This article explores how the Navajo had a new nation foisted upon them via boarding schools where students were forced to assimilated into the dominant society. Photographer Daniella Zalcman helps tell the stories of survivors through photographs. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Luci Tapahonso. “For More Than 100 Years, The U.S. Forced Navajo […]
A chilling letter was found in a shed near Alberta Canada written during the boarding school era. The letter reflects the predicament many Indigenous parents faced: punishment or send their children to residential schools. Many parents were reluctant to send their children to residential schools because of the inhumane conditions children lived in, but they […]
Dennis Banks talks about his experience at a boarding school and how these schools destroyed the culture, language, and songs of him and his peers and left communities with historical trauma. Watch Video Here Source: TelSur English. “How the US Suppressed Native American Identity. YouTube video, 2:45. Published [October 13, 2016]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFAQBUCNEtg
American Indian Stories, first published in 1921, is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fiction, and an essay. One of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) recalled legends and tales from oral tradition and used experiences from her life and community to educate others about the Yankton […]
This public television special presents a Native American perspective on military service and sheds new light on PTSD by examining the emotional trauma of war through the prism of Native American tradition and ceremony. Watch Video Here Source: Western Folklife Center. “Healing the Warrior’s Heart.” YouTube video, 12:06. Posted [August 16, 2013]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J1oTS6Fp624
How “The Great Hurt” a play written by a retired Indigenous artist and college faculty member about contemporary American Indian issues and the boarding school era, is being used to educate students and help communities heal from historical trauma. Non-Natives who saw the play mentioned they never knew the history of boarding schools prior to […]
How a Shaman and non-western cultures view mental illness which contrasts with the western perspective. Incorporating Indigenous practices can help a person. From a Shaman’s perspective, mental illness signifies the “birth of a healer” and that person has been chosen as medium between this world and the spirit realm. Read Article Here Read PDF Here […]
A community explains how traditional Yup’ik healing methods should be implemented to help overcome intergenerational trauma. This article follows a family as they struggle to cope with a young woman stabbing her uncle in an alcohol fueled argument. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Mary Annette Pember. “A Fearless Fight Against Historical Trauma, The […]
A narrative explaining a family’s history with the St. Mary’s school on the Bad River Reservation and how this left a lasting intergenerational impact. The Adverse Childhood Experience Study (ACES) is also cited. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Mary Annette Pember. “We Have To Know It To Heal It: Defining And Dealing […]
The Northern Arapaho tribe is fighting to reclaim the bodies of children who died while attending boarding school under the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The tribe sees this as an important step in the healing process, but also wants the US government to acknowledge their role and responsibility for the trauma inflicted […]
Trauma experienced in childhood can be carried over into adulthood and manifest itself through physical illness such as cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases. The author tells their story of how the healthcare system failed her father, ultimately resulting in premature death, and how she also suffered from seizures and an autoimmune disease as a […]
Gabrielle Scrimshaw recalls how her mother’s and her family’s experience with residential schools, much like many Indigenous people across Canada, has continued to plague the community through intergenerational trauma. These experiences have also led to the dire circumstances many Indigenous people live in today. Read Article Here Read PDF Here Source: Gabrielle Scrimshaw. “Canada’s Hidden History, […]
