Report details brutal, ‘militarized’ history of Native boarding schools – By Shaun Griswold (Albuquerque Journal) / May 12, 2022
The atrocities committed at boarding schools designed and run by the federal government to eradicate Indigenous language and culture were outlined by the U.S. Interior Department for the first time in a report published Wednesday.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland held back tears as she described the scope of the investigation that identifies 408 federal Indian boarding schools across 37 states that operated between 1819 and 1969. New Mexico had 43 of these schools, the third most in the country behind Oklahoma (76) and Arizona (47).
Burial sites were found at 53 different schools, but the department won’t publicly share the locations due to concerns of “grave-robbing, vandalism and other desecration,” Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland said.
