Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
R E S E R VA T I O N D O G S | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 3 Boarding School In the most recent season, Sterlin and the other creators wanted to continue exposing audiences to new aspects of the Native American experience by depicting the reality of American Indian boarding schools. These institutions, run by the federal government and the Catholic Church, were designed to forcibly assimilate Native American children in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A 2022 Department of the Interior report found that the U.S. ran or supported four hundred eighty boarding schools where students endured "rampant physical, sexual and emotional abuse." The report noted the deaths of more than five hundred Native American children at the schools. Many members of the cast and crew had family history with these places, which spoke to how much care and sensitivity we needed to have in our work. Before the official start of prep, the Art Department began with vast amounts of research, looking at every photo of late 19th to mid-20th century boarding schools we could get our hands on. We visited the historical archives in Anadarko, OK, and brought onboard Denise Lajimodiere, a historian specializing in Plains boarding schools, as a consultant. Denise answered our many questions on everything from plates and spoons to bedding and desks. When asked about corporal punishment or depicting other types of abuse, she told us, "Whatever you show onscreen will not be as bad as it was in real life." I scouted with Chris Kucharski, the location manager, and we honed in on Bacone College in Muscogee, OK. Bacone offered the architectural bones with buildings that were accurate to the period and, logistically, it allowed us to shoot almost everything on one campus, which was crucial for our compressed schedule. Despite the unique subject D. BOARDING SCHOOL DORMITORY (NIGHT). ILLUSTRATION BY KATSUYA IMAI. HE EFFECTIVELY CAPTURED THE SYMMETRY WE WANTED TO BRING TO THE SPACE TO SUGGEST ORDER/CONFINEMENT AND THE SOFT GLOW OF THE MOONLIGHT. E. THE MESS HALL AT AN AMERICAN INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL IN SOUTH DAKOTA, 1920. F. A DORMITORY AT THE HASKELL INSTITUTE (ANOTHER AMERICAN INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL) IN KANSAS, 1918. D E F