From its founding in 1888 until 1980, Red Cloud was a boarding school—one of over 350 institutions established in the nineteenth century created to assimilate Native children. We recognize we can never authentically serve our community, or honor our own staff members, students and families, parishioners, and artists with whom we partner, if we do not first openly and humbly address the tragic injustices in our past.
March Updates
Red Cloud Truth & Healing Radio Hour
We are excited to announce a new initiative: the Mahpiya Luta Wówičakȟe na Wóasniye Radio Hour. The Radio Show will help inform the oyate about our work, include the community in ongoing efforts, and support the wider process of opening up the history of boarding schools across North America. We will have guests on the show who are experts on different aspects of Truth and Healing related work and share a bit of Red Cloud's past and present. The show will air every week on Mondays alternating every week between 9am and 5pm. You can listen to a recording of our first episode here.
Looking for Records?
Are you looking for records related to your time at Holy Rosary Mission or records related to an ancestors' time at Holy Rosary? While we are still in a longer process of digitizing records, we are happy to locate and scan copies of records in the archives to share with you. If you are looking for a record, please email Billy Critchley-Menor at [email protected]
Community Advisory Council
We had our first gathering of the Community Advisory Council on March 1st. This meeting was the beginning of a community group that will help guide the Truth and Healing work as we move forward. This group will meet regularly moving forward and continues to evolve as we gain feedback and add voices.
Ground Penetrating Radar
We have set the dates in May to begin ground penetrating radar on our campus. We are now in the process of inviting spiritual leaders, elders, and other community members to participate in this process so that we ensure the use of indigenous protocols as we use this technology. This GPR scan of the main front yard in front of Holy Rosary will be a demonstration in preparation for the scan of our history cemetery and other testimonial sites.
Boarding School Curriculum
A team of Lakota educators is creating a k-12 curriculum that will be piloted next year in our Mahpiya Luta classrooms to teach our students about the boarding school era. This curriculum will cover the history of Chief Red Cloud, the founding of Holy Rosary Mission, the boarding school era, self-determination movements, as well as Indigenous pride. The curriculum developers are looking for input from the community. Please see their flyer below for information and ways to be in touch.
Articles of Interest
Community Input
We are open to suggestions and input in this process as we seek to engage the wider community. If you have suggestions, questions, or concerns about this process please feel free to fill out this form and we will be in touch with you. Thank you for journeying with us in this important work.
Red Cloud Indian School | Website