The History of America’s Indian Boarding Schools: Ep 12 of Crash Course Native American History
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Date: 2025-09-01
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Comments and reviews: 20
chrisforsyth8323
Thank you! My first exposure to the Residential School System was as six-year-old boy, sent to live with his grandparents in B. C. My grandmother was a school teacher in the public system, teaching Learning Disabled (as it was called at that time, and I'd been with her when she'd encountered an acquaintance in the tiny Mall. The woman was speaking with her about reopening something or other while I fidgeted. but my grandmother, daughter of a german immigrant, became very still. At a certain point, she interrupted the woman in the coldest voice I'd ever heard from her. You may do as you wish, of course, but only a true fool trusts a school with a graveyard! Then she took my hand and basically pulled me back to the car. Later, speaking with my grandfather in the kitchen, she used a more subdued tone, but she was very upset. It wasn't until years later that I even understood what I'd heard. Even then, some people knew that the system was morally wrong.
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Thank you! My first exposure to the Residential School System was as six-year-old boy, sent to live with his grandparents in B. C. My grandmother was a school teacher in the public system, teaching Learning Disabled (as it was called at that time, and I'd been with her when she'd encountered an acquaintance in the tiny Mall. The woman was speaking with her about reopening something or other while I fidgeted. but my grandmother, daughter of a german immigrant, became very still. At a certain point, she interrupted the woman in the coldest voice I'd ever heard from her. You may do as you wish, of course, but only a true fool trusts a school with a graveyard! Then she took my hand and basically pulled me back to the car. Later, speaking with my grandfather in the kitchen, she used a more subdued tone, but she was very upset. It wasn't until years later that I even understood what I'd heard. Even then, some people knew that the system was morally wrong.
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david-oval
I'll double check if it's already covered in this series, but there's an adjunct to the assimilation process. In Canada we call it the Scoop or Sixties Scoop whereby First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families for contrived reasons (often from birth) and adopted out to non-indigenous families. The insidious motive for this was not just assimilation but also erasure. The earlier a child was removed from their birth culture, the more likely they would have absolutely no conscious memory of even having been born indigenous. Given that adoption records were generally closed at the time, there was no easy way to discover one's birth identity. Off the top of my head, this practice continued until the 1980s here.
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I'll double check if it's already covered in this series, but there's an adjunct to the assimilation process. In Canada we call it the Scoop or Sixties Scoop whereby First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families for contrived reasons (often from birth) and adopted out to non-indigenous families. The insidious motive for this was not just assimilation but also erasure. The earlier a child was removed from their birth culture, the more likely they would have absolutely no conscious memory of even having been born indigenous. Given that adoption records were generally closed at the time, there was no easy way to discover one's birth identity. Off the top of my head, this practice continued until the 1980s here.
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Jiburley
Assimilation of our indigenous here in Australia started some 30 or 40 years after it began in the USA. It continued far too long and native children were being removed from their parents until 1969! Even though I'm a white man of European decent I find this part of our history INCREDIBLY difficult to reconcile. And learning of the similar path across the waters does not surprise me in the slightest. Racism will always make a man feel superior, it's probably why it's still with us. I sit here shedding tears for not only my native Australian brothers, but my native American brothers for the injustice trust upon them. I have no answers. Real recompense would just fuel the racists and probably backfire.
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Assimilation of our indigenous here in Australia started some 30 or 40 years after it began in the USA. It continued far too long and native children were being removed from their parents until 1969! Even though I'm a white man of European decent I find this part of our history INCREDIBLY difficult to reconcile. And learning of the similar path across the waters does not surprise me in the slightest. Racism will always make a man feel superior, it's probably why it's still with us. I sit here shedding tears for not only my native Australian brothers, but my native American brothers for the injustice trust upon them. I have no answers. Real recompense would just fuel the racists and probably backfire.
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lioelbammalf7483
Feels like a ruling class that knows only one way of oppression. Across Europe there are parallels with how the citizens were kept underfoot and how they tried to split up native land in the USA. Poor Europeans had crippling debts, property taxes and were all round part of a financial system that didn't allow them time to be thinking of what they could do to better that position. or who was profiting from it.
So the ruling class in the USA came and found people who weren't fitting into system they needed to continue their oppression and had to try to force them into boxes they were used to keeping the majority of Europeans in back home.
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Feels like a ruling class that knows only one way of oppression. Across Europe there are parallels with how the citizens were kept underfoot and how they tried to split up native land in the USA. Poor Europeans had crippling debts, property taxes and were all round part of a financial system that didn't allow them time to be thinking of what they could do to better that position. or who was profiting from it.
So the ruling class in the USA came and found people who weren't fitting into system they needed to continue their oppression and had to try to force them into boxes they were used to keeping the majority of Europeans in back home.
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Cody-r5p
My Dad made a good point about Native relations
From the POV of the average white citizen their only encounter is either through conflict, warfare, and bloodshed. They sided with the British in all the major conflicts against them so of course there would be prejudice there to exploit. When you don't even speak the same language it is hard to come to an understanding.
With that being said, those in power are the true villains. A treaty needed to be honored period.
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My Dad made a good point about Native relations
From the POV of the average white citizen their only encounter is either through conflict, warfare, and bloodshed. They sided with the British in all the major conflicts against them so of course there would be prejudice there to exploit. When you don't even speak the same language it is hard to come to an understanding.
With that being said, those in power are the true villains. A treaty needed to be honored period.
reply
QuasarSniffer
I grew up in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and to our school system's credit, it was required by our history class to visit the site of the Carlisle Indian School, and especially to tour the graveyard and discuss how those children died. Considering the climate of today, I'm assuming those field trips are not taken anymore, and I hate to think that my history education, in the late '90s, was more comprehensive and challenging than what kids are getting now.
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I grew up in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and to our school system's credit, it was required by our history class to visit the site of the Carlisle Indian School, and especially to tour the graveyard and discuss how those children died. Considering the climate of today, I'm assuming those field trips are not taken anymore, and I hate to think that my history education, in the late '90s, was more comprehensive and challenging than what kids are getting now.
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ravakahn
there's a similar story in what happened to Aboriginal Australians. Children taken from their homes and communities and put into schools - many were actually just used for domestic labour. They're called the Stolen Generations, and the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, apologised for the Stolen Generations in 2007, a day we now call Sorry Day. It also had a very mixed response from the Aboriginal community. There's still so much healing needed.
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there's a similar story in what happened to Aboriginal Australians. Children taken from their homes and communities and put into schools - many were actually just used for domestic labour. They're called the Stolen Generations, and the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, apologised for the Stolen Generations in 2007, a day we now call Sorry Day. It also had a very mixed response from the Aboriginal community. There's still so much healing needed.
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haydenbsiegel
I live on the same block as the Native American Boarding School they built in Manhattan. The neighborhood (Kips Bay) is also technically the first reservation in the USA. The school is now an apartment building, and I am pretty sure it is haunted. I didn't have a choice in living here. I was exiled and forced to against my will. It was a very traumatic experience, but there is nothing that can be done.
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I live on the same block as the Native American Boarding School they built in Manhattan. The neighborhood (Kips Bay) is also technically the first reservation in the USA. The school is now an apartment building, and I am pretty sure it is haunted. I didn't have a choice in living here. I was exiled and forced to against my will. It was a very traumatic experience, but there is nothing that can be done.
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graefx
In college, part of our curriculum involved helping on build native language learning software. There werent many fluent speakers left and tribal representatives provided language samples audio and video files and oversaw our work to make sure everything was accurate. It equated to basically elaborate flash cards, but it was something. Institutions on tribal land should have some similiar programs.
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In college, part of our curriculum involved helping on build native language learning software. There werent many fluent speakers left and tribal representatives provided language samples audio and video files and oversaw our work to make sure everything was accurate. It equated to basically elaborate flash cards, but it was something. Institutions on tribal land should have some similiar programs.
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angelmage99
I live right outside of rez. Many of my friends are Native and I always ask them what would they want me to know. In addition during when other visit during the big yearly PowWow I do the same. Nothing warms my heart when seeing a Nez Perce woman smile when you call them Nimiipuu, their traditional name or a Shoshone friend grinning as you eat an Indian taco that's hitting a spot.
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I live right outside of rez. Many of my friends are Native and I always ask them what would they want me to know. In addition during when other visit during the big yearly PowWow I do the same. Nothing warms my heart when seeing a Nez Perce woman smile when you call them Nimiipuu, their traditional name or a Shoshone friend grinning as you eat an Indian taco that's hitting a spot.
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Beryllahawk
An apology isn't enough, but it is a start. however it's only a start if we keep going in the right direction. Sad and shameful that us white folks haven't made much progress there. I'm aware that those of us who want justice for everybody no matter their skin color are fighting against an enormous level of pushback from people who want anything BUT justice. It's still shameful.
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An apology isn't enough, but it is a start. however it's only a start if we keep going in the right direction. Sad and shameful that us white folks haven't made much progress there. I'm aware that those of us who want justice for everybody no matter their skin color are fighting against an enormous level of pushback from people who want anything BUT justice. It's still shameful.
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crash_course
My kids great grandma is a survivor. When I heard her story it hit me in every sense. I only knew about the catholic schools in Mexico growing up and it was until I got with my wife, I learned about the dark history of our land. I’ve met many more grandparents that have survived. Now that my little ones are older we have started teaching them about this.
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My kids great grandma is a survivor. When I heard her story it hit me in every sense. I only knew about the catholic schools in Mexico growing up and it was until I got with my wife, I learned about the dark history of our land. I’ve met many more grandparents that have survived. Now that my little ones are older we have started teaching them about this.
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crash_course
What a horrendous piece of our history! I found myself shaking my head in disgust and frowning watching this. Tears actually welled up in my eyes when you talked about lye soap and pins in tongues being used as punishment for speaking in their native languages. What the Hell kind of people do that to children Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American.
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What a horrendous piece of our history! I found myself shaking my head in disgust and frowning watching this. Tears actually welled up in my eyes when you talked about lye soap and pins in tongues being used as punishment for speaking in their native languages. What the Hell kind of people do that to children Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American.
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deetlebee
Thank you for highlighting this terrible time in US history. The unfortunate fact, of course, is that these never really stopped. We just call it CPS and Foster Care. Indigenous children are still being stolen from their parents because of state-enforced poverty and given to white caretakers. A disgusting practice that has to stop.
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Thank you for highlighting this terrible time in US history. The unfortunate fact, of course, is that these never really stopped. We just call it CPS and Foster Care. Indigenous children are still being stolen from their parents because of state-enforced poverty and given to white caretakers. A disgusting practice that has to stop.
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SkullDixon
The thing that makes this even more cruel than it is already, no matter how much or well Native Americans assimilated into white culture, the same people who were forcing this assimilation on them would never accept those assimilated native americans anyway. They were always going to be seen and treated as others and outsiders.
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The thing that makes this even more cruel than it is already, no matter how much or well Native Americans assimilated into white culture, the same people who were forcing this assimilation on them would never accept those assimilated native americans anyway. They were always going to be seen and treated as others and outsiders.
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AuroraBorealis670
This is an evil part of not just American history, but the history of the world. It is a vile and dreadful thing to look at, but look at it we must. We must keep telling these stories so that they never happen again. Thank you Che Jim, and thank you to the Crash Course team for doing your part in preserving history.
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This is an evil part of not just American history, but the history of the world. It is a vile and dreadful thing to look at, but look at it we must. We must keep telling these stories so that they never happen again. Thank you Che Jim, and thank you to the Crash Course team for doing your part in preserving history.
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ElanorRobinson
They taught our history as if this was long ago and centuries past.
Little me was sitting in a Salt Lake City that classroom, being taught this. Unknowing, My own father hid from a school truck round up. Today, he’s gone. I’m left learning all of this without him. I was born in 1990 for timeline reference.
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They taught our history as if this was long ago and centuries past.
Little me was sitting in a Salt Lake City that classroom, being taught this. Unknowing, My own father hid from a school truck round up. Today, he’s gone. I’m left learning all of this without him. I was born in 1990 for timeline reference.
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JenPhilTheBin
This is such important knowledge and history! Thank you so much for doing this. Recognizing, digesting, and accepting the truth will help us move toward a more just and loving society that turns away from violence. I hope recovery of lost culture and language continues to thrive
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This is such important knowledge and history! Thank you so much for doing this. Recognizing, digesting, and accepting the truth will help us move toward a more just and loving society that turns away from violence. I hope recovery of lost culture and language continues to thrive
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education
I was in high school when the last Residential School shut down in Canada. I didn't know about it until a few years ago. This isn't ancient history. This is right now. They don't teach this stuff. I'm so glad this is being covered on a large platform now. Thank you for doing this.
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I was in high school when the last Residential School shut down in Canada. I didn't know about it until a few years ago. This isn't ancient history. This is right now. They don't teach this stuff. I'm so glad this is being covered on a large platform now. Thank you for doing this.
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BanthaWorship
My grandfather had his hair cut as a child and never grew it out again. Ever. What happens to us in our vulnerable, formative years truly shapes us. I grew out my hair for him, and my child has chosen to grow out their hair as well, because my grandpa hadn't been allowed to.
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My grandfather had his hair cut as a child and never grew it out again. Ever. What happens to us in our vulnerable, formative years truly shapes us. I grew out my hair for him, and my child has chosen to grow out their hair as well, because my grandpa hadn't been allowed to.
reply
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