President Biden designates national monument at former Indigenous boarding school in Pennsylvania
President Joe Biden has designated the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument to honor Indigenous tribes who suffered abuses at similar institutions. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which closed in 1918, forced more than 10,000 Native American children to assimilate into white society, leading to the death of 187 children. The monument aims to remember this dark chapter in American history.
Efforts are underway to return the children’s remains to their homelands, with three children being returned to a Montana reservation. More than 970 Native American children died at government-funded boarding schools over 150 years. Survivor testimonies recount beatings and forced assimilation practices.
Biden apologized in October for the harm caused by boarding schools. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, herself a descendant of boarding school survivors, acknowledges the deep trauma inflicted on Indigenous communities. The monument will allow Americans to learn more about the harmful policies that led to the forced assimilation of Indigenous children.
Funded by $23.3 billion in federal spending, religious and private institutions ran many of the schools as partners in the assimilation campaign. The creation of the national monument marks the seventh established by Biden. Native American tribes and conservation groups advocate for more designations to acknowledge and heal the intergenerational trauma caused by boarding schools.
Source
Photo credit www.nbcwashington.com