Elicia Goodsoldier who is part Navajo and part Sioux encourages people in her community to share their stories of trauma. She grew up in a blended Christian and Navajo household with her grandparents who are also boarding school survivors. The confusion over her identity and intergenerational trauma she experienced negatively affected her until she reconnected […]
Sandy WhiteHawk was adopted by a non-Native family, but eventually returned to her roots. She founded and is the director of the First Nations Institute, an organization whose mission is to help Native adoptees and those who were in foster care reconnect with their tribal communities and identities. Listen to Podcast Here Source: White Hawk, […]
Sandy White Hawk tells her story of being adopted by a white family, overcoming alcoholism, and returning to her roots on the Rosebud Sioux reservation. She credits attending social gatherings, ceremonies, and pow wows with helping her reconnect to her roots. She realized the need for an organization that helps network and assists adoptees, fostered […]
The site of the Stewart Indian School is opening up a museum and cultural center in the spring of 2019. The Nevada Indian Commission formed a cultural advisory committee with school alumni and their descendants to gather testimonies, and hired researchers and Native artists to help with the exhibits. For many, the Stewart Indian School […]
Denise Lajimodiere finally obtains her father’s file from the Chemawa Indian School near Salem, Oregon. Through this journey she and her father come to learn more about the history and the impacts of boarding school on Native Americans. Lajimodiere understands how trauma can be passed through generations, and her father, after viewing the documentary In the […]
Many students at Carlisle were “loaned out” to white families to work as cheap labor in what were called ‘Outings’. Deaths occurred through illness or injury and were not always recorded. Additionally, students were not always buried in unmarked graves. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is searching for missing students. One […]
Mary Kininnook died three days after her 14th birthday. Her burial location is unknown, but she is likely in one of the graves marked “unknown.” Tribal elders want to find and return her remains, but US army officials say they will not disturb the graves marked “unknown.” Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Jeff […]
This book is about the residential school experience of Irene Couchie–Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother. It is ideal for children 7-11 years old and a good way to begin the conversation about Native American residential schools. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Stephanie Joe. “Book Review: I am not a number. By Jenny Kay Dupuis […]
An Inuk mother in Canada hadn’t seen her daughter, Marieyvonne Alaka, since she was 4 years old. At that age Alaka was sent to a boarding school where she was injured and contracted tuberculosis. She died her family spent years not knowing where she is buried. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Jane Sponagle. […]
A video about the experience of boarding school survivor Margert Pokiak-Fenton. The video is set to “Say your name” by Keith Secola and features images from the books “Fatty Legs” and “Stranger at Home.” Watch Video Here Source: The Ndn Kar. “Say Your Name- Keith Secola.” YouTube video, 3:42. Posted [November, 9, 2012]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eReBSbN-4lE
This thesis is a story of resistance, resistance by Native students, and their parents, to an institution that was founded in an attempt to eradicate Native culture and Americanize Native people, specifically the children. The Bismarck Indian School was one of twenty-eight off-reservation boarding schools erected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to assimilate Native […]
Several elders in Alaska are telling their stories, and creating a K-12 curriculum that focuses on the colonization of the Tlingit people. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Lisa Phu. “Tlingit elders write boarding school history for future generations.” November 25. 2015. Ktoo Public Media. https://www.ktoo.org/2015/11/25/tlingit-elders-write-boarding-school-history-for-future-generations/
