Governor Newsom proclaims a Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring September 30, 2026, as “A Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools.”
The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below:
PROCLAMATION
This year, we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, and as we celebrate the progress made, it is important that we remember that the establishment of this nation — and the policies that evolved with it — did not come without a cost to the nations, families, and children who have called this place home since time immemorial. Today, for the first time in California, we honor the Native children taken from their families, communities, cultures, and homes to undergo cultural and spiritual assimilation at the hands of federal Indian boarding schools established across the nation.
From 1819 through the 1960s, the United States government funded over 526 Indian boarding schools throughout the country — removing children as young as 3 years old from their homes and traditional lands. Native families were often prohibited from visiting or communicating with their children, and many children who died while attending boarding school were buried in unmarked graves, with little to no notice to families. Many children resisted these harsh conditions — keeping their languages, cultures, and joy in secret, but many survivors never returned to their parents, extended families, and communities or returned with deep soul wounds and trauma that still persists in communities today.
The United States government designed these schools to forcibly strip Native children of their identities, beliefs, and languages in a sweeping effort to “kill the Indian, save the man” and assimilate them into non-Native culture through federally funded, church-run institutions. Assimilation, by this standard, meant creating a “suitable” class of Native domestic, service, and factory workers.
In furtherance of this practice, 13 boarding schools were established throughout the State of California — with one still operating today, albeit now with a culture that seeks to embrace Native identities rather than stifle them. The number of schools located within the state’s borders belies the true impact of these institutions on the wholesale breakup of Native communities across the country, as a practice was soon adopted to physically send children far from their ancestral homelands, to places where they would struggle — once escaped — to find a way back to the people and places they loved. Children from across the state were sent as far as Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, while children from tribal nations across the country were sent to one of the 13 institutions here in California.
This National Indian Boarding School Remembrance Day, I encourage all Californians to honor the victims and survivors of the boarding school era by remembering these children and their sacrifices and reflecting on how we can better address the ongoing impacts of this awful legacy.
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 30, 2026, as “Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 30th day of September 2026.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State