Between 1819 through the 1970s, the United States implemented policies establishing and supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation. The schools intended to culturally assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children by forcibly removing them from their families, communities, languages, religions and cultural beliefs. Many of the children who attended federal Indian boarding schools endured physical and emotional abuse and, in some cases, died or never returned home. Last weekend, @SecDebHaaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland visited Oklahoma on the first stop of “The Road to Healing.” During the year-long tour, they will meet with Indigenous survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system and their descendants and give them an opportunity to share their experiences. “I know that this process will be long and difficult. I know that this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.” — Secretary Deb Haaland Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division ALT TEXT: Black and white photo of Indigenous children in front of a federal Indian boarding school in 1885 or 1886.