19th Century Native Americans Boarding Schools
How the indigenous people were separated from their children.
Native Americans have suffered a similar plight as other Americans whose ancestry migrated or was brought to this country, namely African Americans whose families were torn apart.
Much is coming to light regarding how the Native Americans suffered at the hands of the many who took advantage of their plight and circumstances. Not only did they lose their lands, but they were also relegated to reservations and secluded from the prosperity and the industrialization of this country from schooling, and family life to business success.
When it came to education, Native American children were separated from their parents and placed in boarding schools. There have been recent discoveries of the many atrocities that Native Americans faced at the hands of the White race.
It has been reported that there had been 400 institutions, and boarding schools, where Native American children were taken from their families, and not because these boarding schools had such good intentions, some students were abused. These boarding schools were located in Sante Fe, N.M, and other states around the country. Native American children were not permitted to speak in their native language as they were forced to assimilate like the African Americans during slavery.
These 400-plus boarding schools were supported by the U.S. government and operated for 150 years beginning with the 19th century as many tribes were forced onto reservations from their ancestral lands.
To date, many Native Americans are yet suffering from the loss of their children as many never returned home. These families are clueless about whether their children are dead or alive. Some of these Native American children taken away from their families were as young as 4 years old.
These boarding schools operated in 37 states or territories, i.e. Oklahoma, Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Some states are reckoning with the attrotices committed by their state by providing free tuition and/or compensating Native Americans in some manner to make up for the wrongness done.
While the U.S. government had its hand in the middle of running these boarding schools, religious groups such as Catholic, Protestant, and other churches committed such division as they operated due to federal funding supported by U.S. laws and policies to “civilize” Native Americans. Serious!?
How can killing thousands of Native Americans, stealing their lands, and taking their children to be civilized? Greed, deception, abusing and stealing of Native American children, and murder committed at the hands of the White race, this same race chose to civilize Native Americans? In reality, it was not the Native Americans that needed to be civilized but the White race who committed such heinous crimes against Native Americans. Did the Native Americans take White children from their parents and abused them?
Hundreds of unmarked graves have been found at former residential school sites in Canada. How can these Native Americans affected at this magnitude ever find closure with their loved ones being buried in unmarked graves? It is estimated that these burial sites could be the burial place for as many as tens of thousands of students whose graves are unmarked and located a long distance from their tribes. Also, 50 burial sites have been uncovered
The Native American students from certain tribes like the American tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian communities who survived being relegated to boarding schools are being allowed to share their stories as part of the Native American oral history collection. This effort is way overdue as other tribes should be afforded the same opportunity to find closure on so many levels for themselves, their families, and communities.
According to documentation and the testimonies of some of the Native American boarding school students across the country and Canada, some had positive experiences while others had the military-style discipline and had to cut their long hair.
Spearheading the reality of what happened to Native American children in boarding schools, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is working with the Interior Department to reckon what happened at these boarding schools and burial sites to be instrumental in the healing processes for Native Americans affected by such attroticietes.
Most notable, the U.S. House subcommittee will hear testimony on a bill to create a truth and healing commission similar to one that is in Canada with the support of several church groups backing this legislation.
In conclusion, perhaps the descendants of Native Americans will be afforded equal rights and recognition that is long overdue for them as the indigenous people of America. Native Americans need their day in the sunshine, so their history, culture, and ownership will be recognized once and for all in their rightful place in American History. Their truth deserves to be told.
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