Challenging Colonialism s01e04 Indian Boarding Schools: Colonialism through Education

Beginning in the 1880s, Indian Boarding Schools across the country operated with the stated goal to “kill the Indian and save the man.” These institutions were key to U.S. policies that aimed to assimilate native children by removing ties to their own cultures.

Speakers:
Tara Baugas (Diné), Dr. Kevin Whalen, Amanda Wixon (Chickasaw/Choctaw), Dr. Daisy Ocampo (Caz’ Ahmo Nation of Zacatecas, Mexico), Dr. Jean Keller, Dr. Samantha Williams, Dr. Katie Keliiaa (Yerington Paiute and Washoe), & Kelly Leah Stewart (Luiseño & Gabrieliño-Tongva).

Audio editing by Daniel Stonebloom
Interviews by Martin Rizzo-Martinez
Music by G. Gonzales

The title of this episode, Colonialism Through Education, comes from our interview with Kelly Leah Stewart.

Supported by the California State Parks Foundation: https://www.calparks.org/

Links & Further Reading:

Brave Hearts: A Visual History of Sherman Indian Boarding School https://www.artsteps.com/view/60767f1692d424ead81fa667

Recording of virtual launch of “Brave Hearts”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kSNbxNgnkuZJC_oSd3GECkcSsruKExAi/view

Salt Song Trail (Film about the Salt Songs of the Southern NUWUVI (Paiute People), who gathered at the Sherman Institute to sing for children who never returned home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg-bi83mMSI&t=68s

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
https://boardingschoolhealing.org/

Sherman Indian Museum
http://www.shermanindianmuseum.org/

Stewart Indian School
https://stewartindianschool.com/

St. Boniface Indian School & Cemetery
https://www.thedesertway.com/st-boniface-indian-school/

Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project
https://genoaindianschool.org/home

Genoa Indian School Museum
https://genoaindianschoolmuseum.org/

Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/

Native Wellness Institute
https://www.nativewellness.com/

Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories
https://heard.org/boardingschool/

University of Manotoba - National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation https://nctr.ca/

Kevin Whalen, Native Students at Work: American Indian Labor and Sherman Institute’s Outing Program, 1900-1945
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295744285/native-students-at-work/

Jean Keller, Empty Beds: Indian Student Health at Sherman Institute, 1902-1922
https://msupress.org/9780870136504/empty-beds/

Samantha M. Williams: Assimilation, Resilience, and Survival: A History of the Stewart Indian School, 1890-2020
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496223364/

Kelly Leah Stewart (Re)writing and (Re)righting California Indian Histories: Legacies of Saint Boniface Indian Industrial School, 1890-1935
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5qx1w2mz

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