On our second, and last full day, in Phoenix, we visited the Heard Museum, Phoenix Indian School Visiting Center, and helped with the dinner service at Andre House one last time.
The museum was full of beautiful indigenous art; from what I saw most of the art was from American southwestern tribes. We all split off into little groups to walk about the exhibits. From baskets to traditional clothing to fences, everywhere I turned there was something new to look at and read about! I wanted to make sure that I took my time, but this ended up backfiring a little because I was not able to look at all of the exhibits.
After I got done with the first exhibit, I rushed to get to the Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories. This proved to be such a powerful yet emotional experience. I was met with the sound of a train upon entering with explanations/ quotations over pictures of indigenous people being (forcefully) transported to boarding schools. This was immediately followed by a vintage looking barber’s chair covered in hair with sounds of scissors. This explained how when indigenous people (forcefully) arrived to boarding schools they were ripped of their regalia, their hair was cut off, and they were either put into a military suit or a Victorian dress, they were also given a new religion, as well as being told that they could no longer use their native languages.
Unfortunately, I had to rush through this exhibit that entails such an erased and important part of American history. Towards the end however, there was more of an emphasis on indigenous resilience with the start of “Indian Clubs” in high schools and how people are now aware and straight to heal from generational trauma.
While I did have knowledge about this history, seeing it presented the way that it was today provided an emotional aspect. Seeing the faces of indigenous people lined up in front of the different boarding schools and little indigenous children lined up for similar pictures made me feel so much grief for the people who experienced their own erasure, but also for the people who are currently experiencing generational trauma.
While at the visiting center, we got a wonderful tour by a woman named Elena. In the historical buildings she talked about how the school was run and how it was like a military base. The indigenous people there were given processed food which proved to be damaging to the health of the people while being there but also leading to high rates of diabetes within currently communities. This was to the point where chairs needed to be extended in the theater where plays were put on and classes were picked. Speaking of the theater, the outside was made of bricks some of which have been engraved with the names of people who (forcefully) attended that school. Elena explained that there’s two stories for the names. One being that when anyone was in trouble, they would have to stand facing the building and eventually after being in trouble for so long, they would engrave their own names on the bricks. Two, people came back and engraved their names as a memento of their presence and wanting to be remembered after the boarding school was closed.
From this tour, I learned that there was a fear (obviously) within a lot of indigenous people to the point where a lot of them changed their last names to more Hispanic names. This led to a lot of people thinking that they were Hispanic only to discover that their grandparents/ ancestors when to the boarding school. A lot of people are discovering their indigenous roots now because their family members do not talk about their boarding school experiences. I can’t even begin to image how emotional this discover is for those people!
These were such intense and educational experiences!
– Jessica Arevalo Ontiveros