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Native American Boarding Schools: Past Trauma And Ongoing Legacy

783 Words4 Pages

Nicholas Martinez
Professor Weber
HIS-102
12 May 2023
Native American Boarding Schools: Past Trauma and Ongoing Legacy Native American Boarding Schools are a bleak and dark chapter in the history of the United States, often being overlooked or disregarded. The federal government created these schools in the late 19th century to assimilate Native American children into white American culture. In doing so, Native Americans were forced to adopt Christianity, speak English, and abandon their traditional ways of life. The boarding schools were seen as a means of civilizing the “savage” Native Americans and eradicating their cultural heritage. By 1926, nearly 83% of Indian school-age children attended boarding schools. By 1925, 60,889 children …show more content…

White Americans believed that their way of life was superior to that of Native Americans and that assimilation was necessary for the “progress” of Indigenous communities. A horrific but telling example of this was given by a quote from Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of Carlisle Indian Industrial School, “In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indian in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.” (“Struggling with Cultural Repression”) The boarding school system was part of a broader policy of forced assimilation, which included land dispossession, relocation, and termination of tribal sovereignty. The boarding schools also controlled and subjugated Indigenous peoples, who were seen as a threat to American …show more content…

“Historical trauma coupled with ongoing present-day traumas such as anti-Indigenous racism and a lack of clean drinking water has had a massive negative impact on Indigenous communities, resulting in (and combining with) issues such as addiction, limited education, incarceration, violence, abuse, suicidality, homelessness and poverty” (Seto). The effects of boarding schools are evident in the high poverty rates, unemployment, substance abuse, and suicide among Native Americans. The boarding school system has also contributed to the erasure of Indigenous languages, cultures, and knowledge systems, which are essential for the well-being of Indigenous communities and preserving their unique and beautiful ways of

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