ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Interior Department is embarking on a massive undertaking to uncover the troubled legacy left by Indigenous boarding schools.
Over more than a century, the schools represented a systematic attempt by the federal government, church groups and others to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society.
The challenges of identifying the schools, students and their tribes and possible burial sites for children who died while attending the schools are immense.
Records are scattered across the country and in some cases have been lost or destroyed. Some advocates are pushing for the establishment of a federal commission that would be dedicated to investigating the schools.