President Joe Biden is establishing a national monument at the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. government authorized Carlisle in 1879 as part of a policy to remove tribal children from their communities. The founder of the institution operated under a motto of “Kill the Indian … and save the man.”

“By establishing a new national monument at the site of the former Carlisle Federal Indian Industrial School, President Biden is acknowledging the Federal Indian boarding school era, advancing healing, and commemorating the resilience of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples,” the White House said in a fact sheet on Monday.

“For more than 150 years, the Federal Government removed American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children from their families, Tribes, and homelands — often by force or coercion — and transported them to institutions that aimed to strip them of their languages, religions, and cultures,” the White House said of the genocidal Indian boarding school era.

President Joe Biden and his administration are hosting their fourth and final White House Tribal Nations Summit. Here is the fact sheet announcing the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument and other Indian Country actions. #WHTNShttps://t.co/R8cI0kDj1m

— indianz.com (@indianz) December 9, 2024

According to the White House, the new national monument will be located on 24.5 acres of what is now known as the Carlisle Barracks. The U.S. Army has controlled the site of the former Indian boarding school since it closed in 1918.

“The monument boundary encompasses the historic buildings and structures that made up the campus of the Carlisle School — including School Road Gateposts that were built by the labor of Native American children and youth at the school,” the fact sheet stated. “The gateposts still stand today as a marker of the removal and separation of children from their families, Tribes, and homelands.”

The National Park Service and the U.S. Army will cooperatively manage the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument, the White House said. A management plan is to be developed following consultation with tribes and Native Hawaiians, according to the fact sheet. A timeline was not immediately announced.

“With the establishment of the new national monument, the Army will now transfer administrative jurisdiction over the gateposts to the National Park Service, and the agencies will sign a memorandum of understanding to guide their cooperative management of the national monument,” the White House said.

The announcement came on the morning of the 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit. The event is the fourth and final one of Biden’s administration.

The one-day event is held at the main building of the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Secretary Deb Haaland, who is the first Native person to lead the agency, established the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in June 2021 to account for the federal government’s role in separating tribal children from their communities.

Following the release of two volumes of an investigative report into Indian boarding schools, President Biden issued an apology on behalf of the U.S. government. He spoke at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona on October 25.

“I have a solemn responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the Native peoples — Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans — at federal Indian boarding schools,” Biden said.

“It’s long, long, long overdue,” Biden continued. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 150 years to make.”