Archivists and Indigenous researchers are actively seeking ways to lessen the effects of a sudden federal funding reduction from last month which affected organizations working to maintain the history of Indian boarding schools.
During the Trump administration's extensive reduction of federal expenditures, Native-serving organizations learned through identical communications that their National Endowment for the Humanities funding totaling $1.6 million was being terminated.
The grants served as foundational financial support for historical and cultural preservation initiatives. The Minnesota-based National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition faced the loss of $283,000 in unspent grant money.
The coalition’s Deputy CEO Samuel Torres stated they had received slightly more than half of their $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The nonprofit leaders report that after putting weeks into analysis and developing creative solutions their project to build a digital archive of deteriorating Indian boarding school records faces delays but remains achievable.
Torres explained that after losing their funding, the cataloguing backlog expanded greatly which will extend the time before digitized materials become available on our website.
The Boarding School Healing Coalition receives financial support from private donors and philanthropic organizations. The nonprofit receives 57% of its income from government funding as stated in its 2024 annual report. The coalition is exploring alternative revenue sources to bridge their financial gap.
Indigenous nonprofits generally face unique funding challenges. The latest research from Native Americans in Philanthropy shows Native Americans receive less than 1% of philanthropic funding. Native-led groups such as the boarding school coalition secure approximately 50% less funding compared to other organizations.
The project to digitize records from universities, churches and 526 former boarding schools needs immediate action given their operation across the country from 1800 until now. The physical records that date back hundreds of years require digital preservation to prevent further degradation.
The online archive receives constant updates whenever new records get available. But it is yet to be completed.
The research team continues their hidden work to populate the database while consulting with tribal nations over sensitive information release.
When finished the archives will encompass students’ artwork and handwriting along with operational documents and staff correspondence.
According to Torres we have sufficient time to achieve our goals as younger generations yet our elders might not have enough time left. The budget reductions have caused harm to boarding school survivors who need access to their personal documents as well as those belonging to their family members.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is not the project's sole funder since the National Park Foundation and Minnesota Humanities Center also provide support.
He announced their intention to maintain current momentum using existing resources while creatively addressing any deficits. The work continues regardless of the availability of federal resources.
The government claims that cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities which supports arts and community projects will lead to better efficiency.
The April 25 statement indicated that eliminated grants did not align with agency priorities which included diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and environmental justice projects and also lacked the capacity to earn public trust regarding taxpayer money utilization.
Board member James LaBelle from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition at 77 years old stated his organization will utilize its alternative funding sources to compensate for the shortfall. The digitization of archives work must undergo reevaluation of its scope.
LaBelle explained that we must seek additional funding from different sources.
The 77-year-old enrolled citizen of the Native village of Port Graham who survived a boarding school attended the Wrangell Institute and Mt. Edgecumbe High School between 1955 and 1965. LaBelle studied at Mt. Edgecumbe High School located in southeast Alaska from 1955 to 1965.
He pointed out the rapid shift in the federal government's position since January. Former President Joe Biden expressed his apologies to boarding school survivors seven months ago for the delayed recognition of their experiences.
According to LaBelle the previous administration made good progress toward inclusivity and support for our ongoing work efforts.
Ramona Klein who survived a boarding school learned about the withdrawn digital project funding while scrolling through her phone in April. First, she said she felt devastated. The feeling transformed into determination to carry on the attacked work under the Trump administration.
Klein who is both a 77-year-old Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa citizen and coalition board member stated "Our mission must include story sharing and healing." The healing process will come to a standstill if we don't secure funding to keep advancing this work.
Thousands of Indigenous children suffered permanent trauma from federally run boarding schools which separated them from family and tribe to force them into Western society and Christianity. Students attending these institutions lost their native language and cultural heritage. Students endured beatings and sexual abuse by staff while suffering starvation and other documented abuses at the schools. According to the Department of the Interior close to 1,000 students died while attending these schools and their remains were placed either in marked or unmarked graves.
The federal government provided assistance with the documentation of this historical record until recent developments. During Trump's second term the administration reversed its previous stance.
President Trump requested Shelly Lowe of the Navajo Nation to step down as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities in March.
No Native American had previously held that position until she became the first person to do so.
No response was received from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Management and Budget, the White House, or the president’s office regarding queries about recent funding cuts or their consequences.
The Department of the Interior which funded other boarding school research projects provided a response through their spokesperson. A Department of the Interior spokesperson released a statement for The Imprint saying the department continues to uphold its federal responsibilities toward tribal communities while pursuing new business opportunities focused on optimization and innovation.
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition operates as the only nonprofit organization dedicated to national advocacy for Indigenous people who experienced the effects of the United States boarding school policies. The coalition maintains its oral history project with the Department of the Interior which records survivor stories from Indian schools despite recent federal budget reductions.
Boarding school survivors begin to receive public recognition as the Trump administration reduces federal support.
On May 20, New York Gov. New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivered an apology for the abuses that took place at the Thomas Indian School in New York. Kathy Hochul delivered an official apology from the State of New York to the Seneca Nation of Indians along with survivors and descendants of all affected Nations who experienced the Thomas Indian School.
The acknowledgment brought relief to certain individuals. Some people remained unimpressed because they argued that there were insufficient substantial reparations and pointed to the ongoing dispute between the Seneca Nation and the state regarding casino profits.
New York State owned and ran the Thomas Indian School which Presbyterian missionaries set up in 1855 on Cattaraugus Territory. Between 1875 and 1957 state authorities forcibly removed at least 2,500 Indigenous children from their homes for education at the school. School officials inflicted abuse, violence, hatred and death on students who had been stripped of their language and culture according to the governor’s office.
The Boarding School Coalition maintains the preserved documents of a former student which includes their identification card. Albert Thomas belonged to the Onondaga Nation and attended the school from which he never returned to his tribal community. The school records indicate his admission on Nov. 4, 1902 followed by his death on Jan. 6, 1904. The archives indicate that his remains were transported to Syracuse, NY.
Hochul used similar examples during her earlier this month speech to survivors and their descendants.
New York needs to recognize its part in the Thomas Indian School atrocities to progress and prevent repeating historical wrongs which caused trauma to the Senecas and Indigenous communities in New York according to Hochul. While we cannot transform past horrors into something different, my dedication to truth, justice, reconciliation, accountability, and healing remains because these principles are crucial for moving forward as one.