U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna) and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) released the final part of their findings from a comprehensive report project they began in 2021.
The second and final volume of the report was published Tuesday, revealing bitter findings about the experiences of Indigenous children at federal Indian boarding schools.
The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report confirmed 973 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children passed away while attending a federal boarding school. Though, they suspect more still have yet to be confirmed.
Out of the 973 Indigenous children who passed away, 238 have yet to be identified.
Out of those students who passed, 109 died in a federal Indian boarding school in Oklahoma.
Newland said the causes of death were often not specified, but did offer some potential reasons.
“We do know that there was, historically, a lot of disease outbreak at these schools,” Newland said. “…It’s very likely that many of those kids died as a result of abuse or the after-effects of abuse.”
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued a statement in response to the report, expressing his appreciation for the research and the “dark decades” brought to light from the report.
Multiple perspectives from Oklahoma boarding school survivors were shared within the report, creating a more detailed picture of what transpired.
“My story begins in St. Patrick’s Mission…,” said one anonymous survivor of their experience in Anadarko. “… the moment I landed there, they took me downstairs, took all my clothes off and threw a bunch of green stuff all over me and it stung like hell. It stung my eyes. It stung all over me, and when they put the water on me, it stung even worse. They did not care.”
In an effort to move forward into an era of healing, Newland provided some suggestions, including:
- A formal apology from the U.S. government in its role in supporting federal Indian boarding schools
- Create a national memorial to remember and commemorate those affected by the schools.
- Repatriate remains of those who passed while attending the schools.
- Invest in research to continue understanding the effects of the boarding school system.
Understanding the “horrific era of this nation’s history,” as Haaland noted, is essential to raising awareness on the national and global level, and this report can catalyze the beginning of healing.“Native American history is American history, and everyone must know this history,” Haaland said during a press call with reporters. “It is history that has shaped our nation and that, for too long, has been swept under the rug, all while Indigenous communities grapple with the undeniable fallout of intergenerational trauma.”
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
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