Bosque Redondo: a memorial in the making.

Between 1863 and 1868, over 9000 Native Americans were interned under US military guard at the Bosque Redondo reservation in New Mexico. The objectives for internment were to end Indian raids of military forts and to assimilate native people. The prisoners' survival despite inhumane conditions is now commemorated at the Bosque Redondo Memorial, which opened to the public in 2004. This paper recounts the history of the site before it was a memorial, exploring why such designation was not established sooner, and it addresses the aspiration for the Memorial to become an accredited member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]