As the Trump administration slashes crucial grants, the painful history of Native American boarding schools faces more obstacles in its journey toward justice.
In early April 2025, news broke that the Trump administration had made sweeping cuts to federal funding for projects dedicated to documenting and digitizing the traumatic history of Native American boarding schools. A staggering $1.6 million in grants aimed at preserving the stories of systemic abuse suffered by generations of Indigenous children has been slashed. The result? The work of healing, reconciliation, and truth-telling is now in jeopardy, at a time when Native communities are striving to come to terms with the long-lasting scars left by these schools.
The Painful Legacy of the Boarding School System
For over a century, the U.S. government forcibly removed Native American children from their homes and sent them to boarding schools. These institutions, often run by religious organizations and supported by federal funding, aimed to erase Native cultures and force assimilation into mainstream American society. Children were forbidden to speak their languages, practice their religions, or maintain their cultural identities. Many were subjected to physical and emotional abuse, and tragically, at least 973 children died in these schools—though the actual number is believed to be much higher.
In 2021, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland initiated an investigation into this dark chapter of American history, finally bringing national attention to the suffering of Indigenous families. However, this recent move by the Trump administration to cut funding for critical research and documentation of this history represents a disturbing setback in the fight for truth and justice.
Funding Cuts: A Setback to Native Healing
Among the affected projects is one that would have allowed the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and the Alaska Native Heritage Center to preserve and broadcast oral histories from Alaska Native elders. The $30,000 grant, meant to document these vital personal stories, was one of the many terminated without explanation. Deborah Parker, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, expressed the pain felt by many in Native communities, saying that the cuts make it harder for individuals to find healing and reconnect with their past.
For example, Roberta “Birdie” Sam, a Tlingit & Haida member, was able to trace her family history through a database funded by one of these grants. She found her grandmother’s name on the list of children sent to a boarding school in Alaska, and to her surprise, discovered that several other relatives had been subjected to the same fate. It was through this information that she began the long process of healing, as she understood the history of disconnection that had plagued her family for generations.
Without the necessary funds to continue these projects, many Native Americans will find it increasingly difficult to trace their roots and uncover the painful truths about their families' histories.
The Politics of Funding Cuts: A Clear Statement?
The Trump administration’s decision to cut these grants is part of a broader push to drastically reduce federal spending. But as Bryan Newland, former Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, points out, the amount of money being slashed is minuscule in the context of the federal budget. The grants in question represent a mere drop in the ocean, and the costs of denying Indigenous people the opportunity to heal are immeasurable.
This move stands in stark contrast to the healing efforts of the Biden administration, which not only initiated the boarding school investigation but also issued an official apology for the government’s role in these abuses. Haaland, now a candidate for governor in New Mexico, condemned the funding cuts as a continuation of the Trump administration’s broader pattern of undermining Native American rights and obscuring the true history of the United States.
A Denial of History and Justice
The actions of the Trump administration speak volumes: a rejection of accountability, a denial of history, and an outright dismissal of the need for Native American communities to heal from the trauma inflicted by decades of government-sanctioned abuse.
John Campbell, a Tlingit and Tulalip Tribes member, described how the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s database helped him understand the struggles of his parents, both survivors of these institutions. He learned, through the database, that his mother had been punished at the age of 6 for speaking her language in a boarding school, a story she had kept hidden for years due to the deep pain it caused her.
Without continued support for these vital research programs, the cycle of silence and suffering may endure, leaving future generations without the tools they need to heal and move forward.
The Need for Action: A Call for Truth and Reconciliation
At its core, the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for Native American boarding school research is a direct attack on truth, reconciliation, and healing. It underscores the ongoing struggle for justice that Native communities face in a country that has long ignored or distorted their history.
The truth about the atrocities committed against Indigenous children cannot be erased by slashing budgets or silencing survivors’ stories. If the United States is to truly move forward, it must confront this dark chapter of its past—fully, honestly, and without hesitation.