of the Carlisle Indian School
27 dec 2018
35 Native American Assimilation into Boarding Schools
36 Watch Now: “Home From School” trailer
21 jun 2021
“Kill the Indian to save the man” was the catchphrase of The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school opened in Pennsylvania in 1879. It became a grim epitaph for numerous native children who died there. In 2017, a delegation from the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming attempts to retrieve the remains of three Northern Arapaho children buried far from home in the school cemetery, on a journey to recast the troubled legacy of Indian boarding schools, and heal historic wounds. This documentary film is produced by The Content Lab LLC, with support from The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, The Wyoming Humanities Council, and Wyoming PBS.
37 Native American Boarding School Survivors Share Their Stories
25 aug 2021
Numerous survivors of government-funded boarding schools meant to forcibly assimilate Native American children say they were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. “Survivors have been trying to tell these stories for decades,” Antonia Hylton tells Aaron Gilchrist.
38 Biden Apologizes for Native American Boarding Schools That Aimed to Exterminate Indigenous Culture
28 okt 2024
In the swing state of Arizona, President Biden formally apologized Friday for U.S. government-run Native American boarding schools, which sought to exterminate Indigenous culture by forcibly removing children from their families and placing them in institutions where their languages and customs were suppressed. “If the Democrats want the vote of Indian people, we want them to stand with us, not only on issues like the apology around boarding schools, but we also want them to stand with us in the solidarity that we have calling for a ceasefire in Palestine,” says Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of the Indigenous-led NDN Collective. He says that while Biden’s apology could be the start of an “era of repair” between Indigenous peoples and the U.S. government, the apology must be followed by action. Among the NDN Collective’s demands is major investment in preserving Indigenous languages, the rescinding of military honors for U.S. soldiers who took part in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and clemency for imprisoned activist Leonard Peltier. “America’s longest-living Indigenous political prisoner, who’s incarcerated right now at the age of 80 years old in a maximum-security prison, is actually a boarding school survivor,” Tilsen says of Peltier.
Bridgette Lazaro
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