In 1634, Fr. Andrew White of the Society of Jesus established a mission in what is now the state of Maryland, and the purpose of the mission, stated through an interpreter to the chief of a Native American tribe there, was "to extend civilization and instruction to his ignorant race, and show them the way to heaven. '' The mission 's annual records report that by 1640, they had founded a community they named St. Mary 's, and Native Americans were sending their children there "to be educated among the English '', including the daughter of the Pascatoe chief Tayac. This was either a school for girls, or an early co-ed school. The same records report that in 1677, "a school for humanities was opened by our Society in the centre of (Maryland), directed by two of the Fathers; and the native youth, applying themselves assiduously to study, made good progress. Maryland and the recently established school sent two boys to St. Omer who yielded in abilities to few Europeans, when competing for the honour of being first in their class. So that not gold, nor silver, nor the other products of the earth alone, but men also are gathered from thence to bring those regions, which foreigners have unjustly called ferocious, to a higher state of virtue and cultivation. ''
when was the first native american boarding school opened
1640