Shaping Survival

Four American Indian women, who attended Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, off-reservation public schools, and Indian mission schools, unflinchingly recount the experiences that shaped their views on individual, family, and community survival. Their stories give graphic evidence of the mistreatment of native children in many of these schools during the middle and later years of the twentieth century. The stories of the lives of these women are highly instructive as enlightened documents of reconciliation and human possibilities.

Four American Indian women who attended Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, off-reservation public schools, and Indian mission schools, unflinchingly recount the experiences that shaped their views on individual, family, and community survival.

Lanniko L. Lee, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, taught English and American literatures in high schools and tribal colleges on the Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux reservations. She has also taught for Northern State University and South Dakota State University. Florestine Kiyukanpi Renville, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Tribe, established her own publication, Ikce Wicasta: The Common People's Journal, which she edits and publishes. Karen Lone Hill, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, teaches Lakota Language, and Literature and Culture at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, is the Indian Studies Coordinator for the Todd County School District.