Credit: This 1905 photo shows Native students at the Chemawa Indian Training School near Salem, Oregon. The school opened in 1886 and remains open today. (Photo courtesy of Pacific University)

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The Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition has launched the first-ever comprehensive digital database of Indian boarding schools that links information from more than one source.

The database, the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive, is accessible to the public, with a list of schools and students that dates back nearly 150 years. It was released May 21 after years of research.

Unlike other digital collections, the archive also includes an advisory that the content may trigger secondary trauma or PTSD, and offers resources for self-care and organizations that can help.

“Indian Boarding Schools hold a complex and often painful legacy in American history,” the coalition said in a press release announcing the archive’s release.

“For generations, Native American children were forcibly removed from their families and communities and sent to these schools, where they were subjected to cultural assimilation and abuse,” according to the statement. “The repercussions of this traumatic chapter continue to reverberate through Native communities to this day.”

For now, the archives include information on nine of the federal Indian boarding school, including the Chemawa Indian School in Oregon, Pipestone Indian Training School in Minnesota, Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota, Stewart Indian School in Nevada, Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School in Michigan, Fort Bidwell Indian School in California and Mt. Edgecumbe Boarding School in Alaska.

In addition to the names of students, the archives list documents found in student files, photos, evaluations, institution finances and other information documents about the schools. Work continues so that additional schools can be added to the database as the information is gathered.

“It’s a huge undertaking but we’re here to do this work and are committed to our communities and tribal partners,” Fallon Carey, the coalition digital archives assistant, told ICT. Carey is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

At least 60,000 Native children had attended the federal boarding schools by 1925, either voluntarily or by force. Many died at the school and never made it home. READ MORE. — Mary Annette Pember, ICT

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ART: Pueblo Center tells stories in art, film and food

There is much to see, experience and eat at the Indian Pueblo Center in Albuquerque, where an expansive permanent exhibit resides along with rotating shows.

Pueblo culture from ancient times to the present is highlighted in “We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story,” an exploration of the 19 pueblos of New Mexico and the pueblo people’s legacy of resilience told through their own words and voices. Adobe houses, pottery, crafts, films and language exhibits give a well-rounded history.

In the entry rotunda is a site-specific show by Jesse Littlebird, Laguna/Kewa pueblo, and his processes of leaving home to find new views and understandings of pueblo places and people. A four-part mural by Littlebird spans the times of day with petroglyph-like symbols floating in the skies.

Littlebird uses abstraction and connections to ancestral sites to tell painted, layered stories of the land on fabric and in mural-inscribed elements.

TV: Navajo Champion for Change spotlighted

CNN is honoring the work of 14 people in its 2024 Champions for Change series, and one of the individuals is Amy Denet Deal, founder of the sustainable, upcycled fashion brand 4KINSHIP.

The hourlong special is hosted by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who explores profiles in grit, creativity and innovation. First aired on May 18, it is now on demand.

Denet Deal was profiled for her work through 4KINSHIP, giving back to the Indigenous community through social projects like the recent aid she gave to NDN Girls Book Club and the Diné Skate Garden project. She was also recognized for the events she hosts to help support the careers of other Indigenous designers, artists and creatives, like the immersive upcycled fashion show she hosted May 4 during Fashion Week that was covered by the New York Times.

TV: Sci-fi pushes the outer limits

The “hole” is back.

A stellar series returns for season two. “Outer Range” lets acting sheriff Joy Hawk (Tamara Podemski, Jewish-Anishinaabe) show her chops in a pivotal episode that finds her transported back to 1882 after she saw a vision of it in season one.

The series started May 16 and follows Royal Abbott, patriarch of the Abbott Ranch, played by Josh Brolin. There’s a mysterious hole on his property that sends jumpers – or those who are pushed – through time tunnels with no telling where they will land.

Hawk meets another Shoshone woman from 1972 who is also trapped in the past and spends years living among the Shoshone, until the void finally reappears in 1886 and, well, you just have to watch and see. READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, ICT

Orville Moody was known as “Sarge” in part because of his long history in the U.S. Army, and for his everyman persona. So when he won the 69th U.S. Open in 1969 at Cypress Creek, little attention was paid to Moody’s triumph as a Native son. But the Choctaw Nation whooped it up.

“They had a parade in Anadarko,” Junior Moody recalls. “He couldn’t be there for one reason or another, so his mother and some of us went. She rode in the car. I was just a young kid.”

Junior was 10 years old when his uncle received his eagle headdress and the proclamation: Indian of the Year, 1969.

Moody’s Native heritage may have been ignored due to the Vietnam War and Orville’s 14-year history in the service. Perhaps it was the social unrest or the Moon landing. Whatever the reasons, the Choctaw Nation did not miss the beat.

“About his mom, Sarah,” Junior notes, “he used to talk about how her family walked the Trail of Tears. Her parents had walked. That’s how they got to Chickasha. Grandma Moody. When I was in fifth grade, she was 89. She was considerably older when she had him. He was the youngest of 10.”

Junior would have been the proverbial kid at the candy shop window, watching his grandmother sitting in a big, yellow convertible that had the family name on it.

“I can still see her face like it was yesterday. All the Indians had their feathers on, for a golfer,” Junior says. “It’s still a bit unbelievable.”

The parade is now called the American Indian Expo and has gone on for 89 years. In 1969, the star of the show was a man they called Sarge on the PGA Tour: Orville Moody, Choctaw, Everyman. He had captured the U.S. Open with a 14-inch putt that held off a playoff with three players lingering one stroke behind.

While her son was unable to ride in the parade, Orville’s mother Sarah soaked in the glory, riding past the Hall of Fame of Famous Indians, which would have included, and fittingly enough, a monument for Most decorated Indian soldier in U.S. history. Pascal Cleatus Poolaw (Kiowa Warrior), who received 42 awards and medals for exceptional bravery. READ MORE. — Mark Wagner, ICT

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RAPID CITY, S.D. – This weekend a record number of more than 150 Native students will take home their high school diplomas from Rapid City Area Schools.

Never before have this many Indigenous students graduated from Rapid City Area Schools, Title IV director Ira Taken Alive said. Last year, 96 Native students graduated from RCAS.

“This was our largest class to date,” Taken Alive said. “We’re looking forward to continuing to connect with our students. We’re on the path of each year having the potential of being the largest class ever of Native American students in Rapid City Area Schools.”

Of those graduating, 77 Native students are from Central High School, two are from Sturgis Brown High School, 32 are from Stevens High School and 40 from Rapid City Alternative Academy.

The actual number of Native students graduating may fluctuate before the actual ceremonies over the weekend.

Last year, the district’s Indian Education Office began offering graduation success coaches at Stevens High School, Central High School and Rapid City Alternative Academy.

“Making that connection has proven invaluable,” Taken Alive said. “For students to have an advocate to have a safe space, so to speak, and a person they can relate to, has been wonderful. I believe that’s adding to the success of our students especially with navigating being a teenager.” READ MORE. — Amelia Schafer, ICT

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