🪦 Shocking Truth: Over 3,100 Native American Children Died in U.S. Boarding Schools
Discover the heartbreaking truth: More than 3,100 Native American children died in U.S. boarding schools under tragic circumstances.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
A long time ago, 🌅 thousands of Native American children were taken from their families 👪 and sent to schools 🏫 where they couldn't speak their languages 🗣️ or practice their traditions 🎶. Many of these children were very sad 😢 and even died 💔 because of the terrible conditions there. The schools were meant to erase their cultures ❌, like wiping away their identity 🧼. Today, people are trying to tell their stories 📖 and make things right 🔄 by remembering them and supporting Native cultures 🌍.
🗝️ Takeaways
🎓 Over 3,100 Native American children died in U.S. boarding schools, far exceeding the government's previous count of 973.
🏴☠️ These schools were essentially cultural concentration camps, designed to erase Native identities from history.
⚰️ Many children were buried in unmarked graves, reflecting a legacy of trauma and silence.
❌ President Biden acknowledged the atrocities as a "sin," but real accountability requires active reparations and cultural support.
🥁 Indigenous cultures continue to resist and thrive, demonstrating resilience despite centuries of systemic violence.
Stolen Souls: The Genocide Hidden in America's Classroom
Trigger Warning: Graphic descriptions of historical trauma, systemic violence, and child abuse
Breaking news that should break your heart: Over 3,104 Native American children died in U.S. boarding schools. Not 973 as the government initially claimed. Three. Thousand. One. Hundred. And. Four. Souls erased. Lives extinguished. Entire universes of potential snuffed out in the name of "civilization."
The Horrific Math of Cultural Extinction
Let's do some soul-crushing arithmetic. The Washington Post's year-long investigation reveals that between 1828 and 1970, these weren't schools. They were cultural concentration camps designed with one genocidal mission: complete and total Native American erasure.
Over 800 children were buried in unmarked graves near the schools where they were stolen, tortured, and killed. Imagine the grief. The unanswered questions. The generations of trauma compressed into unmarked dirt and institutional silence.
Meet the Architect of Cultural Lobotomy
Enter Richard Henry Pratt, the twisted mastermind behind the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. His motto? "Kill the Indian, Save the Man"—a slogan so monumentally sociopathic it sounds like a rejected plot from a dystopian nightmare.
Founded in 1879, Carlisle became the prototype for a nationwide system of cultural amputation. Children as young as five were kidnapped, their sacred traditions violently stripped away:
Traditional clothing burned
Hair—a spiritual symbol in many Native cultures—was forcibly cut.
Native languages forbidden under threat of punishment
Families permanently separated
Beyond Numbers: The Intimate Violence of Assimilation
These weren't just schools. They were meat grinders of Indigenous identity, turning vibrant, complex cultures into beige, homogenized "American" paste.
Judi Gaiashkibos,1 director of the Nebraska Commission on Native Americans, cuts through the bureaucratic bullshit perfectly: These were "prison camps, work camps."
The Causes of Death: A Horrific Inventory
According to documents, children died from:
Infectious diseases
Malnutrition
"Accidents" (read: systematic abuse)
Suspected mistreatment
The slow death of cultural starvation
Biden's Hollow Performative Apology
President Biden called this "a sin that stains our souls." Cool story, bro. Want to know what real accountability looks like?
FREE LEONARD PELTIER.
An apology means nothing when the same systems of oppression continue to grind Indigenous peoples into the margins of society.
The Ongoing Genocide of Silence
Today's Native American reservations aren't just poor. They're traumatized crime scenes of continued cultural destruction:
High suicide rates
Massive economic marginalization
Continued systemic racism
Intergenerational trauma that screams through every statistical metric
A Call to Radical Healing
We don't need sympathy. We need:
Full historical accounting
Comprehensive reparations
Return of stolen lands
Support for Indigenous Language Revival
Prosecution of institutional perpetrators
Leonard Peltier's immediate release
The Unbroken Spirit
Despite everything, Indigenous cultures haven't just survived. They've resisted. They've thrived.
To the 3,104 stolen children: Your spirits were never truly captured. Your languages whisper through the wind. Your cultures dance in the resistance of every Indigenous child who speaks their truth.
Mitakuye Oyasin - We are all connected. And connection is the ultimate act of revolution.
This isn't history. This is an ongoing crime. And we are all complicit until we demand real change.
☕ If you enjoyed this article, give us a tip! We 🤎☕‼️
Agence France-Presse, “Media Report: More than 3,100 Native American Children Died in US Boarding Schools,” Voice of America, last modified December 22, 2024, accessed December 23, 2024, https://www.voanews.com/a/media-report-more-than-3-100-native-american-children-died-in-us-boarding-schools-/7910455.html.
This is but the tip of the genocidal iceberg. Sadly, this is also part of the indisputable history our far-Right seeks to purge from textbooks. The mistreatment of the Indigenous Peoples continues to the present day, and we must expect more of the same from the incoming administration.