Native Children
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Schools and communities are preparing for September 30. A child-safe observance should tell the U.S. boarding-school history with Native-led sources, without asking Native children to carry the lesson or treating distinct Nations as one culture.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition announced August 6 that it will hold a National Day of Remembrance gathering September 30 in Washington, D.C. The observance marks the history and continuing effects of the U.S. Indian boarding-school system; the announcement is not a new law, mandate or count of affected children.

Washington State’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families explains that Orange Shirt Day began from the experience of Phyllis Webstad of the Stswecem’c Xget’tem First Nation in Canada, while the U.S. Day of Remembrance addresses the United States’ own boarding-school history. Keeping those contexts clear helps adults avoid blending distinct Nations, families and histories into one story.

The Native-led coalition offers free, age-level teaching resources and healing-informed self-care materials. Its leaders come from distinct Tribal Nations and professional backgrounds; neither the coalition nor any individual speaks for every Nation or family. These materials do not measure national prevalence or guarantee that one lesson is culturally appropriate for every child.

Teach the history without turning a Native child into the history lesson.