Renewed calls for investigations into the abuses of American Indian children have brought new scrutiny to the boarding school system. This talk will examine the thinking behind the creation of federal schools for youth including Haskell Indian Nations University, originally known as the United States Indian Industrial Training School, and how this system affected Native communities in the short and long term. The American Indian story is one of cultural survival, but what are the next steps for reckoning with this difficult and painful part of our national history?

About the presenter: Eric Anderson is a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and professor of history at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence. “A History of The American Indian Boarding Schools” is part of Humanities Kansas's Speakers Bureau and “21st Century Civics,” a collection of resources that invite Kansans to participate in community discussions and learn more about the history of American democracy and the shared responsibilities of citizenship. “21st Century Civics” is made possible with support from “A More Perfect Union: America at 250,” an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.