History in the News - Native American Boarding Schools
This is not new information to anyone that is in this group - however, I share this gift link (PDF version) to the New York Times article ‘War Against the Children’ for a few reasons. The NYT has a broad reach and everytime an institution takes the time to do long form reporting on this topic a larger audience will be made aware of the atrocities. The article uses an effective blend of maps, primary sources and narratives to elucidate the systematic approach to exploit and forcibly assimilate Native children all over the United States.
I could see using an article like this for a number of approaches in a classroom.
It is very long and could be chunked for different students reading different sections.
Identify LOC resources that further expound on the evidence and resources
I could see this being used to spark student investigations into the schools closest to your student’s location.
Look to state and local historical sites for resources
I could see using this as a way to contrast with what is happening to the children of Ukraine in Russia.
The boarding school idea was unfortunately a tool in the colonialism toolbox and also devastated indigenous communities in Australia and Canada (among others). There are tons of resources about those communities.
You could have students look for violations from the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
After some parsing of the text and the historical artifacts, some questions to grapple with…
How did the American government justify its actions in light of basic protections in the Bill of Rights and Constitution?
What did Canada and Australia do to reckon with their past abuses of indigenous people?
Other than outrage, what are actionable moves that US citizens can take, now that they know this information?
