"Kill the Indian, Save the Man" - The Horrors of Native Boarding Schools

Updated: Jan 14

In 2020, two massive graveyards were discovered in Canada--one of 751 graves, another of 215 graves, all of Native children--at defunct boarding schools designed to "reform" Native children into white society. Since them, the horrors of past forced enculturation of Native tribes in North American continue to be uncovered.

These photographs only begin to capture the tragically flawed philosophy of white North Americans, both in the U.S. and Canadian governments and cultures, about "civilizing" and "Christianizing" Native Americans. After tribes were decimated and forced onto reservations, Native children were essentially kidnapped from their families and forced to live at boarding schools designed to immerse them in European-American culture through forced change and stripping them of any indigenous cultural traditions and identity.

Children were forced to cut their hair, wear "white" clothing, speak English, were forbidden practicing their own religion, language, or traditions, and were subjected to strict military-like regimens enforced by corporal punishment.

The most famous boarding school for Native children and the flagship institution by which all other boarding schools throughout the country modeled themselves was The Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Its official motto: "Kill the Indian, Save the Man."

Horrific recent discoveries in Canada of massive graveyards of Native American children--one of 751 graves in Saskatchewan, another of 215 graves in British Columbia--reminds the world again of the barbaric practice of "enculturating" Indian children into white society in both the U.S. and Canada. Native leaders say they believe that tens of thousands of children died in these boarding "schools," from disease, squalid conditions, physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Most are now lost to history.

Here are links to news articles about the recent graveyard discoveries in Canada:

• 751 Native Children's Graves Discovered in Saskatchewan

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/world/canada/indigenous-children-graves-saskatchewan-canada.html

• Second Massive Indigenous Graveyard Uncovered in Canada

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57592243

You may also be interested in these related posts:

-Back from the Brink

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/native-americans-back-from-the-brink

-Vanishing Race

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/vanishing-americans

-The Heartbreaking Tale of Orphan Trains

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/the-heartbreaking-tale-of-orphan-trains

"Kill the Indian, Save the Man" was first posted on Facebook and NotesfromtheFrontier.com on April 2, 2020.

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