{"id":38489,"date":"2022-09-09T11:45:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-begins-review-of-former-indian-boarding-school-in-hesperus\/"},"modified":"2022-09-09T17:45:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:45:21","slug":"colorado-begins-review-of-former-indian-boarding-school-in-hesperus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-begins-review-of-former-indian-boarding-school-in-hesperus\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado begins review of former Indian boarding school in Hesperus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Indian boarding school on the site of the Old Fort in Hesperus operated from 1891 to 1910. It was one of hundreds of sites where the U.S. government forcibly brought Indigenous children to try to assimilate them into Anglo culture. (Courtesy Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Researchers from History Colorado have started a state-mandated review of the former Indian boarding school on the grounds of the old Fort Lewis school site west of Durango. The review will involve both archival research and physical examinations to uncover the extent of what happened at the boarding school when it operated between 1891 and 1910. And, one year after discoveries of mass graves at the sites of similar boarding schools in Canada, the survey in Southwest Colorado will try to determine whether there are burial sites on the property.<\/p>\n

In the research team\u2019s first public update on its work Thursday, History Colorado\u2019s Holly Norton, who is the state archaeologist, said the team is planning for tribal consultations this fall.<\/p>\n

The researchers are required to make a final report by June 30, 2023, per legislation that established the research effort to \u201cpromote Coloradans\u2019 understanding of the physical and emotional abuse and deaths that occurred at federal Indian boarding schools.\u201d But Norton said in her update, \u201cI see this very much as the beginning of this effort. I think that what occurred at those schools is incredibly complex, it affected many, many people, and this is going to be a long-term effort. I think we\u2019re going to be having these conversations for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The research will begin with records stored at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. However, those records will likely give an incomplete picture since the information they contain \u201calmost never\u201d features the voices of the children or their parents. (Courtesy Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"McLachlan\"
McLachlan<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThis study needs to say, \u2018Here is what happened,\u2019\u201d said Rep. Barbara McLachlan, who co-sponsored the legislation. \u201cNot just stories, but facts about what happened, where people might be buried, where artifacts might be buried, and what happened to people.\u201d McLachlan, a Democrat from Durango, represents parts of the Southwest Colorado in the state House.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s research is meant to be a first step in \u201ca road map for education and healing,\u201d according to the legislation, though Rep. McLachlan isn\u2019t sure what the next steps might be. They could include repatriating human remains to the tribes or allowing tribal blessings to occur at the boarding school and burial sites, among many other things.<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart has ideas for what could come next.<\/p>\n

Heart leads one of the nations whose children were forcibly removed and sent to the boarding school for the purpose of assimilation. The healing process should include investments in teaching children the languages, cultures and traditions that were taken away from their ancestors, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to teach these young children that are in school right now about how rich and how beautiful it is to be who we are as Natives, and to continue having this language,\u201d he told the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

He suggested it may be appropriate for state lawmakers to fund things like the Ute Mountain Ute Kwiyagat Community Academy, which could help \u201cbring back what was taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a minimum, the road map will almost certainly include a plan for more public education about what occurred at the Fort Lewis boarding school, and at other sites within Colorado.<\/p>\n

The state started a task force to study the Teller Institute site in Grand Junction in 2021. Norton said Thursday that researchers are further ahead at Teller, and this summer they worked on-site with tribal monitors.<\/p>\n

\"At
At a minimum, the road map will almost certainly include a plan for more public education about what occurred at the Fort Lewis boarding school, and at other sites within Colorado. (Courtesy Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A federal government inquiry into Indian boarding schools across the country reported in May 2022 that the U.S. operated or supported 408 such institutes across 37 states. The inquiry led by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo, confirmed that \u201cthe United States directly targeted American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children in pursuit of a policy of cultural assimilation that coincided with Indian territorial dispossession.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they did in these schools was horrible. They took away culture, they cut hair, they wouldn\u2019t let them speak their language, they wouldn\u2019t let them dress like tribal members; (the children) didn\u2019t get to go home, they were removed from families,\u201d said Rep. McLachlan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese parents were lied to. They were lied to many years ago, and many, many times over. And we need to make amends for that lying,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The Colorado team\u2019s archival research starts with records housed at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Washington, D.C., Norton said. But those records are incomplete and are \u201calmost never information from the perspectives of the students or the parents.\u201d It would be \u201cincredibly important\u201d to do oral histories, Norton said, but right now \u201cwe don\u2019t always know which questions to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

The physical investigation will not be done through excavation; rather, Norton said the best practice at other former boarding school sites is to use multiple methods like LIDAR and ground-penetrating radar.<\/p>\n

Sen. Don Coram, who represents southwestern Colorado in the state Senate and who co-sponsored the legislation mandating History Colorado\u2019s research, said discussions about legislation to address Colorado\u2019s history with Indian boarding schools have been ongoing for 10 years. He pointed to a lack of urgency, along with a legacy of mistrust between tribes and federal and state governments, as one reason the research has not begun until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to learn from history,\u201d Rep. McLachlan said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like when you study the Holocaust. We just need to keep teaching and talking about it so that this never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018We just need to keep teaching and talking about it so that this never happens again,\u2019 said state Rep. Barbara McLachlan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,132,28,866,198,561],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-hesperus","tag-history","tag-native-american"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38489"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}