In 2022, the painful history of Canada’s relationship with its Native American population was thrust into the limelight with the discovery of mass graves at former residential schools.
For Canada’s rulers, these boarding schools were seen as a vehicle to “civilize” the country’s indigenous population; to bring them into the “modern world”. However, the reality was that such schools were often the sights of great cruelty, with children being separated from their families and communities and subjected to both psychological and physical abuse.
Significantly, such schools were not unique to Canada, with similar institutions existing south of the border here in the United States. In this episode of Talking History we speak with historian Dr. John Gram about the evolution of native education in the U.S.
Dr. John Gram is the author of Education At the Edge of Empire: Negotiating Pueblo Identity in New Mexico’s Indian Boarding Schools.
