OPB uncovers hidden Native American boarding school stories for a national audience through one Oregon woman’s quest
interview by Cathy Carroll
The film Uncovering Boarding Schools: Stories of Resistance and Resilience is the first in-depth look at the Native American boarding school experience in Oregon, adding new chapters, voices and context. Oregon Public Broadcasting viewers can follow Gabriann “Abby” Hall, a Klamath Tribes member, as she uncovers her relatives’ experiences among countless Indigenous children forcibly removed from their homes by the federal government.
OPB producer Kami Horton discussed the one-hour film, made with a crew that included Native American tribal members.
How did you honor the trauma of this narrative while also reflecting strength and survival?
It was essential to everyone involved that resiliency be a key element throughout the documentary. As Klamath Tribes member Abby Hall says in the documentary, “The children fought back.” We discovered that some of Abby’s family members ran away, getting over 200 miles before being caught, and that a group of young girls burned down a dormitory and ultimately shut down the school. We also learned how many students protected each other and helped make the best out of what was often an awful situation. Others took what they learned and used it to advocate for their communities back home.
We tried to continually return to personal accounts of resistance and resilience, large and small. We showed an early education center teaching traditional language and young people attending a “culture camp” to practice and learn from their elders. Though this is a history steeped in trauma, the larger story is the ongoing commitment to protect and preserve traditional heritage, despite a decadeslong federal policy that aimed to destroy those things.
Discuss some of the challenges—and surprises—in doing your research.
We relied on the scholarship of local archivists, historians and researchers, such as Eva Guggemos of the Pacific University Archives, Chemawa historian SuAnn Reddick and David Lewis of Oregon State University. Each has spent years doing extensive research on these topics and is an expert in their field.
The program also required original research in uncovering the stories within Abby’s family. There is no single depository for all this information. … Government documents scanned by genealogy groups proved to be particularly valuable, but we also found important primary sources in university archives and private collections. Although Native American boarding school policies were federal programs, churches sometimes operated the schools, and those records are especially difficult to track down. Some organizations, like the now-closed Canyonville Bible Academy (in Southern Oregon), were happy to share what they had, but others explicitly stated they would not help in our research.
We know from primary sources that the government placed children in religious boarding schools, reform schools, juvenile detention centers and even mental institutions—but details are few and far between. One government document listed several children from a Klamath family sent to Oregon’s Fairview Training Center, an institution for the so-called “feeble minded.” Through a document request, we learned that every child in that family was sterilized, including a 10-year-old girl.
What do you hope viewers will take away from this film?
According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, 83 percent of Native American school-age children were attending boarding schools in the 1920s. Federal Native American boarding school policies devastated generations of families and communities as they were torn apart against their will. Our documentary shows how these policies of forced assimilation directly affected Abby’s family, spanning decades and hundreds of extended family members. Her story is a reflection of countless others across the country. I hope that this project will spark conversation about our shared history, about government policies based on white supremacy and about the long-lasting impacts of those actions, as well as foster an understanding of the rich heritage that was nearly lost and is now being reclaimed by new generations.
To learn more or watch a preview of the film, visit www.opb.org/promotions/boardingschools
