This week’s recommendation comes from:

Glenn Nolly

Leadership Fellow

Glenn says, “This article is yet another example of our need to confront history and acknowledge how it has impacted and continues to impact those who have been negatively effected by our past and current beliefs.”

Indian Boarding Schools’ Traumatic Legacy, and the Fight to Get Native Ancestors Back

Sam Yellowhorse Kesler

“This history that happened to us, you know, there’s been attempts over and over again to whitewash it, saying that it didn’t happen. And it did happen. So it’s best for America to learn what actually happened,” he said. “And then they can understand our plight, our situation on reservations, but then also understand that… we want to be self-sufficient. We don’t want to be dependent on our federal government. We want to move forward.” – Rosebud Sioux President Rodney Bordeaux

This article, and accompanying NPR Code Switch podcast, looks at the history of the Carlisle Indian School, the first off-reservation Native American boarding school in the United States. The school began in the late 1800s with a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who used Native American prisoners of war to help recruit children to this Pennsylvania school. The purpose of the school was to assimilate Native American children into the white American culture and organize them into units and battalions. Read on to learn more about the devastating effects of off-reservation Native American boarding schools and the ongoing process of repatriation.