{"id":1915,"date":"2024-12-17T18:55:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T18:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/?p=1915"},"modified":"2026-06-13T18:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T18:34:47","slug":"residential-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/residential-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American Residential Schools in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Native American Residential Schools in the United States<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was the first Native American Residential School in the United States. The school was founded by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, a self-proclaimed Christian who wanted to \u201csave\u201d Native American children through cultural genocide. Across the United States and parts of Canada, over 400 additional boarding schools carried out this systematic \u201ccleansing\u201d of the Native American cultures. <\/p>\n\n\n

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There was a deeply religious component of this, which required the involvement of the local churches. With a goal of \u201ckill the Indian, save the man,\u201d children were punished for speaking their own languages or attempting any cultural traditions under penalty of physical or sexual abuse, starvation, and more. At least 13 denominations were involved, including Catholic, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1819-1969, Native American children were forcibly taken from their homes and brought to the boarding schools. Upon arrival, their sacred long hair was cut short, they were dressed alike in plain clothes and forced to do manual labor at the school. This \u201cassimilation into American culture\u201d was deadly: hundreds of children never came home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A formal investigation was launched in 2021, led by New Mexico Congresswoman-turned Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna), with the purpose of locating and identifying those children who died, and returning their remains back to their homeland. This was personal for her, as Secretary Haaland\u2019s great-grandfather was a residential student at Carlisle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: The Radical Agenda supports the survival of independent bookstores through the use of Bookshop.org for links! Click the picture of the book to be connected to Bookshop.org to order. Thank you for supporting independent bookstores!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read the full TRA review of this book. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David A. Robertson (graphic novel, based on a true story)<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Dad, I Miss You by Nadia Sammurtok<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story by Mavasta Honyouti<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This book is extra special because it’s written in both English and Hopi! <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Indian Residential School and Christian Mission by David Gyeong Han<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This book is a memoir from a Canadian residential school survivor, but the message is the same. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Kill the Indian, Save the Man by Ward Churchill <\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Native American Residential Schools in the United States Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was the first Native American Residential School in the United States. The school was founded by U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, a self-proclaimed Christian who wanted to \u201csave\u201d Native American children through cultural genocide. Across the United States and parts of Canada, over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-about-native-americans","category-topics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2344,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions\/2344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theradicalagenda.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}