In The News

October 2023

Survivors of Native American boarding schools honored during ceremony (MPR News) 

• “So many people still don’t know about boarding schools, and when they hear about it, they are appalled, so this history still needs to be told,” said Sandy White Hawk.

Wash. Tribal Board To Study State's Boarding School History (Law360)

• "We are grateful for Washington state's leadership in not only investigating its role during the Indian boarding school era, but also its willingness to promote healing for survivors," said Deborah Parker, CEO of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and a member of The Tulalip Tribes. "We need other states to follow suit and work with tribes and Native communities to bring the truth about this dark history to light."

September 2023

Interior Department Launches Effort to Preserve Federal Indian Boarding School Oral History (Dept. of the Interior)

• “This historic project is a lifeline to preserving the voices and memories of Indian boarding school survivors," said NABS Chief Executive Officer Deborah Parker (Tulalip). "Many of our ancestors did not have the chance to share their experiences, so NABS is grateful to Secretary Haaland and the Department of the Interior for this support. This will allow us to continue our work in seeking truth and justice, ensuring survivor's stories are never forgotten, and bringing healing to future generations.”

Coalition Gets $4 Million to Fund Collection of Oral Testimonies of Indian Boarding School Survivors (Yahoo News)

• The Department of the Interior today announced nearly $4 million in funding to the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) to support their work of collecting oral testimonies from Indian boarding school survivors and descendants.

Indian Country Today Newscast (Orange Shirt Day)

• Lacey Kinnart (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Ojibwe), Programs Coordinator for NABS, talks about September 30, also known as Orange Shirt Day. Interview starts at 11:52 into the broadcast.

Research uncovers role of churches and religious groups in Indigenous boarding schools (PBS NewsHour)

August 2023

‘WAR AGAINST THE CHILDREN’ (New York Times)

• Until recently, incomplete records and scant federal attention kept even the number of schools — let alone more details about how they functioned — unknown. The 523 schools represented here constitute the most comprehensive accounting to date of institutions involved in the system. This data was compiled over the course of several years by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. It reflects the efforts of historians, researchers, activists and survivors who have filled in many of the blanks in this dark chapter of American history.

Native American children have been sent to more Indigenous boarding schools than previously reported, group says (CNN)

• “There’s just so much we don’t know and trying to get records from churches has been incredibly difficult until now. We’re starting to get some records, but it’s just not enough,” Parker said. “We’re really trying to build this movement so that we can help families find their loved ones.”

More schools that forced American Indian children to assimilate revealed (Washington Post)

• “Regardless of who was complicit in running these schools, whether it was done by the federal government or a church or religious group, they both thought it was acceptable to create these schools to remove Native children from their land, strip them of their language and reprogram them under a Manifest Destiny model,” said Samuel Torres, deputy chief executive of the coalition.

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition Launches Interactive Map of United States’ 523 American Indian boarding Schools (Native News Online) 

• "I just hope that this shows other Native families that they can start their healing process by looking at these schools,” said Deidre Whiteman, Director of Research and Education for NABS. Others can start their own research and their own tools to look into the past - what happened to their relatives, what happened at these schools, to understand and ask those questions and to dive deeper into those histories.”

The largest list of U.S. Indian Boarding Schools to date (KNKX) 

• "There's a history that is important for us to understand as not only US citizens, and citizens of our own tribal nations, but also there's others who need to understand this history so that we do not repeat this type of abuse," Parker said.

‘12 years of hell’: Indian boarding school survivors share their stories (Washington Post)

• "We made it to a place right now where we can finally talk about this pain and find enough strength to just stand up and say that our lives mattered and the lives of our children mattered," said Deborah Parker, chief executive of the Healing Coalition and member of the Tulalip Tribes.

Native American group to digitize 20,000 archival pages linked to Quaker-run Indian boarding schools (The Hill)

• “There are hundreds of schools that were operated historically with the sole aim to sever ties between child and family and between child and cultural heritage … so a lot of instances of abuse were administered to these children,” said Stephen Curley, Director of Digital Archives for NABS and a Navajo whose own family was affected by the boarding schools. The records, he said, will be crucial to confirming the anecdotal retelling of their harrowing experiences.

Biden administration, advocates ramp up efforts to address Indian boarding schools’ painful legacy in Minnesota and other states (MinnPost)

• “The way the children were treated could be classified as genocide,” said Samuel Torres,  the coalition’s deputy CEO.

Native mental health providers seek to heal boarding school scars with informed and appropriate treatment (High Country News)

• “I would like them to know and understand that what happened to them is not their fault,” White Hawk said, and that any contemporary struggle they may experience “is an outcome of that trauma in their behaviors that was not healthy.”

A 'definiting moment' in Native storytelling (Indian Country Today)

• “I do think that it is a defining moment for how we engage in storytelling around boarding school impacts, not just historically but the continued impacts,” said Samuel Torres, deputy CEO of the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, an organization that seeks to understand and address the trauma created by federal boarding school policies.

What's the legacy of Federal Indian Boarding Schools in Illinois? (Northern Public Radio)

• “It's really hard at times to talk about a lot of the stuff that we have to [do]," Deidre Whiteman, Director of Research and Education for NABS said. "Hearing about people experiencing all these atrocities at the schools, when they're just children, when they're just babies. I look at my grandson and my own son and my girls when they were babies, and I couldn't imagine that.”

July 2023

Insight into ICWA: Unpacking the US Supreme Court Decision on the Indian Child Welfare Act (KTOO)

• Jim LaBelle, president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, gets to the heart of the matter, as he shares his family’s personal story.

June 2023

Boarding school investigation bill headed to Senate (Indian Country Today)

• “Native peoples, especially boarding school survivors, deserve justice and the chance to heal. This legislation is the first step,” said Theresa Sheldon, Tulalip, policy and advocacy director for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in a press release. “SCIA’s bipartisan support for this legislation demonstrates the broad recognition of the need to address the historical injustices committed against Indian Country.”

Senator Warren Revives Indian Boarding School Legislation with Bipartisan Support (Native News Online)

• “We have identified, to date, over 520 federal Indian boarding schools that operated in the U.S.,” Deborah Parker said. “Our list connects to churches who may not have received direct funding from the federal government, but still operated under those federal Indian policies. Ours is more inclusive of the full picture, and of private industry.”

May 2023

‘1923’s powerful Native American representation recognized in Washington D.C. panel & screening (Outsider)

• “We thank the creators of 1923 for writing storylines that help reveal dark, untold truths about American history,” adds Deborah Parker (Tulalip), CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. “The abuse depicted on the show is hard to watch, but it happened to so many Native children who were forced to attend boarding schools. I hope viewers of the show understand that the trauma our ancestors were subjected to continues to affect every Indigenous person in this country today."

April 2023

Interior secretary visits Tulalip in wake of boarding school revelations (The Seattle Times)

• “It’s time to listen to America’s dark past,” Deborah Parker said. “And to really bring the atrocities to light and to find some healing and justice.”

They were taken from their families as children. Can that trauma be healed? (National Geographic)

• For centuries, Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed in missions and boarding schools. For former students like those in these portraits, the reckoning has just begun.

'Our children deserve to be found;' The painful legacy of Native American boarding schools (CBS News Bay Area)

• "Our children deserve to be found," said Deborah Parker of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. "Our children deserve to be brought home."

What hides in the records from WA Catholic Native boarding schools? Tribes may soon find out (KUOW)

• “There's a tremendous amount of listening to do and bringing those survivor stories forward so that we can begin that truth telling, begin that healing and find some justice for those who have suffered for generations,” said Deborah Parker.

March 2023

Vatican Rejects Doctrine of Discovery (Native News Online)

• “While the Vatican’s decision to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery is the right one, it downplays the Church’s role and accountability for the harm it has caused to Native peoples. It does not change the fact that the Church’s views gave permission to colonizers to take Native lands and assimilate Native peoples," NABS CEO Deb Parker (Tulalip) said in a statement. “We demand more from the Catholic Church. We demand more transparency, including access to Indian boarding school documents, which they have refused to provide. We demand that the Church returns lands to the Tribal Nations in which it operated Indian boarding schools. We demand that the Church supports the Truth and Healing Bill, which would establish a federal commission and conduct a full inquiry into the assimilative policies of U.S. Indian boarding schools."

February 2023

Few speak Ojibwe as a first language. This 'nest' is teaching kids to in Cloquet (MPRnews North Star Journey)

• “It wasn’t until the passing of the Native American Languages Act in 1990 that we saw a federal policy that allowed the use of Native American languages in the classroom,” said Deidre Whiteman, director of research and education for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. “When Indigenous communities lose their languages, they also lose thousands of years of stories and traditions. Everything we know about ourselves as Native peoples is found in our languages — our songs, our stories, and our ceremonies. Our connection to our lands is rooted in languages. It’s what makes us who we are.”

Native Bidaské with Deborah Parker & Dr. Samuel Torres (Native News Online)

Native Healing Coalition seeks additional tribal support for Indian boarding school bill (Indian Country Today)

• “The opportunity we have all been waiting for is here,” said Deborah Parker. “If we’re going to get this done, the time is now. We owe it to ourselves, our tribal nations, boarding school survivors, and especially our future generations. We must vow to do better.”

Revisiting a painful past: Indian school survivors bring stories to Arizona (Daily Independent)

• “Some experiences were more devastating than others from the physical, verbal, cultural and sexual abuse they lived,” she said. “People talked about the hitting and slapping they endured and the humiliation staff made them feel. Others shared how their mouths were washed out with soap for speaking their language, and their constant hunger. Others expressed their pain from being sexually assaulted. And others from being robbed of fully forming family connections. We have seen people share these same experiences across the different Road to Healing events. It’s important to remember that these are traumas against children that continue to impact them and their families then and now.”

National Lacrosse League launches 2nd year of Every Child Matters campaign (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

• For every shirt sold, the NLL will donate the proceeds to the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund in Canada and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in the United States.

January 2023

Native Americans share trauma of Arizona boarding schools (The Hill)

• “There’s a sense of encouragement. Yes, we can finally tell our stories and maybe we can begin to heal,” Parker said. “Those tears help cleanse emotions that we’ve been keeping inside of us for sometimes generations.”

 

December 2022

Efforts continue to learn more about indian boarding school at Fort Simcoe in Yakima Valley (Yakima Herald-Republic)

• "Some primary source records and other archival collections are held at repositories distant from the Native communities they document, as noted by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. A large collection of education-related documents from what was known then as the Yakima Indian Agency is at the National Archives in Seattle."

'1923': The Tragic True History of 'Yellowstone' Prequel's American Indian Boarding Schools (Wide Open Country)

• "As depicted in 1923, the punishments for not following these strict rules were brutal. If students were caught speaking their own language or attempting to run away, they were subjected to whippings, beatings and solitary confinement...
  The schools were known for their physical and emotional mistreatment of children, and serious accounts of abuse have been documented by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS)."

Human Rights Film & Arts Festival Returns to Jamestown (The Jamestown Sun)

• "Voices from Pezihutazizi Oyate: Boarding School Histories"  – A 9-minute documentary capturing the stories of families impacted by boarding schools. Special guest Kenrick Escalanti will join virtually for a discussion following the film. Kenrick is the creative director at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and director of the film (other guests may join virtually).

Listen to the survivors: Some churches are starting the long process of recoking with their role in the horrors of Indigenous boarding schools (The Christian Century)

• "At the moment, Black Elk says, almost all institutions, including Red Cloud, are only in the early stages of confrontation and truth telling.
  'We really have to think about what we need to be and do differently,' Black Elk said, but change is difficult and slow. Records are hard to obtain. In the case of Red Cloud, Jesuits kept the records. 'Their perception of what they were doing probably wasn’t in line with what was happening,' Black Cloud said. Instead stories of abuse got passed down orally in families. Excavations at Red Cloud are underway to look for potential remains.
  Broadly speaking, said Torres, 'there is a significant volume of skepticism, because the way in which Indigenous peoples of these lands have been viewed, treated, and ultimately just perceived by Christian folks on these lands has been one of exploitation largely.' At the same time, he said, it’s necessary to “come to the table earnestly and in good faith,' recognizing that there is a tremendous diversity of practice—including some Christian practice—within Native communities. 'It comes down to what each nation wants for its people.'"

November 2022

Who does the federal boarding schools investigation leave out? (High Country News)

• "According to the Healing Coalition, the investigation needs to expand its scope to include stories like Tadidiin’s along with the history of the other institutions that participated in the children’s removal. Deborah Parker (Tulalip Tribes), chief executive director for the Healing Coalition, says that it has identified another 89 boarding school institutions, ranging from Christian schools to hospitals, sanatoriums and orphanages, and that it intends to release the list to the public. Parker hopes the investigation will bring more stories like Tadidiin’s to light and allow families to receive long-overdue support so that they can move forward with their lives.“Our truth-telling is so necessary. For us to heal, we have to hear those stories,” she said. “We have to know what happened to our relatives — what happened to create such sadness within our communities, and yet resilience. We have amazing resilience.”"

What does healing look like to survivors of the U.S. Indian boarding school system? (Salt Lake Tribune)

• "There’s no one path to healing, according to James William LaBelle Sr., interim president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition....

  “Healing for some will mean getting our lands back,” he said. “Other people might say healing means, you know, helping us reclaim our language and our culture, because those were taken away from us during the boarding school era.”

  LaBelle also pointed to the need for access to healing centers, counseling and other places where people can go through a healing process.

  For LaBelle, who attended two boarding schools between 1955 and 1965 in Alaska — the Wrangell Institute in Wrangell and Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka — going to counseling and talking about his experiences have helped him heal, as has the support of his family."

Harvard Museum Will Return Hundreds of Native American Hair Samples (New York Times)

• "The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition said in a statement that it joined “our relatives in grief over the disturbing revelation” from the museum, calling it another reminder of the “racist and colonial history that has directly benefited institutions such as Harvard University.”

  “While we recognize that the Peabody Museum’s apology and commitment to returning these materials back to their relatives and tribal nations is an essential first step,” the coalition said, “we need to see meaningful, urgent and ongoing responses to the extractive and dehumanizing collections practices so commonly seen in anthropological, archaeological and museum sciences.”

October 2022

AFN Convention tackles painful topic of Native boarding schools (KTUU Alaksa)

• "Vice President of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition Jim LaBelle, Sr. spoke at a panel discussion at the Alaska Federation of Native Convention in downtown Anchorage Friday. “The echoes of boarding school in Alaska are still with us today,” LaBelle said. “And what I mean by that is, all we have to do is look at our national suicide rate that’s higher than any other ethnic group in America. All we have to do is look at the 40% Native incarceration rate in Alaska when we only make up 15% of the state’s population.”

  Theresa Sheldon, another panelist with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, encouraged the crowd to voice support for a bill that is currently in congress. The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act would establish a commission to look into abuses at Federal Indian Boarding Schools. Sheldon said it would also require the commission to learn more about children who died while attending the schools."

Native Americans recall torture, hatred at boarding schools (AP News)

• "The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition says it’s tallied about 100 more schools not on the government list that were run by groups such as churches.

  “They all had the same missions, the same goals: ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,’” said Lacey Kinnart, who works for the Minnesota-based coalition. For Native American children, Kinnart said the intention was “to assimilate them and steal everything Indian out of them except their blood, make them despise who they are, their culture, and forget their language.”

Investigations Into Abuse At Native American Boarding Schools Going Back to 19th Century (MSNBC)

• "October 10th, 2022, is National Indigenous Peoples Day. Creative Director of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition Kenrick Escalanti discuss the history of mistreatment of indigenous people in Native American boarding schools in the U.S. and what Congress needs to do to bring justice and closure to the survivors."

Surviving Genocide: Native Boarding School Archives Reveal Defiance, Loss & Love (The 74)

• "“We’ve been subjected and our ancestors have been subjected to such atrocities and such attempts to wipe us out that we’ve sort of normalized suffering, in a way,” said Stacy Bohlen, CEO of the National Indian Health board and member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, during a webinar hosted by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition."

September 2022

Minnesota Governor Time Walz Proclaims Sept. 30 "Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools." (Native News Online)

• "The proclamation recognizes that “for over 150 years, the United States pursued, embraced, or permitted a policy of forced assimilation of American Indians, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian people through the federal Indian boarding school system,” including 23 Indian boarding schools in the state of Minnesota. “Today, we honor the Native children who never returned home from U.S. Indian boarding schools in Minnesota and across the country,” Gov. Walz wrote on Twitter. “We must recognize the history and ongoing legacy of these schools to move forward with better strategies to support and protect Native communities.”"

Hundreds Gather in St. Paul for Boarding School Survivors Candlelight Vigil (Yahoo News)

• ""Hundreds gathered at Leif Erickson Park in downtown St. Paul on Thursday for a candlelight vigil honoring those who attended federal Indian Boarding Schools.
  The event was hosted by the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS). Attendees engaged in ceremony and song and listened as boarding school survivors shared their experiences."

SD Senators Express Indifference to the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Act (West River Eagle)

• "South Dakota’s Native American population is about 75,000 people, according to the 2020 census; one might reasonably expect the Senators from a state with such a significant percentage of Native American citizens to fully support Senate Bill 2907, “The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act.” That is not the case."

National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools (Sahan Journal)

• "According to Deidre Whiteman, Director of Research and Education for NABS, “Indigenous people are still experiencing the impacts of intergenerational trauma caused by Indian boarding schools. Many survivors are alive today, sharing their stories and experiences. The National Day of Remembrance is a day to remember what these children experienced, how they survived, how they didn’t survive and how we can move forward together on a path of healing so that no child is forgotten.”"
  

ThreeSixty Journalism: Opening doors to truth, justice, healing (Twin Cities Pioneer)

•  “They were meant to be, essentially, broken in these facilities so that they can be reprogrammed into what was deemed by the dominant society as a socially acceptable Euro-American citizen,” said Samuel Torres, deputy chief executive officer of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Torres explained that NABS’s main goal is to open the doors to truth, justice and healing for Native American communities. His organization partnered with the Department of Interior to provide crucial information on the investigation of federal Indian boarding schools.”

 

August 2022

First-of-its-kind survey examines trauma, healing among Indigenous survivors of family separation: The Child Removal in Native Communities survey will ask survivors difficult questions about their experiences with boarding schools, foster care, and adoption (Sahan Journal)

• “The Minneapolis-based National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University of Minnesota are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind survey asking those difficult questions. Researchers have compiled close to 1,000 accounts, submitted on paper and online, for the Child Removal in Native Communities survey, which concludes September 11.”

Tribal Boarding Schools much improved, but legacy of old schools remains (Arizona Mirror)

• “Today’s schools are no longer in the “historical assimilative model,” said Stephen Curley, the director of digital archives for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the previous structure “doesn’t exist anymore.”.... Curley pointed to the Navajo Nation as an example of resilience. The Navajo reservation had the majority of federal Indian boarding schools in Arizona, a “strategic” decision by federal authorities who saw in the tribe’s large population a need for “a lot of institutions to assimilate them.” Despite that, he said, the Navajo Nation and its nearly 400,000 members is still vibrant today.”

‘We need to hear these stories’: Colorado begins investigating a former Indian boarding school (KUNM, Wyoming Public Media)

• “Deborah Parker heads the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, and she's a trusted confidant for Indigenous elders who attended federal Indian boarding schools in their youth.“We’re talking about institutions, prison systems, that were buildings you put children in as young as 3 years old, and many children didn’t return home at all,” said Parker, who also goes by her traditional name tsicyaltsa. “Others they believe their sibling was murdered or they say could smell the incinerator. They could smell children.””

 

July 2022

Pope's visit to Canada brings healing and questions about reparations (MPR: Minnesota Now)

• “A Minneapolis based organization called The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition has a representative at the meetings to ask for some specific actions from the Pope. Sam Torres, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, joined Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.”

'It is a history that we must learn from if we are to heal': U.S. reckons with role in Native American boarding schools (Spectrum News 1)

• “You’re changed once you hear the truth,” Sandy White Hawk, president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, told Spectrum News. While the coalition is pushing for an apology from the government and the church, White Hawk says more needs to be done. “Anytime you say you’re sorry about something, you have to change what brought you to the point that you had to apologize," she added.”

Episcopal Church to study its role in federal Indian boarding schools (The Washington Post)

• “The resolution encourages the Episcopal Church to hire one or more research fellows to work with dioceses where boarding schools for Indigenous children were located and to share records with the Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.”

 

June 2022

Native American Groups Discuss Generational Impact of Tribal Boarding Schools (Channel 6 News, Tulsa OK)

• “The summit, called Breaking the Silence, comes a month after the US Department of the Interior released its first investigative report into the schools' controversial history…. A national group called the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition also talked about renewed efforts by lawmakers in DC to learn more.”

 

May 2022

Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report

Interior Department says Native American children were forced into assimilation at 408 federal boarding schools (CNN) 

• Deborah Parker, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, said the release of the report was a "historic moment." 
• "It reaffirms the stories we all grew up with. The truth of our people and that often immense torture our elders and ancestors went through as children at the hands of the federal government and the religious institutions," Parker said. But Parker said there is much more work yet to be done. "After generations, we still do not know how many children attended, how many children died, and/or how many children were permanently scarred for life because of these federal institutions."

U.S. counts Indian boarding school deaths for first time, but leaves key questions unanswered (NBC Universal)

• “"Even though it’s ceased or stopped in many places, the vestiges of it is still continuing today," said James LaBelle, Sr., who is Inupiaq and a vice president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a nonprofit that helped compile the report and advocates for survivors of Indian boarding schools….
• Survivors are long overdue for a formal apology from the U.S., said Samuel Torres, deputy CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. If and when it comes, he said, it needs to be followed up with action. “If the federal government really wants to be a part of a truth speaking, of an accountability process, and wants to be able to lay a foundation to be able to open up pathways towards healing, now’s the time.’”

Report details brutal Treatment of Indigenous children attending U.S. boarding schools (PBS Newshour)

• The federal government on Wednesday detailed for the first time the brutality and treatment Native American children suffered when they were forcibly moved into U.S. boarding schools during the course of 150 years. Deborah Parker, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and a member of the Tulalip Tribe in Washington, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

Report Catalogs Abuse of Native American Children at Former Government Schools (New York Times)

• “Deborah Parker, chief executive of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, said the children who died at government-run boarding schools deserve to be identified and their remains brought home. Ms. Parker said the efforts to find them won’t end until the United States fully accounts for the genocide committed against Native American children. “Our children had names, our children had families, our children had their own languages, our children had their own regalia, prayers and religions before Indian Boarding Schools violently took them away,” Ms. Parker said”
• Sitting with Ms. Haaland at the news conference was Jim Labelle, a survivor who spent 10 years in a government-run boarding school. Mr. Labelle said he was eight years old when he started there. His brother was six.“I learned everything about the European American culture,” he said. “It’s history, language, civilizations, math, science, but I didn’t know anything about who I was. As a native person, I came out not knowing who I was.”

H.R. 5444 Truth and Healing Commission on U.S. Indian Boarding School Policies Hearing

U.S. Grappling with Native American boarding school history (AP News)

• “A bill that’s previously been introduced in Congress to create a truth and healing commission on boarding schools got its first hearing Thursday. It’s sponsored by two Native American U.S. representatives — Democrat Sharice Davids of Kansas, who is Ho-Chunk, and Republican Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who is Chickasaw. “Working with the Interior, knowing that there are representatives in the federal government who understand these experiences not just on a historical record but deep within their selves, their own personal stories, really makes a difference,” said Deborah Parker, chief executive officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and a member of the Tulalip Tribes.”

‘All the hurt and the rage’: Elders recall trauma of Native boarding schools (The Seattle Times

• “I spoke with Parker (NABS CEO) during a recess Thursday as she testified before the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the U.S. in Washington, D.C., in support of HR5444, the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act.” It was the first hearing for the bill, which would give broader authority to the commission and allow it to use subpoena power to collect records, as religious organizations and local governments are often reluctant to share, Parker said. These records, among other things, would help to locate the graves of missing and murdered Indigenous children who vanished during the boarding school era.”

 

April 2022

New Mexico in Focus: National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (PBS)

• Correspondent Antonia Gonzales talked to two representatives from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition about the historic apology. In this clip, the group talks more about the coalition and the work the organization is doing to bring healing.

Researchers unearth the painful history of a Native boarding school in Missouri (PBS)

• “What would start with a small number of schools following the Indian Civilization Fund Act in 1819 would eventually grow to more than 350 “government-funded, and often church-run” schools across the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.”

Healing Historical Trauma: Native American researchers are turning long-held traditions into novel public health solutions (Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health)

• “From 1869 to the 1960s, under U.S. policies supported by the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, it’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their homes by government agents and sent to federally funded boarding schools. Precise numbers are elusive, but 60,000 children were forced into the boarding schools by 1925, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.”

 

March 2022

Report on federal Indian boarding schools due April 1 (Indian Country Today)

• “The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition signed an agreement with the Interior in December to share research but has noted that Interior's authority is limited. The coalition was recently in Washington for the National Indian Education Association Hill Week lobbying for bills containing provisions for a full inquiry into policies that pushed for boarding school attendance by Native children.”

How Radar is Helping Track Down Lost Indigenous Grave Sites (Undark) 

• “In the U.S., no one even knows how many boarding schools existed. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, formed in 2012 to understand and address the trauma these schools caused, estimates there were 367 in 29 states, with some still in operation today.”

February 2022

USU Libraries Hosts Exhibit Celebrating Art and Poetry Created at Intermountain Indian School (Utah State TODAY)

• ““Returning Home” has travelled from northern Utah to the Navajo Nation Museum and Diné Bikéyah (Navajo land), before returning to USU. “It is our hope that this exhibit and related work enters the curriculum of primary through post-secondary programs and supports Diné-specific education and cultural revitalization programs,” King said. “I also hope that this exhibit inspires people to teach, learn and support efforts of understanding, reconciling and healing from Native American boarding schools, especially the Intermountain Indian School that was one of the largest federal Native American boarding schools in the United States. Intermountain Indian School alumni are still here, and we need to support them, their families, and works such as the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.””

 

January 2022

As tribes wait for investigation to conclude, debate over Indian schools continues (Indianz)

• “Most boarding schools were closed in the 1980s and early 1990s, but dozens of schools remain open, with 15 still boarding students as of 2020, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Some are controlled by local tribes, while others are operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, a division of the Department of the Interior.”

 

2021

• Search for Indian boarding school records gets a boost Dan Gunderson, MPR News, Dec. 12, 2021

• Dept. of the Interior Turns to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition for Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Research Native News Online, Dec. 7, 2021

• U.S. Catholic bishops encourage government search for boarding school graves Brad Brooks, Reuters, Dec. 2, 2021

• Indigenous community brings healing to complicated history of Inland Empire boarding school Megan Jamerson, KCRW Radio, Dec. 1, 2021

• A History Not Yet Laid to Rest Mary Annette Pember, The Atlantic, Nov. 24, 2021
• Dealing with the Trauma of Indian Boarding Schools Today: A Native News Online Webinar Discussion Native News Online, Nov. 22, 2021
• Researchers Identify Dozens of Native Students Who Died at Nebraska School Christine Chung, New York Times, Nov. 17, 2021
• In a New Mexico park, the buried bodies of Native American children are evidence of genocide Trevor Hughes, USA Today, Oct. 22, 2021
• First Voices Radio segment, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Oct. 10, 2021
• How parents can talk to kids about residential schools Kelly Boutsalis, Mashable, September 26, 2021
• In wake of Canadian revelations, Minneapolis coalition aims to advance healing for Native families with ties to U.S. boarding schools Maya Rao, Star Tribune, September 25, 2021
• Stolen identity Zhao Xu, China Daily, September 25, 2021
• The vast majority of Americans don’t learn about Indian boarding schools growing up. These Native leaders and educators want to change that. Jenna Kunze, Native News Online, September 13, 2021
• Boarding School Healing Coalition Presses for Mental Wellness Resources to Deal with Intergenerational Trauma Native News Online Staff, Native News Online, August 23, 2021
• ‘Healing event’ at Alaska Native Heritage Center commemorates children who died at residential schools in Canada Bill Roth, Anchorage Daily News, July 23, 2021
• US churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools Peter Smith, Associated Press, July 22, 2021
• A Legacy of Pain: The Lasting Impact of Indigenous Boarding Schools Rachel Uda, KatieCouric.com, July 19, 2021
• Uncovering boarding school history makes for monumental task Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press, July 15, 2021
• Indian boarding school investigation faces hurdles in missing records, legal questions Graham Lee Brewer, NBC News, July 15, 2021
• Residential Schools: Cycle of Grief Native America Calling, July 15, 2021
• Healing from boarding school trauma will take time Op-Ed by NABS Staff, Indian Country Today, July 14, 2021
• What will a US probe into Indigenous boarding schools uncover? The Stream on Al Jazeera, July 13, 2021
• A federal investigation seeks to uncover the painful history of Native American boarding schools, Allison Winter, States Newsroom, July 13, 2021
• Their children vanished at an Indigenous boarding school. This tribe is bringing them home after 140 years. Nicole Chavez, Martin Savidge and Angela Barajas, CNN, July 10, 2021
• Investigating the Indian Boarding School Era, Indian Country Today Newscast, July 8, 2021
• Intentional Trauma: Indian Boarding Schools, Counter Stories podcast, July 7, 2021
• Minneapolis-based organization supports federal investigation into Native American boarding schools in the U.S. Charmaine Nero, KARE 11, July 1, 2021
• What the US can learn from Canada's commission on Indigenous residential schools, Emily Schwing, Public Radio International's The World, June 30, 2021
• Uncovering the 'Unspoken Traumas' of Native American Boarding Schools, 1A on NPR, June 29, 2021
• In The News, Native America Calling, June 29, 2021
• Facing Our Hard History (The Boarding School Episode) 8 O'clock buzz, WORT Madison Radio, June 29, 2021
• More than a century later, disinterment kicks off Aleut girl's long journey home to St. Paul Island Amy Worden, The Washington Post, June 27, 2021
• Rosebud Sioux to receive the remains of their children who died at the former Carlisle Indian School Jeff Gammage, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 26, 2021
• As Canada grapples with residential school legacy, the U.S. looks to its own history Sheena Goodyear, CBC Radio, June 24, 2021
• U.S. to Search Former Native American Schools for Children's Remains Christine Hauser, Isabella Grullón, New York Times, June 23, 2021
• Native Americans decry unmarked graves, untold history of boarding schools Brad Brooks, Reuters, June 22, 2021
• There Are Many Unmarked Graves of Indigenous Kids at US Boarding Schools Too Anya Zoledziowski, Vice News, June 21, 2021
• The Remains of 10 Children at the Carlisle Indian Boarding School Are Returning Home Jenna Kunze, Native News Online, June 17, 2021
• Native Americans to Feds: Own Up to America's Indian School History Cecily Hilleary, Voices of America, June 16, 2021
• With digital archive, a time and a new way to understand colonial history Anna Burgess, The Harvard Gazette, June 14, 2021
• Why we must confront the history of U.S. Native boarding schools if we hope to heal Naomi Ishisaka, The Seattle Times, June 14, 2021
• 'We won't forget about the children', Mary Annette Pember, Indian Country Today, June 6, 2021
• Native American Heritage Month Spotlight: Reclaiming Culture Beatrice Alvarez, PBS, November 16, 2020
• Coalition Seeks Answers About Children Who Went Missing at U.S. Indian Boarding Schools Via United Nations Indian Country Today, May 14, 2019.
• What was Phoenix Indian School Like for Students? A History from 1891 to 1990 Taylor Seely, Arizona Republic, May 6, 2019.
• Announcing the First Comprehensive Study on Child Removal in Native Communities Indian Country Today, April 5, 2019.
• Carlisle and the Indian Boarding School Legacy in America Daniella Zalcman, Pulitzer Center, November 21, 2018.
• Cemetery Caretaker Helps Repatriate Remains of Alaska Native Children Ben Hohenstatt, Juneau Empire, November 19, 2018.
• Bob Sam Shares his Story of Respecting Ancestors at Evening at Egan Taku 105, November 17, 2018.
• Conference Examines Native American Boarding School History Church of Brethren Newsline, November 16, 2018.
• An Untold Number of Indigenous Children Disappeared at U.S. Boarding Schools. Tribal Nations are Raising the Stakes in Search of Answers Alleen Brown and Nick Estes, The Intercept, September 25, 2018.
• Carlisle Indian School Legacy Presents a Conflicted Point-of-View Joseph Cress, The Morning Call, September 9, 2018 and U.S. News, September 8, 2018.
• Indian School Descendants Reflect on Remnants of Carlisle Indian School Joseph Cress, The Sentinel, September 3, 2018.
• Indian School: Two Projects in Development Stage to Honor Legacy of Indian School Students  Joseph Cress, The Sentinel, September 3, 2018.
• Indian School Descendants Prefer the Focus be on Resilience, not the Trauma Joseph Cress, The Sentinel, September 2, 2018.
• Indian School: Experts Explain How the Carlisle School Transformed and Traumatized Joseph Cress, The Sentinal, September 2, 2018.
• Family Separation, Then and Now Vance Blackfox, We Talk We Listen, July 16, 2018.
• This isn't the First Time the United States has Split Up Families Meredith L. McCoy and Sarah B. Shear, The Houston Chronicle, July 8, 2018.
• For Survivors of Native American Boarding Schools, Family Separation is Nothing New Laura Rice, KUT Texas, June 26, 2018.
• The U.S. Government's Long History of Family Separation: Native Children Ripped Away from their Homes Loud & Clear Interviews with Brian Becker, June 20, 2018.
• Will Truth Be Told?  John Longhurst, Mennonite World Review, May 21, 2018.
• A Search for Native Children who Died on 'Outings' in PA  Jeff Gammage, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2018.
• As Heard on Morning Line: Boarding School Survivors' Opportunity to Tell Story on Film Frank Chythlook, KNBA-KBC, April 11, 2018.
• A Shocking History G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Living Church, February 28, 2018.
• Coalition Seeks Testimonies from Navajo Families About Boarding School Students Noel Lyn Smith, Farmington Daily Times, January 13, 2018.
• Native Americans No Closer to Learning Fates of Boarding School Ancestors Cecily Hilleary, Voice of America, October 20, 2017.
• The Northern Arapaho Boys Liz Navratil, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, August 11, 2017.
• Excavating the hidden history of Indian children who died in Carlisle Jeff Gammage, Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, August 11, 2017.
• Do You Have Information About Relatives Who Attended Boarding Schools? Rick Kearns, Indian Country Media Network Today, July 16, 2017.
• The sad Legacy of American Indian Boarding schools in Minnesota and the U.S. Denise K. Lajimodiere, MinnPost, June 16, 2016.
• Healing and Justice: Native American Boarding School Coalition Starts Carlisle Repatriation Petition for Tribes Native News Online Staff, April 8, 2016.
• Northern Arapaho Seek Healing for Historic Boarding School Traumas Melodie Edwards, Wyoming Public Media Statewide Network, February 26, 2016.
• Stringing Rosaries: A Qualitative Study of Sixteen Northern Plains American Indian Boarding School Students Denise K. Lajimodiere, Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, Vol 8 (2) 2012. (West Texas A&M University)

 

Past Newsletters

July 2021 Newsletter

April 2021 Newsletter
January 2021 Newsletter
October 2020 Newsletter
July 2020 Newsletter
April 2020 Newsletter