Indian Boarding Schools

 

American Indian Boarding Schools were established in the late 1800's and early 1900's to educate Indian children according to European/American standards. Children were taken from their homes and immersed in American culture and forbidden to practice their own. They were forced to cut their hair, wear European clothing, replace their traditional names with American ones and were not allowed to speak their language. The most well-known boarding school was Carlisle Indian Industrial School which operated from 1879 to 1918 and was the model for 26 additional boarding schools across the US.  Of the 10,000 children that attended this school only 158 graduated. Investigations have revealed many cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse occurring in these schools. It is estimated that the mortality rates for children in these schools was as great as 30%.