Many South Dakota children were sent to the Morris Industrial School for Indians in Morris, Minnesota.
The Dignity statue proclaims North Dakota's respect for Native Americans, and their House of Representatives just passed a resolution to acknowledge and honor those who were entrenched in the boarding school system.
PIERRE, S.D.-On March 2, 2021, the South Dakota State House of Representatives passed a resolution acknowledging and honoring the survivors of American Indian boarding schools. House Concurrent Resolution 6014 was introduced and sponsored by State Rep. Peri Pourier (D-Pine Ridge), a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The resolution was adopted in a 52-17 vote.
Boarding schools for Native American children were begun in 1860 and were originally designed to teach academic education, such as reading, writing and speaking English. However, eventually most boarding schools sought to replace Native American culture with colonial values and lifestyles. Children were required to change from their Indigenous appearance and clothing and were forbidden to speak their language or have contact with their family. Many children in boarding schools were physically and sexually abused, with many dying and buried in unmarked graves.
By the 1880s, the U.S. operated 60 schools for 6,200 Indian students, including reservation day schools and reservation boarding schools. Native American children continued to be sent to boarding schools through the 1960s. When the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978, parents received the legal right to keep their children from being sent to boarding schools.
Many adults who attended the schools suffer from the trauma personally endured in the schools. Others face second-hand trauma and other results of having parents and grandparents who were raised in the schools.
"This passage from the House of Representatives speaks volumes towards reconciliation," South Dakota Representative Peri Pourier told Darren Thompson of Native News Online. "The acknowledgement of the suffering and abuse while honoring survivors' resiliency is long overdue."
"As a granddaughter, I felt it was my duty to bring this issue forward," said Rep. Pourier. "This is the first acknowledgment from the South Dakota State Legislature on this very difficult issue."
This is not the first decision in South Dakota to express distress and work toward reconciliation with boarding school survivors. In November, the Rapid City Council in approved a $20 million resolution to "Resolve Three Outstanding Deeds Related to the Rapid City Indian Boarding School Lands."
This started as an inquiry of unmarked graves of children who lost their lives at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Rapid City Indian Boarding School Lands Project team found 1,200 acres of land on the west side of Rapid City which was disposed of by the Federal Department of the Interior in 1948.
While the plan moving forward has yet to be determined in scope, specific actions, and funds designated, this resolution is a landmark agreement that furthers the Rapid City's Native American community and the City of Rapid City's commitment to rectify history and acknowledge the disparities of what happened at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School.
"I want to commend you, each and every one of you, for actually taking a look at what is right through City Council," said resident Troy Fairbanks to the council. "The only ones that have ever stood up for us, even thought about talking about the Native Indian Community, that is tremendous . . . . Whatever comes of this in your vote, it's for my grandchildren. It's for my children."
