Children Left Behind: The Dark Legacy of Indian Mission Boarding Schools - Softcover

Tim Giago

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1574160869 ISBN 13: 9781574160864

Publisher: Clear Light Pub, 2006

Synopsis

"Children Left Behind: The Dark Legacy of Indian Mission Boarding Schools is a must read. Tim Giago, who spent his childhood at one of these schools, examines the unholy alliance between church and state that tried to destroy the culture and spirituality of generations of Indian children. Provocative, riveting, chilling, persuasive, and original, this book leaves the reader overwhelmed. Describing almost inexpressible cruelties and triumphs, Giago pulls us into the boarding school experience. He challenges Indian Country to co-exist with the truth of what actually happened at these schools. Only then can we heal and avoid acquiescence to a system that has crushed so many souls. The book is a triumph, and a major event in Indian education." Ryan Wilson, Oglala Lakota, President, National Indian Education Association

"Children Left Behind is a sad story of a nation’s best intentions gone awry. Tim Giago’s personal accounts reveal an untold tragedy of abuse of helpless children by those who had the responsibility to protect them. To fully understand the calamity, you need only to visit the graveyards of the old boarding schools and see the hundreds of graves of Indian children who did not survive the misguided assimilation efforts." Richard B. Williams, Oglala Lakota, President & CEO, American Indian College Fund

"Children Left Behind, written by respected journalist Tim Giago, is a fascinating mix of personal stories and history about the role of government and mission boarding schools in the lives of Native people. The book provides the reader with the cultural and historical context for many of the problems encountered by Native American families in the early 21st century." (Wilma Mankiller, Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation)

About this title

From the Publisher:

Tim Giago weaves memoir, commentary, reflection and poetry together to boldly illustrate his often-horrific experiences as a child at an Indian Mission boarding school run by the Catholic Church. Through his words, the experience of one Indian child becomes a metaphor for the experience of many who were literally ripped from their tribal roots and torn from their families for nine months of the year in order to be molded to better fit into mainstream America. They were not allowed to speak their own languages or follow their traditional customs, and cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse were common. As a result, the Mission school experience often resulted in isolation, confusion, and intense psychological pain. This has contributed to problems including alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence and general alienation in an entire generation of Native Americans. Dramatic and intensely moving black-and white illustrations by Giago’s daughter Denise illuminate the text.

From the Author:

"We were separated from our cultural and spiritual teachers, our parents and grandparents. We were beaten physically, psychologically and emotionally for being Indian. Our culture, language and spirituality had to be stripped away so that we could become cheap imitations of our mentors, the Franciscan nuns and Jesuit priests, prefects and brothers...There are few Indian families who have not experienced the residual impact of the abuse heaped upon their friends and family members after they were victims of the rape and abuse they experienced at the hands of the missionaries sent out to save their souls. It was not only a sin, it was a crime." (Tim Giago)

About this edition

• Publisher: Clear Light Pub
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1574160869
• ISBN 13: 9781574160864
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 166
• Illustrator: Denise Giago