At least 18,624 Indian children entered the Federal Indian boarding school system between 1819 and 1969.  417 Federal Indian boarding schools

 1. The Federal Indian boarding system was expansive, consisting of 417 Federal Indian boarding schools, comprised of 451 specific sites, across 37 states or then territories, including 22 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaiʻi.

2. Multiple generations of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children were induced or compelled by the U.S. Government to experience the Federal Indian boarding school system, given their political and legal status as Indians and Native Hawaiians. At least 18,624 Indian children entered the Federal Indian boarding school system between 1819 and 1969. This information is not complete and does not count children who: attended a Federal Indian boarding school outside 1819-1969, may be listed as an attendee on records not available to the Department including those of religious institutions and organizations, or may be listed as an attendee of an Other Institution including Indian day schools, sanitariums, asylums, orphanages, stand-alone dormitories, and Indian boarding schools operated by religious institutions and organizations that received no U.S. Government support.

There are 74 marked or unmarked burial sites at 65 different schools across the Federal Indian boarding school system based on available records.

3. The Federal Indian boarding school system includes burial sites of Indian children who died while institutionalized. There are 74 marked or unmarked burial sites at 65 different schools across the Federal Indian boarding school system based on available records. This information is not complete and does not include burial sites that may be: associated with Federal Indian boarding schools in operation outside the period 1819-1969; listed on records not available to the Department including those of religious institutions and organizations, or associated with Other Institutions including Indian day schools, sanitariums, asylums, orphanages, stand alone dormitories, and Indian boarding schools operated by religious institutions and organizations that received no U.S. Government support.

1,025 other institutions supported by the U.S.Government

4. The twin Federal policy of Indian territorial dispossession and Indian assimilation through Indian education extended beyond the Federal Indian boarding school system, including an identified 1,025 other institutions across 1,027 total sites, including Indian day schools, sanitariums, asylums, orphanages, stand-alone dormitories, and Indian boarding schools operated by religious institutions and organization that received no U.S. Government support. 

5. Congress made appropriations available of more than an estimated $23.3 billion in FY23 inflation-adjusted dollars between 1871 and 1969 for the Federal Indian boarding school system as well as for similar institutions and associated assimilation policies. This amount does not include the present-day value of Indian territory loss associated with the Federal Indian boarding school system, any funds that may have been obtained from Tribal trust accounts for the benefit of Indians and maintained by the United States, or funds expended by other institutions including religious institutions and organizations for Indian boarding school operation.

6. Through public-private partnerships, at least 59 religious institutions and organizations received U.S. Government support to operate or support schools in the Federal Indian boarding school system. Religious institutions or organizations operated 210 of 417 Federal Indian boarding schools. This number does not include Indian boarding schools operated by religious institutions and organizations that did not receive U.S. Government support.

Militarized and identity alteration methods to assimilate American Indians

7. A priority of U.S.-Indian relations is Indian education, a treaty right, demonstrated by the 171 Treaties that the U.S. entered into with Indian Tribes and ratified by the Senate that implicate the Federal Indian boarding school system or education generally.

8. The Federal Indian boarding school system deployed militarized and identity alteration methods to assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people—primarily children—through education.

9. The Federal Indian boarding school system predominately used the manual labor of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children to compensate for the poor conditions of school facilities and lack of financial support from the U.S. Government.

10. The Federal Indian boarding school system discouraged or prevented the use of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages or cultural or religious practices through punishment, including corporal punishment.

Human remains or parts of remains of multiple  individuals or human remains

11. Tribal preferences for the possible disinterment or repatriation of remains of children discovered in marked or unmarked burial sites across the Federal Indian boarding school system vary widely. Depending on the religious and cultural practices of an Indian Tribe, Alaska Native Village, or Native Hawaiian Community, it may prefer to disinter or repatriate any remains of a child discovered across the Federal Indian boarding school system for return to the child’s home territory or to leave the child’s remains undisturbed in its current burial site. Moreover, some burial sites contain human remains or parts of remains of multiple 93 individuals or human remains that were relocated from other burial sites, thereby preventing Tribal and individual identification.

12. The U.S. Government has not commemorated or memorialized Indian children who experienced the Federal Indian boarding school system.

Conclusions of the Assistant Secretary 

Based on the findings of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, the Assistant Secretary concludes that:

The assimilation of Indian children through the Federal Indian boarding school system was intentional and part of that broader goal of Indian territorial dispossession for the expansion of the United States.

1. The United States’ creation of the Federal Indian boarding school system was part of a broader policy aimed at acquiring collective territories from Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, and the Native Hawaiian Kingdom and lands from individuals therein. From the earliest days of the Republic, the United States’ official objective—based on Federal and other records—was to sever the cultural and economic connection between Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, the Native Hawaiian Kingdom, and their territories. The assimilation of Indian children through the Federal Indian boarding school system was intentional and part of that broader goal of Indian territorial dispossession for the expansion of the United States.

2. Assimilation of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people eventually became an objective of Federal policy in and of itself. The Federal Indian boarding school policies targeted Indian children as one method to accomplish this objective.

Both traumatic and violent.

3. The intentional targeting, removal, and confinement of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children to achieve the goal of forced assimilation of Indian people was both traumatic and violent. In addition to the removals, deaths of Indian children while under the care of the U.S. Government, or U.S. Government-supported institutions, led to the breakup of Indian families and the erosion of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community.

4. Many more Indian children who survived the Federal Indian boarding school system live(d) with their experiences from the school(s). Moreover, several generations of Indian children experienced the Federal Indian boarding school system. The Federal Indian boarding school system directly disrupted Indian families, Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community for nearly two centuries, with many continuing effects that are present today.

This policy also caused the erosion of Tribal religious and cultural practices for Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community, and over many generations.

5. Further review is required to determine the reach and impact of the violence and trauma inflicted on Indian children through the Federal Indian boarding school system. The Department has recognized that targeting Indian children for the Federal policy of Indian assimilation contributed to the loss of: (1) life; (2) physical 94 and mental health; (3) territories and wealth; (4) Tribal and family relations; and (5) use of Tribal languages. This policy also caused the erosion of Tribal religious and cultural practices for Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community, and over many generations.

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