The Reckoning: Native American Boarding Schools’ Painful History Unearthed

My grandmother will be 93 in a month. All my life she talked about the boarding schools, the nuns, the priests and how horrific the whole experience was to her and her siblings! Some of her siblings left the Rez and never returned. Never wanted to face the pains and abuse they took from the nuns and priests. She has written a rough draft about her time in school but has never published it! I doubt it will be published while she’s still alive! My grandmother is brave! She is strong! She is Lakota Brûlée!

For my grandparents and ancestors who were forced to assimilate...I'll never forget. Miyutake oyasin Osiyo Wado Rest in peace

I’m so glad that the history of Indigenous people in the US is finally being discussed!! In Canada, these schools have been in the forefront for a few years and discussed more openly than in the US for many years. We are all learning the history of these schools and how we can never allow this to happen ever again.

As a White left-handed boy growing up Catholic, and being exposed to their cruel treatment that still affects my daily life 40 years later, I can't begin to fathom the horror these people went through in the name of "progress". To have your culture destroyed intentionally all the while trying to hold onto what little of yourself and your heritage that you can is nothing short of devastating. So much inexcusable loss. Even though exposure such as this will never correct the past, we can only hope it will educate those who remain to insure their future.

This is disgraceful. The ongoing oppression that occurs and is left out of this piece. As we try to drive down the understanding of cultures in this country with the denial of it's responsibility in repressing or pressing and breaking Native American's lifestyles cultures traditions and inclusivity in the federal government. As a Native American I have seen all of the villages in Alaska many many many still do not have Plumbing available because it is expensive to drill in permafrost. Every indigenous tribe in Canada has Plumbing on their lands and they are further north than some of the villages in Alaska.They still drill oil most recently they opened the Arctic National Reserve. No one knows about the spills that occur constantly with the alyeska pipeline company already. Big oil has driven us away from our natural resources as we are arrested constantly for, protesting another oil line plotted to go under our water supplies. For the very first time our interior secretary is a Native American Woman. This would not have happened if not for President Biden. You gave us crap land without any ability to develop it in any way as you employee lawyers to continue to take our rights away and put us in jail for protesting oil line under our water supplies wake up America you are not cleansed of your sins.

As a Catholic, I'm ashamed of the Catholic Church...

I grew up in SD and did not know about the boarding schools until I was in my 20's. I attended a local film festival where they screened The Thick Dark Fog. A documentary about Walter Littlemoon's time in the school. The documentary and Q and A afterwards were heartbreaking.

Thank you for publishing this. The US government owes so much to indigenous nations.

The Natives should have been allowed to keep their own religious beliefs

This always hurts. Generational trauma is such a hard thing to live with. What Europe did to the America's is still felt. So many died so many tortured and so many robbed of their identity.

Black people and Native people UNITE!! They ain't ready for that

So moving. Christians could learn so much from the Indian Nations of Americas

You know what's heartbreaking to me? The first time I heard about this in my 25 years of life was through the Paramount show "1923". I RAN to the internet to start trying to find personal accounts of these VIOLENT and DISGUSTING "school's" and I'm just sick. I am sick that it happened, I am sick that I haven't heard about this until now, that we don't talk about this more in school or life in general. If it makes me feel the way I'm feeling, I can't even fathom what it makes these families feel. What it makes all Native Americans feel. There's no way to make up for it. None.

Savagery and barbarism? Really? Don't get me started on who is really savage and barbaric! 🤬

This is vital work to bring this horror to the forefront of America's consciousness. We must address the horrific injustice and crime perpetrated upon our Native American brothers and sisters. Reparations must follow.🙏

Thank you for sharing this. For many who have not looked at the real history, as horrific as this is, it's just the tip of the iceberg. I found a VHS tape at my local library, a documentary titled "How the West was Lost" and found myself weeping through the entirety of it. It lead me to continue digging deeper into the true horrors of what occurred on this continent to the Native American people. It absolutely was genocide, for land, gold, silver and a truly cruel form of so called Christianity. Treaties and promises were nothing but things to be broken by Europeans/the white man. Those broken promises and more rights are still being broken to this day. How can a people heal when the abuse has not ended?

This is not american past its the current America, there are many communities suffering the same fate in the name of democracy

This is a nasty piece of history that needs to be told

Riveting. We need more stories about the horrors of the boarding schools, about efforts to locate and rebury the lost ones on their own land. Why are you the only network showcasing stories on the Indigenous peoples and the ancient tribes?

It was a genocide.