Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says the schools isolated thousands of children from their families and denied them their identities as Native Americans.
FILE - The ruins of a building that was part of a Native American boarding school on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in Mission, S.D., are show here Oct. 15, 2022. Federal officials with the Interior Department called on the U.S. government Tuesday, July 30, 2024, to apologize for a nationwide system of boarding schools in which Native children faced abuse and neglect. BILLINGS, Mont. — At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S.
“Make no mistake,” she added, “This was a concerted attempt to eradicate the quote, ‘Indian problem’ — to either assimilate or destroy native peoples altogether.” Former students shared tearful recollections of their experience during the listening sessions in 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 the withholding of food.
Haaland said she was personally “sorry beyond words,” but there should also be a formal apology from the federal government. She didn’t say if she would press President Joe Biden to issue one. By the 1920s, most Indigenous school-age children — some 60,000 children — were attending boarding schools that were run either by the federal government or religious organizations, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
More than 200 schools supported by the government had a religious affiliation, federal officials said. The boarding school coalition has identified more than 100 additional schools not on the government list that were run by churches, with no evidence of federal support.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in abusive US boarding schoolsAt least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system, according to the results of an investigation released Tuesday by officials who called on the government to apologize for the schools.
Read more »
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in US government boarding schoolsThe investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at 65 of the more than 400 U.S. boarding schools that were established to forcibly assimilate Native American children into white society.
Read more »
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in US government boarding schoolsA federal investigation has found that at least 973 Native American children perished in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period.
Read more »
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in US government boarding schoolsA federal investigation has found that at least 973 Native American children perished in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period.
Read more »
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in US government boarding schoolsA federal investigation has found that at least 973 Native American children perished in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period.
Read more »
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in abusive US boarding schoolsBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system, according to the results of an
Read more »