Beginning in the 1870s, the U.S. government attempted to educate and assimilate American Indians into “civilized” society by placing children – of all ages, from thousands of homes and hundreds of diverse tribes – in distant, residential boarding schools.

Many were forcibly taken from their families and communities and stripped of all signs of “Indianness,” and were even forbidden to speak their own language amongst themselves.

Up until the 1930s, students were trained for domestic work and trade in the highly regimented environments of federal Indian boarding schools. Many children went years without familial contact, resulting in a lasting, generational impact.

Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories explores off-reservation boarding schools in a kaleidoscope of voices. Learn more about the exhibit.