Save the Date for American Indian Boarding School Remembrance Day at the Heard Museum
The history of government run boarding schools is layered with nuances on how the students were treated, what they learned and didn’t learn, how they were prepared for life after high school and how boarding school impacted their cultures.
In 1968 LouVina Maho was a senior at the Stewart Indian School in Stewart, Nevada when she won the title of Miss Stewart Indian School. She proudly represented the boarding school she called home for four years. 22 years later, Felicita Cromwell Bonito, was crowned the last Miss Phoenix Indian School in 1990. Join us for a special presentation as we hear from both women about their experiences and life at Stewart and Phoenix Indian School.
What changes and similarities were there from the 60s
to the 90s?
LouVina Maho, Miss Stewart Indian School, 1968.
Felicita Cromwell Cook, Miss Phoenix Indian School, 1990.
For the second year, we are partnering with the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center/Native American Connections for this event which will include a tour of the former grounds of Phoenix Indian High School. Pre-registration will be required.
This program is presented in recognition of the Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, also known as Orange Shirt Day — a time to honor and remember the children taken from their families and placed in residential schools. Guests are encouraged to wear orange as a visible act of solidarity and to help raise awareness.
About the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center
The Phoenix Indian Industrial School, known as the Phoenix Indian School in later years, was established in 1891, operating as a boarding school for American Indian children by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Initially focused on forced assimilation of Native American children into mainstream American culture, it later transitioned into a traditional high school. The school served as a site of cultural suppression and, later, a place where students began to reclaim their heritage. Located at the corner of Central Avenue and Indian School Road, much of this site was transferred to the City of Phoenix from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1990, which the city used to create Steele Indian School Park. Since its closing, Phoenix has saved three historic buildings and placed them on the National Register of Historic Place, including the same building Native American Connections and Phoenix Indian Center has renovated and transformed into the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center — which offers a historic gallery, individual and group tours, educational programming, and conference and event spaces to the community.
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Featured Exhibition
Artwork: Judith Lowry (Mountain Maidu/Hammawi-Pit River), Going Home, 1992. Acrylic on canvas. Gift of Kathleen L. and William G. Howard. Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.