6 Boarding School Laws Still on the Books
“In modern times, states cite this law as evidence that even though the federal government has historically provided for Indian education, it does so consistent with state public school law and regulations,” McCoy said, but added that at least one state court has said this law does not give states jurisdiction over Indian public school compulsory attendance without the consent of the tribe.
25 USC § 273,Detail of Army Officer—Enacted June 23, 1879
The Secretary of the Army shall be authorized to detail an officer of the Army, not above the rank of captain, for special duty with reference to Indian education.
McCoy said this law was passed at the height of federal policies to end tribal governments and assimilate individual Indians. “I presume the law was intended to allow the Army Department to assist in the efforts to get children of tribes who were at war with the United States into the federal Indian boarding schools,” she said.
Bordeaux suggests repealing it.
Colonel Richard Pratt conceived of the Indian boarding schools and began the first one in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. His goal was to “Kill the Indian, save the man.” The Carlisle School was housed on a military base, where the children were forced to live their lives in accordance with military drills. (The Wild Rivers Teaching American History Project)
25 USC § 277,Fort Apache military post—Enacted January 24, 1923
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to establish and maintain the former Fort Apache military post as an Indian boarding school for the purpose of carrying out treaty obligations, to be known as the Theodore Roosevelt Indian School:Provided, That the Fort Apache military post, and land appurtenant thereto, shall remain in the possession and custody of the Secretary of the Interior so long as they shall be required for Indian school purposes.
“This law reflects that the United States’ wars with Indian tribes were largely over” and the “focus again is on education,” McCoy wrote.
This law was used to benefit tribes, as described by McCoy, who said her research showed that in the late 1990s, the White Mountain Apache Tribe sued the United States because the U.S. had violated the law by not maintaining the property before turning it over the to the tribe. The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tribe inU.S. v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, 537 U.S. 465 (2003).
The Army abandoned Fort Apache in 1922. In 1923 the site became the home of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Theodore Roosevelt Indian Boarding School. First intended to serve Diné (Navajo) children, by the 1930s a majority of students at the school were Apache. Today T.R. School continues to serve as a middle school, under the administration of a school board selected by the Tribal Council. (wmat.nsn.us)
“The Supreme Court held that the law created a trust obligation on the part of the United States to preserve the property unless and until it turned over the property to the tribe,” McCoy wrote in an email about the laws. “The outcome of this case surprised many—it is one of a very small handful of cases that tribes have won in the Supreme Court in the last 15 years, and it is even more remarkable since the tribe won against the United States.”
