HISTORY AND CULTURE

The recent news about the discovery of the Indigenous children's mass grave in Canada is absolutely heartbreaking.

While this will be a huge step for Canada to directly address, the fact is there are a number of boarding schools here in the USA that have never reconciled the same type of atrocities. There are several still in operation today that are overseen by the BIE, like Chemawa and Flandreau, which are just two of the 52 BIE-operated schools. If the same type of digging took place into the history of those schools, it is likely the same type of horrors might be uncovered.

It's important to note that these are not the type of boarding schools or academies attended by non-Natives, such as the one in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. The 'Indian boarding school' in the USA is often an outlier of society that was largely used to follow General Pratt's theology of 'Kill the Indian, save the man' during the assimilation era of US policy. This is a very dark chapter in U.S. history, and not nearly enough attention has been given to the long-lasting impacts it has had on tribal communities.

This is why we strongly believe that every youth counts. Every graduation matters. And the work we do is critically important.

To learn more about the history of boarding schools and how you can be an advocate, download the Indian Boarding School Fact Sheet.

Topics discussed are:

• When and why did the U.S. government start 'Indian' boarding schools?
• How did the U.S. Indian boarding schools impact Native children?
• How did the U.S. enforcement of boarding schools impact Native families?
• Why are 'Indian' boarding schools such an untold story?
• How can concerned citizens make a difference today?

More Resources:

• “Treaties Made, Treaties Broken”
• "Indians Are ‘Persons’”
• “We’ve Done Them Wrong”
• Gover’s 175th BIA Anniversary Speech
• Indian Child Welfare Act
• Boarding Schools

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