10.25.24

Durbin Applauds President Biden's Formal Apology To Native Communities For Federal Government's Role In Native American Boarding Schools

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today applauded President Biden’s formal apology for the U.S. government’s actions in establishing and running hundreds of Federal Indian Boarding Schools:

“Today, President Biden is taking a major step forward in our nation’s reckoning with the deeply painful history of Native boarding school policies that caused irreparable damage to Native communities.  The scars of these unjust, hateful actions—the federal government’s attempts to eradicate Native cultures, religions, and languages—are still present today. 

“Illinois was home to two of these boarding schools.  We cannot undo what happened at these schools, but we can acknowledge the atrocities that occurred.  A formal apology from the federal government is long-overdue, and I hope that it, along with federal investigations, will aid Native families as they work to heal from the trauma inflicted by our nation’s shameful history.”

Two Federal Indian Boarding Schools were located in Illinois during the late 1800s.  Homewood Boarding School, also known as Jubilee College, was located in Brimfield, Illinois.  The school was under contract with the federal government from 1883 to 1888, enrolling 12 Native pupils.  The second school, St. Mary’s Training School for Boys, which was also known as Feehanville School and now as Maryville Academy, was located in Des Plaines, Illinois.  The school was then run by the Archdiocese of Chicago to house orphans from the area, but under the request of the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), the school agreed to accept Native American boys from the Devil’s Lake and Standing Rock reservations.  While it’s unclear when the school’s contract with the federal government ended, records indicate that 40 to 50 Native students were at the school from 1883 to 1885. 

Durbin is a cosponsor of the Truth and Health Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, legislation that would establish a formal mission to investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government’s Indian Boarding School Policies, which attempted to terminate Native cultures, religions, and languages; and included assimilation practices and human rights violations. The commission would also develop recommendations for Congress to aid in healing of the historical and intergenerational trauma passed down in Native families and communities and provide a forum for victims to speak about personal experiences tied to these human rights violations.

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