(NewsNation) — A report from the U.S. Department of the Interior has found that at least 973 Native American children died while at federal boarding schools.
Between 1819 through the 1970s, the U.S. established boarding schools across the country to culturally assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children by removing them from their families, communities and cultural beliefs.
Many of the children at these federal boarding schools endured physical and emotional abuse and, according to the Interior report, sometimes death.
In 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said her department would begin an investigation, led by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, to recognize the intergenerational impact of these schools on Indigenous communities.
The investigation identified the details of institutions where students died and found the number of burial sites, the participation of religious institutions and organizations and the amount of federal dollars spent to operate these locations.
According to the report, at least 973 children died while under the care of these institutions. The report also included policy recommendations for Congress and the executive branch to consider to chart a path to redress for Indigenous communities.
