Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1819-1969 · 150 years · show in timeline

Indian boarding schools USA 1819 to 1969: The Catholic Church ran 80 of the 417 federal boarding schools for assimilating Indigenous children; at least 973 children died in the system

Between 1819 and 1969 the US government operated or supported a system of boarding schools designed to remove Indigenous children from their families and assimilate them. The investigation by the US Department of the Interior (Volume I 2022, Volume II 2024) counts 417 such schools, 210 of them run by religious institutions, 80 of those by the Catholic Church. The state paid the churches per capita sums for this, among others to the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, partly from tribal trust funds. In the schools children's names, hair, language and religion were erased, and rules were enforced with solitary confinement, flogging and withholding food. At least 973 children died. According to Volume II the government was unaware of any support by the US bishops' conference for a papal apology; the conference apologised itself in June 2024.

Period
1819-1969 (150 years)
Country
United States
Institutions
Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions
Catholic Church in the United States
US Department of the Interior
Category
Violence, Colonialism
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. According to Volume I the system used militarised methods to alter the children's identity: new English names, cut hair, suppression of Indigenous languages, religions and customs, military drill. Rules were often enforced with corporal punishment, including solitary confinement, flogging and withholding food; older children were made to punish younger ones. Volume II confirms at least 973 child deaths between 1819 and 1969 and at least 74 burial sites at 65 school sites; according to the department the figures are incomplete.
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 1, S. 7
    „The Federal Indian boarding school system deployed systematic militarized and“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, Band 1, S. 7. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 1, S. 8
    „corporal punishment such as solitary confinement; flogging; withholding food;“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, Band 1, S. 8. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, Zusammenfassung
    „Confirming that at least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, Zusammenfassung. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, Zusammenfassung
    „Confirming that there are at least 74 marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 different“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, Zusammenfassung. Original

What happened to those affected?

  1. Volume II names the papal bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493) as the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery that justified conquest and seizure of land; Pope Francis repudiated this doctrine on 30 March 2023. Up to publication the US government was unaware of any support by the US bishops' conference for an official papal apology. On 14 June 2024 the conference adopted, by 181 votes to 2, a framework text apologising for the Church's role.
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, Kap. 13
    „The Holy See145 issued the following Papal Bulls to authorize Catholic countries in“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, Kap. 13. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, Kap. 13
    „To date, the U.S. Government is unaware of any support by the United States“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, Kap. 13. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, Kap. 13
    „Bishops approved by vote (181-2)“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, Kap. 13. Original

Background

Who received the assets, who profited?

  1. The state at times paid religious institutions per capita sums for each child they took into their schools; the contractors included the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. In 1908 in Quick Bear v. Leupp the Supreme Court allowed tribal trust and treaty funds to be used for this, even though these payments depleted funds the tribes were entitled to. A school superintendent wrote in 1886 that government aid enabled the missions to lead these people, whose paganism was the chief obstacle to their civilisation, into the light of Christianity.
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 1, S. 48
    „Presbyterian Church, the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, and the Protestant Episcopal“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, Band 1, S. 48. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 1, S. 44
    „While payments to religious“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, Band 1, S. 44. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 1, S. 48
    „paganism has been the chief obstacle to their civilization, into“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, Band 1, S. 48. Original

Response of the Church

  1. According to Volume II the US government supported at least 59 religious institutions in operating schools in the system; 210 of the 417 federal Indian boarding schools were run by a religious institution, 80 of them by the Catholic Church and 134 by Protestant churches. Schools run by religious bodies without government support are not included.
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, S. 46
    „Accordingly, 210 of 417 Federal Indian boarding schools were operated by“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, S. 46. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, S. 46
    „• The Catholic Church: 80“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, S. 46. Original
    Evidence: U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Band 2, S. 46
    „This number does not include Indian“
    Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, Band 2, S. 46. Original

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Government report
    U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland: Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume I, 11 May 2022. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  2. Government report
    U.S. Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland: Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume II, 30 July 2024. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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