Winnebago Appealing District Court Decision Granting Army’s Motion to Dismiss Case Seeking Return of Native Children from Carlisle Indian Boarding School Under NAGRPA

November 19, 2024

Winnebago Appealing District Court Decision Granting Army’s Motion to Dismiss Case Seeking Return of Native Children from Carlisle Indian Boarding School Under NAGRPA

There is an important case pending right now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit called Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska v. U.S. Dept. of the Army.  Winnebago is fighting for the return of two Native children’s bodies from Carlisle Indian Industrial School under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (or NAGPRA).

Carlisle was the first government-run Indian boarding school, and it served as the model fora system of 417 similar federal Indian boarding schools nationwide, according to the Department of the Interior’s current calculation.  The federal government operated Carlisle from 1879 until 1918.  It and other Indian boarding schools were an integral part of one of the darkest eras of federal Indian law and policy.  During that era, the United States was bent on forcing Native people to assimilate into the colonizer’s culture, with the overall goal being to simplify the United States’ taking of Tribal Nations’ lands and resources.

The Army, which now operates the grounds of Carlisle, has taken the position it has no obligation under NAGPRA to repatriate children still held in the graveyard at Carlisle.  The Army asserts that NAGPRA’s repatriation provisions only apply to holdings or collections and that the graveyard is not a holding or collection.  The Army also asserts NAGPRA does not require exhuming graves.  Instead, the Army says it will apply its own disinterment process under Army Regulation 290-5, designed for service members and prisoners of war.  But this is not the equitable alternative the Army claims it to be.

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska brought suit to force the Army to afford our children at Carlisle the protections of NAGPRA, instead of perpetuating their treatment as militants and prisoners of war.  USET SPF prepared and filed an amicus brief supporting Winnebago, and we are preparing an amicus brief to file in Winnebago’s appeal.  This is an important case for all of Indian Country.

Watch the video below to learn more about the history of Native boarding schools and this important case.

Watch the video below to learn more about the history of Native boarding schools and this important case.

Learn more about Native American Heritage Month.