s01e04 Indian Boarding Schools: Colonialism Through Education

Challenging Colonialism

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. This episode examines the history of the Boarding Schools that impacted thousands of Indigenous Californian children, specifically focusing on Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Stewart Indian School in Reno, and Saint Boniface Indian School in Banning.

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

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

Music by G. Gonzales

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

Links & Further Reading:

Brave Hearts: A Visual History of Sherman Indian Boarding School

Recording of virtual launch of “Brave Hearts”

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

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Sherman Indian Museum

Stewart Indian School

St. Boniface Indian School & Cemetery

Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories

University of Manotoba - National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Kevin Whalen, Native Students at Work: American Indian Labor and Sherman Institute’s Outing Program, 1900-1945

Jean Keller, Empty Beds: Indian Student Health at Sherman Institute, 1902-1922

Samantha M. Williams: Assimilation, Resilience, and Survival: A History of the Stewart Indian School, 1890-2020

Kelly Leah Stewart (Re)writing and (Re)righting California Indian Histories: Legacies of Saint Boniface Indian Industrial School, 1890-1935