KNAU and Arizona News

National Endowment for the Humanities to record oral histories of Indigenous boarding school experience

KNAU News Talk - Arizona Public Radio | By Associated Press

Published April 26, 2023 at 3:33 PM MST

This photo made available by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia shows students at a Presbyterian boarding school in Sitka, Alaska in the summer of 1883. U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is supporting an effort to record oral histories and digitize records on Indigenous boarding schools. It’s contributing $4 million to ensure stories from survivors and descendants can help educate future generations.

The Endowment and the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the partnership Wednesday.

The effort is an extension of a tour launched by the Interior Department to hear stories from Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians who were sent to U.S.-funded boarding schools.

A report released last year found the federal government supported more than 400 schools that sought to, “civilize” Indigenous students. Many students experienced systemic abuse, cultural annihilation and even death at the hands of those responsible for their care.