- Details
- By Neely Bardwell
Native News Online reporters are traveling across Indian Country this week, reporting on Indian boarding schools. Here's what to watch out for next week at Native News Online:
Levi Rickert, Publisher, Editor
Levi is traveling to Anadarko, Okla. to meet Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) on their first stop of the “Road to Healing Tour”.
During this year-long tour, Haaland and Newland will be hearing stories from boarding school survivors and descendants. Records will be taken of these recounts in order to create a log of oral history.
The first stop is Riverside Indian School, one of the oldest federally operated boarding schools in the United States. Watch for on-location coverage from Rickert.
Jenna Kunze, Senior Reporter
This week, Jenna has been following Anastasia Ashouwak’s family as they recover her remains from Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania and bring them back to her home in Alaska.
Anastasia Ashouwak was removed from her home on Kodiak Island, Alaska in 1901 to attend Carlisle. She came to Carlisle as a fourth grader and later died three years later due to tuberculosis.
Now, 121 years later, Ashouwak is finally being returned to her home village where she will be reburied. To celebrate the return of one of their missing children, there will be a potluck for the entire village. Kunze will be on-location, from Pennsylvania to Kodiak, covering the event.
Andrew Kennard, Intern
Andrew Kennard attended a service in honor of the memories and lives of Frank Green and Paul Wheelock of the Oneida Nation, who were buried at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania over 120 years ago and were recently united with their families.
Kennard’s reporting from Oneida Nation will be posted at Native News Online next week as well.
Be sure to watch for these important Indian boarding school stories and more at Native News Online.
Tell Us What You Think
More Stories Like This
Native News Weekly (August 25, 2024): D.C. BriefsUS Presidents in Their Own Words Concerning American Indians
Native News Weekly (August 4, 2024): D.C. Briefs
Native News Weekly (June 15, 2025): D.C. Briefs
Photographs of the Homecoming of the Three Fires Powwow
Help us tell the stories that could save Native languages and food traditions
At a critical moment for Indian Country, Native News Online is embarking on our most ambitious reporting project yet: "Cultivating Culture," a three-year investigation into two forces shaping Native community survival—food sovereignty and language revitalization.
The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
Our dedicated reporting team will spend three years documenting these stories through on-the-ground reporting in 18 tribal communities, producing over 200 in-depth stories, 18 podcast episodes, and multimedia content that amplifies Indigenous voices. We'll show policymakers, funders, and allies how cultural restoration directly impacts physical and mental wellness while celebrating successful models of sovereignty and self-determination.
This isn't corporate media parachuting into Indian Country for a quick story. This is sustained, relationship-based journalism by Native reporters who understand these communities. It's "Warrior Journalism"—fearless reporting that serves the 5.5 million readers who depend on us for news that mainstream media often ignores.
We need your help right now. While we've secured partial funding, we're still $450,000 short of our three-year budget. Our immediate goal is $25,000 this month to keep this critical work moving forward—funding reporter salaries, travel to remote communities, photography, and the deep reporting these stories deserve.
Every dollar directly supports Indigenous journalists telling Indigenous stories. Whether it's $5 or $50, your contribution ensures these vital narratives of resilience, innovation, and hope don't disappear into silence.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.
Support independent Native journalism. Fund the stories that matter.
Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher
