IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 53 
Expressing the sense of Congress that September 30th be observed as the 
designation of a national day of remembrance for the Native American 
children who died while attending a United States Indian boarding school 
and recognize, honor, and support the survivors of Indian boarding 
schools, their families, and communities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 
Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. O’HALLERAN, 
Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. CASE, Mr. KAHELE, 
Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, and Mrs. BICE of Okla-
homa) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that September 30th be 
observed as the designation of a national day of remem-
brance for the Native American children who died while 
attending a United States Indian boarding school and 
recognize, honor, and support the survivors of Indian 
boarding schools, their families, and communities. 
Whereas over 200 years ago, the Act entitled ‘‘An Act mak-
ing provision for the civilization of the Indian tribes ad-
joining the frontier settlements’’, approved March 3, 
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•HCON 53 IH 
1819 (3 Stat. 516, chapter 85) (commonly known as the 
‘‘Civilization Fund Act’’), was enacted and ushered in 
devastating policies and practices designed to assimilate 
American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian 
children by removing children from their families and Na-
tive communities throughout the United States; 
Whereas that Act intended to resolve what was commonly re-
ferred to in the United States as the ‘‘Indian problem’’ 
and provided for the unjust belief of many that Native 
people needed to be ‘‘civilized’’ and that education would 
be the appropriate vehicle to enact assimilationist policies 
on Native American people; 
Whereas numerous church- and government-operated board-
ing schools were established on and off Indian territories 
and homelands to house and educate numerous Native 
American children through policies and practices that 
sought to eliminate the cultural identity of Native chil-
dren and assimilate them into mainstream American soci-
ety; 
Whereas according to the Native American Rights Fund in 
a Summer/Fall 2013 Legal Review, Volume 38, No. 2, 
Native American families were torn apart by the removal 
of Native American children, either voluntarily or forc-
ibly, from their homelands and communities to attend In-
dian boarding schools located across the country; 
Whereas many parents of boarding school children were for-
bidden to contact or visit their children, compounding the 
problem of isolation that negatively impacted and con-
tinues to impact the lives of many Native children, fami-
lies, and communities; 
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•HCON 53 IH 
Whereas the Native American Rights Fund Summer/Fall 
2013 Legal Review also reported that an unidentified 
number of Native children died at Indian boarding 
schools due to abuse, neglect, malnourishment or disease, 
and many of those children were buried far from their 
homes in unmarked graves or under tombstones that 
misidentified or ascribed to them Anglicized names; 
Whereas many of the parents of children who died at Indian 
boarding schools were never informed of the fate of their 
children; 
Whereas according to the report entitled ‘‘Trigger Points, 
Current State of Research on History, Impacts, and 
Healing Related to the United States’ Indian Industrial/ 
Boarding School Policy’’ and dated November 2019, 
issued by the Native American Rights Fund, many sur-
vivors of boarding schools have testified that Indian 
boarding schools stripped Native American children of 
their traditional cultures, languages, and religions by for-
bidding them to wear traditional clothing, speak their in-
digenous languages, or practice their cultural, religious or 
spiritual beliefs, and many boarding schools are known to 
have severely punished children who violated these poli-
cies through verbal, psychological, and physical abuse; 
Whereas many survivors of Indian boarding schools and fami-
lies of children who attended those schools have re-
counted details of the physical, sexual, and psychological 
abuse that countless Native American children endured 
while attending the schools; 
Whereas according to the report entitled ‘‘The Problem of In-
dian Administration’’ and dated February 21, 1928, 
issued by the Institute for Government Research (com-
monly known as the ‘‘Meriam Report’’), many Indian 
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•HCON 53 IH 
boarding schools sent students to nearby communities for 
forced manual work as servants or farm laborers, and the 
operation of many Indian boarding schools was supported 
by the labor of the students; 
Whereas the Federal policy of Indian assimilation and edu-
cation has proven to be a disastrous failure and a na-
tional tragedy; 
Whereas, as stated in the report entitled ‘‘Indian Education: 
A National Tragedy—A National Challenge’’ and dated 
November 3, 1969 (Senate Report 91–501), issued by 
the Special Subcommittee on Indian Education (chaired 
by Senator Edward M. Kennedy) of the Committee on 
Labor and Public Welfare of the Senate (commonly 
known as the ‘‘Kennedy Report’’), ‘‘the dominant policy 
of the Federal Government toward the American Indian 
has been one of coercive assimilation’’ that had ‘‘disas-
trous effects’’ on the education of many Native American 
children; 
Whereas in 2018, the United States Commission on Civil 
Rights reported that many American Indian and Alaska 
Native people suffer from intergenerational trauma as a 
result of policies and practices of Indian boarding schools 
that alienated many children from their families, tradi-
tional cultures, languages, and religions, and deprived 
those children of their true identities and heritage; 
Whereas while early assimilationist policies were eventually 
eliminated and Indian boarding school attendance has 
greatly diminished since its apex, the impact of this 
shameful period in United States history still affects the 
lives of many Native American people today; 
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•HCON 53 IH 
Whereas many Native American people are still suffering 
from and trying to comprehend and cope with direct 
trauma, including impacts on health and well-being, and 
the intergenerational trauma, that resulted from losing 
connection to family, culture, language, religion, and her-
itage; 
Whereas significant research shows that adverse childhood 
experiences, such as the experiences of many Native 
American children who attended Indian boarding schools 
and the descendants of such children, can cause numer-
ous negative health outcomes, increase suicide rates, and 
other harmful outcomes throughout life; and 
Whereas recognition that healing and care for the mind, 
body, and spirit is essential to overcoming the dark shad-
ows of United States history of Federal Indian 
assimilationist policies and practices that were carried 
out by the Federal Government through Indian boarding 
schools, and acknowledging the lived experiences of the 
Native American children and families who endured and 
continue to endure the trauma and grief associated with 
Indian boarding schools: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) supports the designation of a national day 
of remembrance for the Native American children 
who died while attending a United States Indian 
boarding school; 
(2) recognizes, honors, and supports the sur-
vivors, families, and communities of children who at-
tended such schools; and 
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•HCON 53 IH 
(3) encourages the people of the United States 
to— 
(A) support and recognize the grief, pain, 
and hardship many Native American people 
suffered and still endure as a result of the 
assimilationist policies and practices carried out 
by the United States through Indian boarding 
school policies; 
(B) honor the legacy of and remember 
those who were lost or harmed by Federal as-
similation policies and practices; and 
(C) appreciate the resilience of the sur-
vivors and their families with appropriate cere-
monies, programs, events, and other activities 
to support and commemorate with a national 
day of remembrance. 
Æ 
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