Native Bidaské (Spotlight) with Carlisle Indian School Project Leader Gwen Carr

Carr talked about Carlisle's most famous student Jim Thorpe. (Photo/Courtesy)

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

MAY 14, 2022

On Friday, May 13, Native News Online met with Gwen Carr, Cayuga Nation, for the weekly Native Bidaské (Spotlight). With over 30 years of experience working with Indian Country, Gwen Carr is currently the Executive Director for the Carlisle Indian School Project.

The Carlisle Indian School Project seeks to honor every child that attended this school by uncovering and sharing the truth about the school. Carlisle was the first federally-funded Indian boarding school. 

“People looked at it [Carlisle School] for guidance on how to assimilate more Indians,” she explains. “When you want to tell a story and when you want to really go back and start at the beginning of something in order to heal, in order to understand, in order to bring context to the modern world that we live in, you have to start at the beginning. Carlisle is the beginning.”

Carr also referenced the PBS documentary film about Carlisle called “Home From school The Children of Carlisle “ by Geoffrey O Gara and Sophie Barksdale featuring Eufna SoldierWolf.