The National Native American Indian Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) has identified six Indian boarding schools in Colorado, which currently has two federally recognized Tribes: Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The earliest institution began operating in 1886 and one is still in operation to this day with history as a boarding school. These institutions were run by various operators including: Catholics, Christians, Quaker, and the U.S. Federal Government.
"All I know is I was terrified. There was this person standing there with a black outfit and not very friendly. All of our native stuff that they took from us at the beginning of the school year, they threw it and they burnt it up."
-Silvia Chingwa, Denver resident and boarding school survivor
Native children at the Teller Institute in Grand Junction, CO. Courtesey of the Museum of Western Colorado.
Indian Boarding Schools in Colorado
- Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School (Fort Lewis College*), Hesperus, Colorado, 1892-1956
- Good Shepherd Industrial School (E.M. Byers Home for Boys), Denver, Colorado, 1886-1914
- Grand Junction Indian School (Teller Institute), Grand Junction, Colorado, 1886-1914
- Southern Ute Boarding School (Ignacio Boarding School), Ignacio, Colorado, 1886-1981
- Ute Mountain Boarding School, Towaoc, Colorado, 1907-1942
- Holy Cross Abbey^ (The Abbey School), Cañon City, Colorado, 1926-1985
Key:
^ indicates no evidence of federal support
* indicates school is still open with history as a boarding school
Colorado's Indian Boarding School Bill
In 2022, Governor Jared Polis signed a bill that will establish a research program to investigate the events, physical and emotional abuse, and deaths that occurred at federal Indian boarding schools in Colorado. The research will also look into the victimization of families of youth forced to attend the boarding schools and the intergenerational impacts of the abuse. The bill signing took place on the campus of Fort Lewis College in Durango.
An executive summary of the research was released by History Colorado on September 1, 2023. The final report titled Federal Indian Schools in Colorado, 1880-1920 was released on October 3, 2023.
About S.1723: Truth & Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States
The bi-partisan bill would:
- Conduct a full inquiry into the assimilative policies of U.S. Indian boarding schools, including identifying the locations of children’s burial sites, documenting ongoing impacts, and locating church and government records.
- Collect testimony from boarding school survivors, Tribes, and subject matter experts.
- Create a findings and recommendations report, identifying legislative and administrative actions to address the impacts of U.S. Indian boarding schools.
- Investigate beyond the limited scope of DOI’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative by looking into state, local, religious, and private institutions that operated Indian boarding schools to carry out the assimilative U.S. policy.
- Learn more
BECOME AN ADVOCATE FOR s. 1723
Find resources that allow you to be an advocate for the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S. 1723).
News
History Colorado report details past sexual abuse, burial sites at Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School (Durango Herald)
Boarding school students in Colorado experienced torture, sexual abuse, threats and more (CBS Colorado)
Colorado’s Indian boarding schools were places of hard labor and indoctrination (CPR News)
New research IDs additional Native American boarding schools in Colorado used to assimilate Indigenous children (Denver Post)
Report: federal funds used to forcibly assimilate Native children in boarding schools across Colorado (CBS Colorado)
FLC board of trustees reasserts dedication to reconciliation ahead of History Colorado report (Durango Herald)
Indian boarding school trauma recalled by Denver elder as state launches study (CBS Colorado)
There may have been ‘about 10 schools’ assimilating Indigenous children in Colorado (Colorado Public Radio)