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They were taken from their families as children. Can that trauma be healed?
For centuries, Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed in missions and boarding schools. For former students like those in these portraits, the reckoning has just begun.
WANDA GARNIER, LAKOTA | Sent to Holy Rosary Mission, South Dakota, 1958-1963
“They took the homelife away from us,” says Garnier, who misses her family’s former closeness. “Before Holy Rosary, I just loved that connection we had. We were everything … But after Holy Rosary, that all went away. Families got separated, where to this day a lot of people don’t even know who they’re related to, you know? So our culture was totally, totally messed up in boarding school.”
“They took the homelife away from us,” says Garnier, who misses her family’s former closeness. “Before Holy Rosary, I just loved that connection we had. We were everything … But after Holy Rosary, that all went away. Families got separated, where to this day a lot of people don’t even know who they’re related to, you know? So our culture was totally, totally messed up in boarding school.”
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