“The War Cry Was Assimilation.”

The Uintah and Ouray Boarding Schools in Utah

The Ute Indian Tribe gave Utah its name — and America promised to educate the tribe’s children when it took their land. But rather than empowering them, two federal boarding schools on the reservation forced Ute children to work, punished them for speaking their own language and tried to break their bonds with their families and traditions.

Since their transition into public schools, Ute students have faced racism and languished for 70 years. An investigation by The Salt Lake Tribune shows they are being singularly failed by Uinta Basin schools today.

This investigation into the legacy of reservation boarding schools for the Ute Indian Tribe and their childrens’ later transition to public schools was supported with funding from the Data-Driven Reporting Project. The Data-Driven Reporting Project is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with Northwestern University | Medill.