Department of Interior Releases Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative Report Vol. II
On July 30, 2024, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the release of the second and final report of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The second report follows the initial report and recommendations from May 11, 2022.
Volume II furthers our knowledge of the Federal Indian Boarding school system by:
- Updating the official list of Federal Indian boarding schools to include 417 institutions across 37 states or then-territories;
- Providing detailed profiles of each Federal Indian boarding school;
- Identifying 1,025 other institutions that did not satisfy the four criteria used for this investigation, but were nevertheless used to advance similar assimilation and education policy goals;
- Confirming that at least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died while attending Federal Indian boarding schools;
- Confirming that there are at least 74 marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 different school sites;
- Listing 127 Treaties between the United States and Indian Tribes that implicate the Federal Indian boarding school system; and,
- Reporting that the Department estimates that the U.S. Government made appropriations available of more than $23.3 billion in FY23 inflation-adjusted dollars between 1871 and 1969 for the Federal Indian boarding school system as well as other similar institutions and associated assimilation policies.
The final report concludes with eight recommendations listed on pages 95–104 from Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland based on the findings. According to the Department of Interior press release, the recommendations include:
- Issuing a formal acknowledgment and apology from the U.S. government regarding its role in adopting and implementing national federal Indian boarding school policies;
- Investing in remedies to the present-day impacts of the federal Indian boarding school system;
- Establishing a national memorial to acknowledge and commemorate the experiences of Indian Tribes, individuals, and families affected by the federal Indian boarding school system;
- Identifying and repatriating remains of children and funerary objects who never returned from federal Indian boarding schools;
- Returning former federal Indian Boarding school sites to Tribes;
- Telling the story of federal Indian boarding schools to the American people and global community;
- Investing in further research regarding the present-day health and economic impacts of the federal Indian boarding school system; and
- Advancing international relationships in other countries with similar but their own unique histories of boarding schools or other assimilationist policies.
“This report recognizes the deep and widespread impacts of federal assimilationist policies and is a crucial step towards telling the truth and facilitating healing,” said NICWA Executive Director Sarah Kastelic. “From our perspective in Indian child welfare, acknowledging the history of Federal Indian boarding school policies is crucial to remedying the current day impacts of these policies on Native children, youth, families, and communities.”
Read: Volume I of the Federal Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report
Read: Volume II of the Federal Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report
Watch: Secretary Haaland Message to Indigenous Boarding School Survivors