Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRuby Left Hand Bull Sanchez, Beverly Granger, and Amanda Yahdesbah Kee, from left, at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Oct. 30, 2024.
"A blot on American history" is how President Joe Biden described Indian Boarding Schools as he formally apologized for them in October. For survivors of these institutions, designed to assimilate Indigenous children, it may be too little, too late.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsBurning sage, or smudge, in a cleansing ritual at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Oct. 30, 2024.
CPR News sat down with three people who endured boarding schools, at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center. Ruby Left Hand Bull Sanchez, Amanda Kee, and Beverly Granger shared the trauma, the healing, and how the experience forever changed their lives.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRuby Left Hand Bull Sanchez holds a list of Rosebud Sioux whose bodies she and others are seeking to return home from the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Carlisle was one of the largest and most well-known Indian boarding schools, where tribal children were forcibly taken, and stripped of their Indian identity and culture. Photographed at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Oct. 30, 2024.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsBeverly Granger at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Oct. 30, 2024.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAmanda Yahdesbah Kee at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Oct. 30, 2024.
