Washington A national monument honoring the federal government’s repression of thousands of Native American children in a boarding school system during the 19th and 20th centuries will be dedicated by President Joe Biden on Monday.
During his administration’s last White House Tribal Nations Summit this afternoon, Biden will unveil the new monument, known as the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument, which is situated in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
According to the White House, the school was established in 1879 and was the first federal off-reservation boarding school for Native students. It served as a model for other such schools around the nation, which eventually numbered over 400. For almost 40 years, the school was in operation.
Children from American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities were taken from their families for over 150 years, according to the White House, “often by force or coercion,” and “transported to institutions that aimed to strip them of their languages, religions, and cultures.”
By preventing these youngsters from using their original languages, religions, and traditions, the federal government aimed to assimilate them.
“To that end, the children taken to these institutions were often separated from their families for years, and many never returned to their homes,” the White House proclamation establishing the monument states. “A large number of Native children experienced sexual assault in schools. In addition to cutting their hair, school personnel forced them to abandon their customary attire and names, gave them subpar medical care, and denied them vital nourishment.
The announcement states that although the death toll is thought to be significantly higher, available records indicate that around 1,000 of these youngsters perished in this system.
According to the White House’s proclamation and accompanying release, children were expressly compelled to perform hard labor at the Carlisle School in order to construct the entry gates that still stand today as well as other facilities on the school’s site.
Attending the meeting is Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the position of Cabinet secretary and a descendent of those who survived the federal Indian boarding school system.
On 24.5 acres of what is now the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks—one of the oldest military posts in the United States, according to the White House—will stand the Carlisle School and national monument. The monument will be managed with assistance from the Army and the National Park Service.
The distinction comes after Biden formally apologized for the boarding school system when in Phoenix, Arizona, in October. In 2021, the administration first declared its intention to look into the federal government’s previous supervision of the policy.
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