A 1928 boarding school student attendance form shows the word “deserted”. (Courtesy National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive / NNABSHC)
A Navajo family tells the story in Bad Indian: Hiding in Antelope Canyon, a new film about their relative Tadidinii, who was killed while refusing to return his daughter back to the boarding school from which she ran away. The men who killed him were acquitted. The family also gives tours of the part of Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Nation where Tadidinii hid out. Another Yerington Paiute boy repeatedly ran away and traveled the 50 miles back home until the boarding school administrators gave up. These are among the stories that descendants are uncovering about the dangers their relatives endured to resist forced attendance in boarding schools from the 1860s to the 1970s. We’ll hear some of the stories of danger, desperation, and courage.
GUESTS
Mitch Walking Elk (enrolled Cheyenne and Arapaho and of Hopi descent), boarding school survivor
Judi gaiashkibos (enrolled Ponca and Santee Sioux), descendent and survivor of the Genoa Indian Industrial School, executive director of the Nebraska Commission of Indian Affairs, and co-chair of the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project
Gabriann Hall (enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes), adjunct professor at Central Oregon Community College
Kutoven “Ku” Stevens (Yerington Paiute), University of Oregon student
Logan Tsinigine (Diné), co-producer of the film Bad Indian: Hiding in Antelope Canyon and chief financial officer of Taadidiin Tours LLC
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