Tribal Colleges & Universities Help Heal in Wake of Boarding School Legacy

Guest Opinion.  It’s back to school time! Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) across the country are opening their doors to students as they get ready to start a new semester.

As we return to the classroom, I remember my own excitement seeing students walk through the doors at Northwest Indian College, a tribal college where I served as president for 10 years before joining the American Indian College Fund as president and CEO. I think back to my time at Sinte Gleska University and St. Francis Indian School—where the first day of school meant new textbooks and backpacks—for both the college and K-12 students. I remember the hot fall days.

During this time of excitement about the new school year, I always think about how school wasn’t always a positive experience for Native people.  We have challenges today, but we often go to schools where there is an effort to support our identities. And we usually go home to our families.  That wasn’t the case for many of our relatives who went to boarding schools.

The U.S. Department of Interior released its second volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Final Report this July. It provided a preliminary accounting of the number of American Indian children forcibly taken from their parents to “attend” the 451 federal boarding school sites located across 37 states or territories between 1819 and 1969. That totals a shocking estimate of 18,624 Native children to date.

Make no mistake. “Attending” school is not an accurate description of Native students’ experiences with a boarding school education.

Think about the scale of this plan. The government shipped young children, who were grandchildren, children, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, or cousins of people in our communities, far away from their families to attend schools that were more like prison camps. Our relatives were forced to cut ties with family and community and assimilate into western/mainstream culture. They were severely punished for speaking their languages, maintaining their spiritual practices, or demonstrating their values as Indigenous people. Often, they were unable to travel home. This was all part of the government’s plan for the rupture of families and extinction of our communities and cultures.

The legacy of this sinister plan had a devastating impact on our ancestors, and we feel the consequences today. The report confirms that an estimated 973  American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children are known to have died attending these so-called schools. The numbers could be far greater.

Some people are hesitant to name generational trauma, but the boarding school legacy touches nearly every Native American. This painful episode in our nation’s history is something we cannot easily set aside. These abuses were perpetuated on our family members across several generations. The struggle with this knowledge continues to cause significant issues with physical and mental health in our communities.

This history is one of the reasons why tribally controlled education is so important and why our TCUs are so critical to the well-being of our communities. Tribal colleges are where our communities and families come together to heal. Their curricula, rooted in Native cultures and languages, immerse our people, from our elders to the youngest children, in cultural values, and support them as they learn in culturally appropriate ways.

TCUs are centers for gathering and sharing traditional Native ways with entire communities, providing services such as early childhood education, libraries, food services, computer centers, health services, gyms, and more.

Our mission at the American Indian College Fund is to provide Native people with access to higher education and to support the TCUs in their work. It’s a partnership that works, and the data tells the story—in a 2019 Gallup Survey of tribal college and university alumni, we learned that 75% of TCU graduates serve their communities after graduation. In addition, they report greater wellness outcomes than non-TCU alumni and a greater sense of being supported by faculty and staff while attending a tribal college. The result of a positive, supportive learning environment is healthier students, Native families, and communities.

As difficult as it is to read the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Final Report, it marks a significant opportunity to illuminate the truth of Native histories in our country, and to advance national reconciliation and healing.

We believe education is the answer to healing the wounds of the past. With your support, we can continue to heal and create healthier, more sustainable Native communities, one student at a time, through a tribal college education.

We are thankful for you as you walk this path with us.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, Wacinyanpi Win (They Depend on Her), the President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, is a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. She has been in her position with the American Indian College Fund since 2012. 

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