Provided photo Walking Together-Finding Common Ground exhibit is coming to the VanPelt Library beginning March 11.

HOUGHTON — An exhibit on the subject of Native American Boarding Schools is coming to Houghton. Native American boarding schools’ legacy continues to impact Native American people today. Known survivors in the UP are listed on one of the exhibit’s panels.

The exhibit will be at the Van Pelt Library in the Opie Reading Room at Michigan Tech from March 11-22. See the schedule below for information on specific events. All events are free and open to the public. The traveling exhibit and related events are intended to raise awareness of how the boarding school experience impacted and still impacts Native Americans.

There were at least 417 federal Indian boarding schools in the U.S. from 1819 to 1980, four of which were in the Upper Peninsula and two in lower Michigan. 139 Indian residential schools operated in Canada from 1828 to 1997. Tens of thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly abducted from their families and sent to far-away boarding schools run by the federal government or by religious organizations where they were given English names, forced to cut their hair, and forbidden from speaking their languages. Many children were beaten, starved and abused in these schools. More than 1,000 children died.

“The federal government took deliberate and strategic actions to isolate children from their families, deny them their identities, and steal from them the languages, cultures and connections that are foundational to Native people,” said former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

When visiting the exhibit, participants can scan a QR code with their smartphones to listen to boarding school survivors tell their stories. The Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (KUUF) is partnering with Biskaabiiyaang Collective, a Michigan Technological University student organization (formerly the American Indian Science & Engineering Society), Trinity Episcopal Church of Houghton, Canterbury House Michigan Tech’s Van Pelt Library to host the “Walking Together Finding Common Ground Traveling Exhibit.” The exhibit was created by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, Great Lakes Peace Center and Beaumier Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University and describes the impact of Native American boarding schools.

Exhibit Schedule:

March 11-22 – Exhibit open 24/7 in the Van Pelt Library’s Opie Reading Room at Michigan Tech

March 11, 6:30 – 9:00 pm – Exhibit opening: View film ‘Remember the Children’ (25 min), followed by a facilitated discussion with boarding school survivors, refreshments and visiting the exhibit in the Van Pelt Library’s Opie Reading Room at Michigan Tech.

March 16, 6:30-9 pm – View film Indian Horse (104 min) followed by facilitated discussion, refreshments and visiting the Exhibit in the Van Pelt Library’s Opie Reading Room at Michigan Tech.

For more information, contact Joan Chadde at 906-369-1121 or jchadde@gmail.com