Darker aspects of a nation’s history are often depicted as part of its past. Be it the United States, Canada, or any other country born of colonial conquest, we like to think that society has evolved and is detached from any atrocities that came before. Even the Civil Rights Movement, so often represented through black and white photography common at the time, is made to feel like a bygone era. But Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to attend a formerly segregated school in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1960, is only 71 years old today.
Educational institutions were often focused on harming marginalized communities. American and Canadian citizens younger than Ruby Bridges can attest to this fact. One former student’s story sheds light on the traumas of boarding schools that affected generations of Native students.
Phyllis Webstad (Stswecem’c Xgat’tem) is 59 years old today. Like Ruby Bridges, she was only six years old when she was sent off to school. Unlike Ruby, she wouldn’t be coming home that evening or for the next year. Phyllis’ grandmother had gifted her a new, orange shirt for her first day of school. Upon arriving at St. Joseph Mission Residential School in British Columbia, Canada, the staff quickly stripped Phyllis and took away her clothes including the shirt. They never returned it.
Phyllis’ story is not unique. Referring back to old black and white photos, there are many examples of Native students on both sides of the border whose traditional clothing and long hair was removed in portraits and class photos. Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, supported the forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples across the continent. He is credited with the phrase, “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” Certainly killing, both in the literal and figurative sense, occurred. Hundreds of Native children died at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, thousands in total at residential schools across the nation and generations. Thousands more lost their language, culture, familial ties, and self-identity. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1997, and while boarding school operations largely ended in the United States in the late 1960s, a few schools continue to operate today though now under voluntary attendance. Even as this particular means of forceful assimilation ended, other practices, such as the removal and adoption of children from Indigenous communities to white families continued, despite legislation to the contrary.
September 30 is a day to help remember and honor the Native students who were negatively impacted by the boarding school system. On Orange Shirt Day, so named to honor Phyllis’ story, we share the history of residential schools in full color by wearing orange and talking about a topic many are unaware of or find taboo. In doing so, we highlight the experiences of people still living today rather than letting their stories collect dust as part of an archive. Through sharing these stories, we can uplift the voices of Native youth past and present to ensure such a system is never enacted again.
And if you are local to the Denver, Colorado area, visit us at the 37th Annual Friendship Powwow hosted by the Denver Art Museum on September 12. We will be distributing orange bandanas at our table for the community to wear on Orange Shirt Day.
