Denise Lajimodiere's interest in Indian boarding schools began with the stories of her parents. “Papa was beaten with a belt. ... Papa said, 'I just couldn't learn that language,' so they put lye soap in his mouth and and the kids would get blisters.'
A young girl prays at her bedside at a boarding school. A new book by an Ojibwe author tells the stories life for American Indian children in boarding schools designed to purge their language and culture.Denise Lajimodiere's interest in the Indian boarding school experience began with the stories of her parents.
Her parents were separated from their families and sent to federal government-run boarding schools as children. Thousands of Native children met the same fate during the boarding school era, which scholars estimate lasted from the late 1800s to well into the middle of the 20th century.Denise Lajimodiere for MPR News
“Papa was beaten with a belt. He saw one of his fellow students die from a beating at the school,” she said. “Papa said, 'I just couldn't learn that language,' so they put lye soap in his mouth and and the kids would get blisters."
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