By hannover-web.com On October 25th, President Biden announced he would formally apologize for the U.S. government’s forced removal of Indigenous children to boarding schools, a significant acknowledgment of a painful chapter in American history.
“There’s something I need to do that I’ve long put off: to formally apologize for how we’ve treated Native American children over the years,” Biden stated. This apology is significant as it marks the first time a U.S. president has addressed the violence experienced by tens of thousands of Indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their families for generations to attend these schools.
Reports have revealed that many of these children suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse during their time in boarding schools, with tragic outcomes resulting in nearly a thousand deaths.
The federal government first supported the establishment of these boarding schools through laws and policies passed in 1819, and some remained operational as late as the 1960s. By the 1920s, the majority of Indigenous school-age children were enrolled in these federally or religiously operated institutions, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
