A preliminary investigation commissioned by U.S. Home Secretary Deb Haaland cataloged some of the brutal conditions that Native American children endured at more than 400 boarding schools the federal government forced them to attend between 1819 and 1969.
The inquiry was an initial step, according to Haaland, to address the “intergenerational trauma” caused by this policy.
The Interior Department report released Wednesday highlighted the abuse of many children in government-run schools, such as beatings, denial of food and solitary confinement. It also identified cemeteries in more than 50 of the former schools, a number the department expects will grow as the review continues.
The report is the first step in a comprehensive review that Haaland, the first native government secretary, announced in June after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of children attending similar schools in Canada sparked national outrage.
The initial investigation found that “approximately 19 federal Indian boarding schools were responsible for more than 500 deaths of American Indian, Alaska Native and Hawaiian children.” That number is expected to grow, according to the report.
From 1869 through the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were taken from their homes and families and placed in boarding schools, which were run by the government and churches.
There were 20,000 children in schools in 1900; by 1925, the number had more than tripled, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
The discovery of unmarked graves in Canada last year — 215 in British Columbia and a further 750 in Saskatchewan — prompted Haaland to announce that his agency would scour the grounds of former US schools and identify any remains. The secretary’s grandparents attended these schools.
“The consequences of federal indigenous boarding policies — including the intergenerational trauma caused by family separation and the cultural eradication inflicted on generations of children as young as four years of age — are poignant and undeniable,” Haaland said in a statement. “It is my priority not only to give a voice to survivors and descendants of federal indigenous boarding schools’ policies, but also to address the lasting legacies of these policies so that Native peoples can continue to grow and heal.”
The 106-page report, by Bryan Newland, assistant secretary for the Agency for Indian Affairs, concludes that more research is needed to better understand the lasting effects of the boarding school system on Native Americans in Alaska and Hawaii.
The government has not yet provided a forum or opportunity for boarding school survivors or descendants of survivors or their families to describe their experiences in schools. In an attempt to assimilate the native children, schools gave them English names, cut their hair and forbade them to speak their languages ​​and practice their religions or cultural traditions.
Haaland also announced plans for a year-long tour of the country, called The Healing Path, during which survivors of the boarding school system will be able to share their stories.
The Canadian government created similar initiatives and allocated around 320 million Canadian dollars (R$ 1.26 billion) to communities affected by the boarding system, searches for burial places and tributes to the victims.
