President Joe Biden has proclaimed a new national monument dedicated to the history of federal Indian boarding schools, which forcibly assimilated Native American children by stripping them of their languages, cultures, and identities. The monument, announced during a summit with tribal leaders this week, acknowledges the government’s role in these abuses and seeks to preserve this history for future generations.

The Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania has been named as a new national monument dedicated to the history of federal boarding schools that forced assimilation upon American Indian youth from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s.

“The Federal Government’s goal was to assimilate Native children by stripping them of their languages, religions, and cultures,” Biden said in a statement attached to the proclamation. “To that end, the children taken to these institutions were often separated from their families for years, and many never returned to their homes.”

Biden’s proclamation acknowledged the federal government’s role in the physical abuse, sexual abuse, and forced labor of young children. Official records show that some 1,000 children died in such schools across the country, as Biden admitted that number is likely “much higher.”

A classroom scene at the notorious Carlisle School in a 1901 cyanotype photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was the first federal boarding school for Indigenous children that was not located on a reservation. It was founded in 1879 and operated until 1918, forcing the assimilation of some 7,800 children from over 140 tribes. It became a model for some 417 more boarding schools operated by the federal government.

As once described by Richard Henry Pratt, an Army officer who became the longtime superintendent of the Carlisle School, such efforts sought to “kill the Indian” and “save the man.” In actuality, some 180 children died at the Carlisle School alone, many of which were buried in unmarked graves.

“Then I lost my spirit,” Zitkala-Sa, a Dakota woman from the Yankton Sioux Reservation, recalled of her first day when she was dragged from where she was hiding under a bed, tied to a chair and forced to cut her hair. “In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me… for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.”

The school is located in what remains an active military installation, the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks. The school was already listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. By upgrading its status, it receives increased protections and funding and heightened public awareness.

“Designating the former campus of the Carlisle School, with boundaries consistent with the National Historic Landmark, as a national monument will help ensure this shameful chapter of American history is never forgotten or repeated,” Biden said.

Children are seen working in a printing shop at the Carlisle School is seen in a 1910-1915 photograph by the Bain News Service. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Because the site remains an active military installation, Biden delineated a plan for the co-management of the new national monument between the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior, which is currently headed by Deb Haaland—herself a descendant of survivors of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.

Biden said in the proclamation that the monument’s land consists of some 24.5 acres within the 520-acre boundary of the Carlisle Barracks. He described the boundaries of the monument as confined to the “smallest area compatible with the proper care and management” for the protection of the site. Additionally, the Army has been directed to transfer a fraction of that—258 square feet—to the National Parks Service.

That part of the monument, known as the School Road Gateposts, have particularly become a symbol for the separation of children from their families because the structures—marking the entrance to the site—were built with child labor.

The National Parks Service will be tasked with administering that part of the monument and collaborating with the Army for the interpretation of and educational programming around the whole monument.

During his presidency, Biden has created seven monuments and either restored, enlarged, or modified boundaries for several others. Native American tribes and conservation groups are urging him to approve additional designations before his term ends in January.