In The News

November 2022

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