Indianz.Com > News > Cronkite News: Indian boarding schools confront genocidal legacy
Tribal boarding schools much improved, but legacy of old schools remains
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis apologized. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called it a “heartbreaking” part of U.S. history. Congress is considering legislation to atone for the government’s actions.
Few dispute that Indian boarding schools led to more than a century of abuse, systematically seizing Indigenous land, separating children from their families, destroying communities and working to erase tribal languages, religions, cultures and economies. Poor conditions and harsh treatment at the schools are blamed for the deaths of untold numbers of Indigenous children who were supposed to be in the government’s care.
While the abuses were in the past, the schools are not, entirely. Arizona, home to 47 federal Indian boarding schools at one point, still has eight such schools today.
Advocates say the modern schools are not perfect. But they are a far cry from the horrors of the past.
“They’re not run the way the schools were run in 1925,” said Tsianina Lomawaima, of Mvskoke (Creek) descent and a retired professor of Indigenous studies at Arizona State University.


Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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