History and Legacy of Native American Boarding Schools and Survivors

 As genealogists, we often find ourselves unraveling complex historical narratives through family histories. One of the most challenging and poignant chapters in North American history is the story of Native American boarding schools and their survivors.

From the late 19th to the mid-20th century, and for some even earlier, Native American children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to attend hundreds of government-run, or church-run/ government-sponsored boarding schools. The stated goal was to "civilize" these children by stripping them of their cultural identities, languages, and traditions.

Hundreds of these institutions were established across the United States and Canada. Many students died, and those who survived carried the trauma of this separation from their families and communities and denial of their heritage and culture. Many students were given new "English" or "Christian" names and denied use of their own names, making them hard to trace. Separation from their cultures broke the bonds of oral history and passing down heritage through storytelling. Some of the churches who ran the schools did not want their records being researched.

Now, the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive, part of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, has digitized many records from the schools so that the truth can come out and the healing can begin. Kudos to all those involved in this worthy effort.