President Joe Biden announced that a former Indian boarding school is now a national monument.
The Pennsylvania site recognizes that between the early 19th and mid-20th centuries, the U.S. government “removed American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children (Native children) from their families, Tribes, and homelands, often by force or coercion, and transported them to institutions across the United States.”
The goal of the “Federal Indian boarding school system,” a White House proclamation describes, was to “assimilate Native children by stripping them of their languages, religions, and cultures.”
According to the proclamation, “The Federal Government’s attempt to control and assimilate Native children into Anglo-European culture, society, and religion through the Federal Indian boarding school system was part of a broader effort to destroy American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian political, social, and cultural structures; stifle opposition and resistance in those communities; and appropriate Tribal lands, waters, and resources.”
The new monument will be called the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument.
“Designating the former campus of the Carlisle School, with boundaries consistent with the National Historic Landmark, as a national monument will help ensure this shameful chapter of American history is never forgotten or repeated,” the White House said, adding that establishing a national monument is a “step toward redress and national healing in the arc of the survival, resilience, and triumph of Indian Tribes (including Alaska Native Villages) and the Native Hawaiian Community.”
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said the Biden-Harris administration’s “efforts to acknowledge and redress the legacy of the assimilation policy have made an enduring difference for Indian Country.” Haaland added that the “trauma is not new to Indigenous people, but it is new for many people in our nation.”
