FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native
American boarding schools that for over a century sought to assimilate
Indigenous children into white society has identified more than 500
student deaths at the institutions so far. But officials expect that
figure to grow exponentially as research continues. The Interior
Department report released Wednesday expands to more than 400 the number
of schools that were known to have operated across the U.S. for 150
years. They emerged in the early 19th century and continued in some
cases until the late 1960s. The agency says a second volume of the
report will cover burial sites and the boarding schools' impacts on
Indigenous communities.