Study sheds light on dark history of U.S. Indigenous residential schools

A first-of-its-kind U.S. federal study of Native American boarding schools — that for over a century sought to assimilate Indigenous children into white society — has identified more than 500 student deaths at the institutions, but officials say that figure could grow exponentially as research continues.

The U.S. Interior Department report released Wednesday expands to more than 400 the number of schools that were known to have operated for 150 years, starting in the early 19th century and coinciding with the removal of many tribes from their ancestral lands. It identified the deaths in records for about 20 of them.

The dark history of the boarding schools — where children were forced from their families, prohibited from speaking their Native American languages and often abused — has been felt deeply through generations of families.

Many children never returned home, and the Interior Department said that with further investigation the number of known student deaths could climb to the thousands or even tens of thousands. Causes included illness, accidental injuries and abuse, officials say.

"Each of those children is a missing family member, a person who was not able to live our their purpose on this earth because they lost their lives as part of this terrible system," said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose paternal grandparents were sent to boarding school for several years as kids.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-indigenous-boarding-schools-study-department-interior-1.6449330

The media has a propensity to call residential schools 'boarding schools' which, imo, is an attempt to soften what really happened and why.