Children of the Boarding Schools
13/10/20 00:57
Yesterday was Native American Day in South Dakota. Without intending any disrespect to Italian-Americans, the journeys of discovery of Christopher Columbus or the traditions of Columbus Day, South Dakota recognizes Native American Day as part of an understanding that there is history that is deeper and longer than that of European settlement of the United States. In 1990, Governor George Mickelson, along with the leaders of the nine indigenous nations in South Dakota, declared a year of reconciliation. South Dakota observed its first Native American Day on October 12, 1990. Native American Day has been observed each year since with special ceremonies, powwows, arts fairs, and other events. Celebrations were limited this year due to the pandemic, but there was an important gathering in Rapid City yesterday. More than 100 people gathered at the foot of a hill near the Sioux San Hospital campus between Canyon Lake United Methodist Church and West Middle School to remember and to dedicate the land as a memorial to the children who attended and died at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School.
The dedication ceremony was part of our community’s third annual walk to remember the children.
Between the 1880s and the 1960s, the federal government created a series of boarding schools throughout the United States in an attempt to assimilate Native American children. There were several boarding schools in South Dakota, including the Rapid City Indian Boarding School, which operated from 1898 through 1933. The campus of the school became a segregated Indian tuberculosis clinic in the 1930s and operated as the Sioux Sanatorium tunic the 1960s. Part of the campus is now the campus of Sioux San Hospital. Part of the original 1,200 acre campus was sold to churches, the Rapid City School District and the National Guard. None of the land sold went to Native American ownership. The site of the memorial is a 25 acre plot that is now held in trust by the Oglala, Cheyenne River and Rosebud Sioux Tribes.
Most of the children were brought to Rapid City Indian Boarding school from Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations. Some children, however came from out of states including Northern Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, Flathead and Chippewa children. The mortality rate was high, but the government did not keep records of the deaths of the children or where they were buried. Children attended school for half days and worked at a variety of jobs during the rest of the day. Children died at the Boarding School from illnesses and accidents. Others died traveling to or from the school. Still others died in attempts to run away from the school and return to their homes and families.
Now we will have a solemn place to remember those children and honor their families. The park will have memorial stones and a sculpture, interpretive plaques, benches, a shelter for cooking and sharing meals, an area with indigenous plants that people can use for food and medicine, inipis (sweat lodges) for prayer, and a memorial wall.
The area promises to be a shared space for ongoing reconciliation between the Indigenous and settler populations of our community. It also will be an ongoing place of prayer. The recognition of Native American Day coincides with the 40 Days of Prayer for Children each year and in the future as the memorial is developed, it will provide an important place to gather for prayers not just in the autumn, but year round.
It is important, as we remember the history of our place, that we also remember the people whose lives were shaped by that history. Many contemporary residents of Rapid City are descendants of the children who survived their time at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School. Their stories and the stories of others are being collected and preserved by tribal historic preservation officers (THPOs). Some of this oral history will be translated into permanent written record and displayed within the memorial park. Visitors to the park will be able to read the stories of more than 50 individual children and pause to reflect and pray in memory and honor of them. The park will play a critical role in the ongoing process of reconciliation in South Dakota and across the United States. A total of 12 states and the District of Columbia now recognize Native American or Indigenous American Day. Because South Dakota is home to nine separate areas designated as reservations, the most of any state, our leadership in the process of reconciliation provides important lessons for the rest of the nation.
Great Creator God, we sing, “Wakantanka Taku Nitawa” (Many and Great, O God, Are Your Works). The hymn celebrates your power of creation and the healing nature of earth and sea and sky. Today we pray that the land of our community, especially the 25 acres dedicated as a memorial park, may become a source of healing for all of the people of our community. We remember especially the children of the Indian boarding schools, many of whom were forcibly removed from their families. We recall their suffering as the schools sought to separate them from their native culture and language, their forced labor, their suffering and dying. We know that each life is received by you as complete and acceptable and that you have welcomed them into your eternal love and care, but their loss has left behind pain, grief and trauma. May we never forget those children. May we honor the survivors of their families. May we pause in prayer with our sisters and brothers of all languages and cultures to dedicate our lives to the health, safety and security of all children.
Bring reconciliation to our city, our state and our nation as together we forge a new future that is complete and honest in the telling of our history. May we never forget the traumas of our past that we might dedicate ourselves to a future where all are honored and each child is treasured and respected.
Bless the children. Bless their memory. In your great and holy name we pray, Amen.
The dedication ceremony was part of our community’s third annual walk to remember the children.
Between the 1880s and the 1960s, the federal government created a series of boarding schools throughout the United States in an attempt to assimilate Native American children. There were several boarding schools in South Dakota, including the Rapid City Indian Boarding School, which operated from 1898 through 1933. The campus of the school became a segregated Indian tuberculosis clinic in the 1930s and operated as the Sioux Sanatorium tunic the 1960s. Part of the campus is now the campus of Sioux San Hospital. Part of the original 1,200 acre campus was sold to churches, the Rapid City School District and the National Guard. None of the land sold went to Native American ownership. The site of the memorial is a 25 acre plot that is now held in trust by the Oglala, Cheyenne River and Rosebud Sioux Tribes.
Most of the children were brought to Rapid City Indian Boarding school from Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations. Some children, however came from out of states including Northern Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, Flathead and Chippewa children. The mortality rate was high, but the government did not keep records of the deaths of the children or where they were buried. Children attended school for half days and worked at a variety of jobs during the rest of the day. Children died at the Boarding School from illnesses and accidents. Others died traveling to or from the school. Still others died in attempts to run away from the school and return to their homes and families.
Now we will have a solemn place to remember those children and honor their families. The park will have memorial stones and a sculpture, interpretive plaques, benches, a shelter for cooking and sharing meals, an area with indigenous plants that people can use for food and medicine, inipis (sweat lodges) for prayer, and a memorial wall.
The area promises to be a shared space for ongoing reconciliation between the Indigenous and settler populations of our community. It also will be an ongoing place of prayer. The recognition of Native American Day coincides with the 40 Days of Prayer for Children each year and in the future as the memorial is developed, it will provide an important place to gather for prayers not just in the autumn, but year round.
It is important, as we remember the history of our place, that we also remember the people whose lives were shaped by that history. Many contemporary residents of Rapid City are descendants of the children who survived their time at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School. Their stories and the stories of others are being collected and preserved by tribal historic preservation officers (THPOs). Some of this oral history will be translated into permanent written record and displayed within the memorial park. Visitors to the park will be able to read the stories of more than 50 individual children and pause to reflect and pray in memory and honor of them. The park will play a critical role in the ongoing process of reconciliation in South Dakota and across the United States. A total of 12 states and the District of Columbia now recognize Native American or Indigenous American Day. Because South Dakota is home to nine separate areas designated as reservations, the most of any state, our leadership in the process of reconciliation provides important lessons for the rest of the nation.
Great Creator God, we sing, “Wakantanka Taku Nitawa” (Many and Great, O God, Are Your Works). The hymn celebrates your power of creation and the healing nature of earth and sea and sky. Today we pray that the land of our community, especially the 25 acres dedicated as a memorial park, may become a source of healing for all of the people of our community. We remember especially the children of the Indian boarding schools, many of whom were forcibly removed from their families. We recall their suffering as the schools sought to separate them from their native culture and language, their forced labor, their suffering and dying. We know that each life is received by you as complete and acceptable and that you have welcomed them into your eternal love and care, but their loss has left behind pain, grief and trauma. May we never forget those children. May we honor the survivors of their families. May we pause in prayer with our sisters and brothers of all languages and cultures to dedicate our lives to the health, safety and security of all children.
Bring reconciliation to our city, our state and our nation as together we forge a new future that is complete and honest in the telling of our history. May we never forget the traumas of our past that we might dedicate ourselves to a future where all are honored and each child is treasured and respected.
Bless the children. Bless their memory. In your great and holy name we pray, Amen.
