Interview · North Dakota · Debbe Poitra · NDNAEU 5
Themes: Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning, Boarding schools & assimilation, Children & young people, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
What were the “Boarding School Era” policies of the US Government concerning Native people?
What are some of the stories Native people have shared about their Boarding School experience?
What impact did these US policies have on Native people historically? What are the impacts today?
Learn From questions
Are their any stories or subjects that my parents or grandparents were reluctant to share with me? What were they? Why were these difficult subjects?
How positive or negative have my school experiences been? What have I learned from both my “Best” school experiences and my “Worst” school experiences?
Are there things I choose or may choose NOT to share with my children or grandchildren? Why?
Transcripts
Mother's Boarding School Experience with Debbe Poitra
Watch this interview on YouTubeI can’t really say a lot about it because she didn’t share a lot of it okay she mainly said you know that she had been in boarding school and she was there during her high school years and it was during her junior and senior year that she met my dad and she never went back but she doesn’t say much about it she doesn’t say whether she had a good experience or a bad experience she has pretty much kept that I know at one time my grandmother who we lived with had wanted to send a couple of us to boarding school and that was one of the times when my mom stood up and said no and she would not allow that to happen and so I from that I get that the boarding school experience was not a good one
Resource text
NDNAEU Alignment:
Source materials
Supplied transcript documents. Text and transcription uncertainties are preserved as supplied.