For more than 150 years, spurred by federal assimilation policies beginning in the early 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were sent to boarding schools across the country. In many cases, they were forcibly removed from their homes.
A map of the United States showing the more than 500 known schools of the Native American Boarding School system as dots. Almost every state contains at least one, with large concentrations of dots in Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska.
A new accounting shows that at least 523 institutions were part of the sprawling network of boarding schools for Native American children. At least 408 received federal funding.
Renewed attention to the system by the U.S. government, researchers and Indigenous communities is revealing a deeper understanding of the difficult, sometimes deadly, experiences of children in the schools.