There was an undeniable charge in the air on that sunny morning in May 2022 at Fort Lewis College, when Gov. Jared Polis signed into law HB22-1327, directing History Colorado to investigate the lived experiences of students at Indian boarding schools. A shared feeling that new information would lead to better understanding.
This turned out to be true. Released in October 2023, History Colorado’s final report on Indian boarding schools delivered much in a short amount of time. But it was only the beginning.
The report’s documentation of 31 deaths at the Fort Lewis school, a threefold increase over what was reported to Washington, D.C., and 37 deaths at the Grand Junction school – can’t be underestimated in the lives of Indigenous family members.
Numbers and scale gave context to what Ute tribal elders had said all along. Children died at boarding schools.
But History Colorado’s findings were limited.
The problem was, much of the findings came from papers and documents from white people. We know, there’s more to this story.
Government workers and at least one superintendent included their own narratives in reports. To some degree, this renders information incomplete and unreliable. Especially when abusers had a hand in writing reports.
There are gaps, too, in a record keeping system that was already poor.
The positive news is, the story of Colorado’s Indian boarding schools will be filled out with help from Indigenous people whose family members survived the schools. With their collected stories and input, we can move toward the truth.
And we have to get as close as humanly possible to this truth.
HB24-1444, which became law in May, designated History Colorado to continue its research for three more years, funded with $1 million from the state Legislature. It will meet with representatives from 33 tribal nations, Alaska Native organizations and students who attended federal boarding schools in Colorado. They will help create a plan to care for people affected.
No details yet on what that plan will be, but it’s significant that one is required.
Additionally, researchers are tasked with offering recommendations to the Legislature, Department of Education and Department of Human Services to address the ongoing, intergenerational impact of the boarding schools. Because this trauma lingers within families.
Those 31 deaths at the Fort Lewis school included 15 students of either Ute or Southern Ute tribal affiliation. “Another 30 to 100 burials, or more, associated with the students at the boarding school” could be in that bygone cemetery in Hesperus, according to the report.
Knowing all of our state’s history, all that happened is the only way toward healing and reconciliation.
Native Americans will take this lead.
Determined that this story be told, our own Rep. Barbara McLachlan, co-sponsor of both laws, was instrumental in moving forward this legislation.
Thanks also to former Sen. Don Coram, co-sponsor of the 2022 bill, and Sen. Cleave Simpson, co-sponsor of the 2024 bill. Important work for McLachlan, Coram and Simpson to get behind.
When the report was released in October, FLC’s Vice President of Diversity Affairs Heather Shotton, a citizen of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and a Kiowa and Cheyenne descendant, had something to say. She told The Denver Post, “It’s an opportunity to shape a different future and to uphold our responsibilities to communities who have been harmed by the history of our institutions.”
The next natural project phase could only be to hear – and include – all that Indigenous family members have to say.
