Red Willow Valley, Taos, New Mexico: Robby Romero Photography
On September 30, Indigenous Peoples and allies across Turtle Island honor survivors, families, and generations impacted by the atrocities, abuses, and multi-generational effects of the American and Canadian Indian boarding and residential school system. This day of remembrance acknowledges a genocidal assimilation that continues to hold the remains of children yet to be returned to their ancestral homes and families.
The phrase “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man,” which encapsulates the philosophy of assimilation, was coined by Richard Henry Pratt, a U.S. Army officer who established the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879. Centuries of resistance within a unified Indigenous movement culminated in former President Joe Biden’s October 2024 apology to Native Americans, in which he acknowledged the generational loss of culture, language, and trust resulting from federal boarding school policies.
Orange Shirt Day originated in Canada following a narrative shared by an elder who recounted the confiscation of her favorite orange shirt upon her arrival at a Catholic residential school as a child. Orange Shirt Day, is a powerful simple of Indigenous resilience.