Bernice Rabideaux's experience as a child in a Catholic boarding school highlights the trauma inflicted on Native children due to federal assimilation policies. Her daughter, Mary Annette Pember, carries these harrowing memories and explores them in her upcoming book, "Medicine River," which chronicles the abuse many Native children faced. This deeply reported work draws on personal stories and archival research to shed light on the ongoing effects of this dark chapter in American history, as renewed attention to the boarding school system surfaces in contemporary discussions.
"Medicine River" - Pember's first book, out on April 22 from Pantheon - is a culmination of the experiences of her late mother and of other Native children.
From the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1930s, spurred by federal assimilation policies, tens of thousands of Native children were pulled from their homes and placed in these institutions.
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