NEH Awards $411,000 to Tribal Communities for Projects on the History and Legacy of Federal Indian Boarding Schools

(May 2, 2024)

Indian Time Newspaper

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded $411,000 in funding to 14 Tribal Nations and organizations to support local and community projects that expand the reach and impact of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative (FIBSI).

Special NEH Chair’s grants of up to $30,000 will support federally recognized Tribes, nonprofit Tribal entities, and state organizations that work with Tribal communities in 11 states on an array of education, research, and public programs that shed light on the legacy of the system of 408 Federal Indian boarding schools operating in the United States between 1819 and 1969.

These newly awarded grants include funding to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to conduct a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the grounds of the St. Mary’s Boarding School in Washington, where many Cowlitz children were sent between 1911 and 1973 – to look for unmarked burials of children who died at the school. One award will support the creation of a traveling educational exhibition on the history of boarding schools in Michigan by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and another will enable the production of a multimedia radio and video series about the impact of Federal Indian boarding schools in Alaska using survivor and family interviews by Koahnic Broadcast Corporation.