NEW YORK – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally apologized Tuesday for the “atrocities” she says were committed at an upstate boarding school where Native American youths were forcibly separated from their families and forced to assimilate into American society.
The Democrat, speaking on the grounds of the former Thomas Indian School on Seneca Nation land, said students were subjected to “unimaginable physical, emotional and sexual assaults” during the institution’s more than 100-year existence.
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“Instead of being a haven for orphan children, it became a place of nightmares,” Hochul said. “A place some would call a torture chamber, the site of sanctioned ethnic cleansing. That’s what was going on here. Trying to eradicate the long, proud story of the Senecas.”
More than 2,500 students from tribes across the state attended the school in western New York, which operated from 1875 to 1957 and was among hundreds of such boarding schools across the U.S.
Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca, whose father attended the school, said the apology was an important reckoning for the “dark and tragic period” in the tribe's history.
"It is a day that many people thought would never happen,” he said in a statement after the event. “Healing takes time, but it also requires accountability for the pain that people caused. We still feel the pain. Now, with Governor Hochul’s words of apology, our healing process can continue.”
Hochul, during what the tribe said was the first official visit by a sitting New York governor to Seneca land, met with school survivors and their family members. She said she learned about how the school’s harsh environment affected generations of tribe members.
“The children in that school didn’t feel like they had a family. They were lonely,” she said. “No one gave them hugs or kisses goodnight, so when they became parents themselves, they were not conditioned to nurture or give love.”
Hochul vowed her budget will propose the creation of new education materials about local indigenous communities and their contributions.
“A deeper understanding of the people whose land we are on and what they have gone through. That is a first step forward,” she said.
Originally called the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children, the school was established by Presbyterian missionaries in 1855 and taken over by the state in 1875. It was named after Philip E. Thomas, an early benefactor and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The institution was among more than 400 government-supported schools established throughout the country with the goal of assimilating Native American youths.
But the schools, which operated for roughly 150 years, had a devastating impact on Native American communities. Staff at the schools worked to strip Native children of their traditions and heritage. Teachers and administrators cut their hair, forbade them from speaking their own languages and forced them into manual labor.
Students, forcibly separated from their families, endured torture, sexual abuse and hatred from school officials. More than 900 children died at the schools, the last of which closed or transitioned into different institutions decades ago.
Former President Joe Biden in October 2024 visited the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona to formally apologize to Native Americans for the “sin” of the nation’s government-run boarding school system.
But at least $1.6 million in federal funds destined for research projects on the boarding schools have been among the casualties of President Donald Trump’s efforts to rein in the federal bureaucracy.
Some Seneca tribe members were skeptical of Hochul’s goodwill gesture.
Lori Quigley, a Niagara University professor whose mother attended the Thomas school for 10 years as a young child, said she hoped the governor offered more than words.
“An apology is one thing,” she said by phone ahead of the visit. “What actions is she going to take in acknowledging this? These traumas are still impacting our communities.”
Matthew Hill, a tribe member whose father was among the last class of students before the school was shuttered, dismissed the visit as “empty words.”
After all, he said, the Hochul administration and the tribe have been negotiating for years over how much if any of the tribe’s casino revenues the state should be allowed to collect.
“They’re saying sorry for the school, but they’ll continue extorting money from us in the form of gaming revenues,” said Hill. “It’s a joke.”