The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is pleased to announce the launch of our 2019 Webinar Series. The 10-episode series will educate audiences about the history and impacts of U.S. Indian boarding schools and feature positive examples of how tribal nations are healing from the ongoing legacies of the Boarding School Era. The Series will be split into two parts, a Spring section that will run from February to June and a Fall section that will go from August to December.
The goal of U.S. Indian schools was to eliminate the “Indian problem” that the U.S. had within its goals for westward expansion by removing all traces of tribal existence—language, culture, spiritual traditions, communal and family ties, etc. and replacing them with European Christian ideals of civilization, religion, and culture. Today, Native communities continue to live with the impacts of the cultural genocide that was carried out in these schools. Impacts such as loss of language, loss of culture, high rates of PTSD, depression, suicide, violence, and sexual abuse are directly linked to the historical trauma caused by colonization and forced assimilation. NABS’s mission is to understand and address these ongoing impacts caused by the boarding school era. The Webinar Series will be an important part of our efforts to spark a national conversation on these issues and cultivate opportunities for healing for boarding school survivors and their descendants.
The Webinar Series themes align with four main areas of interest that were also used to structure NABS’s inaugural conference: The Spirit Survives: A National Movement Toward Healing:
- Truth in History,
- Personal Stories,
- Intergenerational Trauma, and
- Community-Led Healing.
While the Spring webinars will focus on Truth in History and Personal Stories, the Fall episodes will center on Intergenerational Trauma and Community-Led Healing. The series will provide listeners in tribal governance, education, philanthropy, and community organizing with vital knowledge about this important part of American history and how it continues to affect us today.
View our Spring Schedule and register now!
Can’t make it? Stay tuned! We’ll be recording the webinars and making them available online at a later date.
