nativeskins:

After the trail of tears, many Native Americans were forced onto reservations erected to maintain control, educate and civilize them while forcing them to deny their old ways and conform to the white man’s way of living.  Churches were built to teach them white man’s religion and schools were built to educate them to the white man’s way of thinking, thus Indian Boarding School were built and used but in the beginning and for many generations.

 The children were not allowed to speak their native tongue and if caught, they were severely punished.  Their hair which held spiritual symbology had to be cut and their clothing fashioned after the modern day white man.  The children were not always treated with respect and many of the white school instructors viewed them as unable to be educated.   They were punished for remembering and following their own spiritual beliefs and in turn were forced to learn about white man’s God and the bible. 

Worst of all and every parents worst fear was that their children would not be returned back home to them.  The fear of illness and death plagued many of the early Indian Boarding Schools.  With the introduction of the white man, foreign diseases were introduced to the Native American people which caused many to fall victim to sickness and death.  Stories passed down and recorded history showed high death tolls for many of the Native American children during their attendance at these early boarding schools.  Many times when a child fell victim to an illness, they were kept at the school until their condition turned critical at which point they were then sent back home to die.  Many of the schools leaders became fearful of the rising death tolls among the children while attending, thus their reasons for sending them back home.  Others were sometimes buried in mass graves on the school’s grounds if they were unable to make it back home.