Final answer:
Native American children were sent to boarding schools to force assimilation into white society, stripping them of their culture and subjecting them to abuse. These policies aimed at 'civilizing' native children continued into the 20th century and have had a lasting negative impact on Indigenous communities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Native American children were sent to boarding schools as part of a federal assimilation policy, with the aim of removing them from the influence of their families and culture to assimilate them into white society. The US government, along with Christian missionaries, established these institutions to enforce English language use, strip children of their own culture, and introduce them to Euro-American social and cultural practices. While these schools were promoted under the guise of civilizing and assisting native children, they often subjected students to physical and sexual abuse, and their legacy is a part of the painful historical relationship between the United States and Native American communities.
The process, which started in the 19th century, was justified by the government and many citizens with the belief that Native Americans would only be "civilized" once they abandoned their own traditions and language. Major boarding schools like the one in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, were notorious for their harsh treatment of Native American children, which continued well into the 20th century despite being criticized for poor living conditions and ineffective educational practices.
With policies that stretched into the late 1900s, native peoples' rights continued to be suppressed, such as the prohibition of tribal religious practices until the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, and the inability to repatriate ancestral human remains and sacred items until the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.