There once were three Indian Boarding Schools in Michigan. The last to close was Holy Childhood of Jesus School in Harbor Springs in 1983.
They began in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries as a way to force Native American children to be more like white settlers. At the same time providing a basic education. In recent times to remove them from homes where alcoholism and poverty were a problem.
There are people who live in our area who were sent to Holy Child in the 1970’s. They still suffer today from the physical and mental abuse received there. Someone I talked to who lived there when he was 9 told me “The treatment I got there was very mean, there was no affection, only discipline. These kids were abandoned, thrown away.”
Although a few benefited from their experience, many suffered lifelong problems as a result.
According to Wikipedia, the government paid religious orders to provide basic education to Native American children. For most of the children, their experiences were both painful and humiliating according to WKAR interviews of survivors. One of the results of the abuse, according to the WKAR interviews, is alcoholism and suicide.
