WATCH HERE: “Uncovering Boarding Schools — Short Version for Educators”

Today, on Indigenous Peoples Day, Gabriann “Abby” Hall will be doing a presentation at a Native American event at Central Oregon Community College in Bend.

Hall’s first talk was four years ago, also on the holiday. She says she believes she has given about 50 presentations on Native American boarding school history to various groups around the state.

‘Your history matters’

As a Klamath Tribes member, Hall says she has always been interested in Native American history. But in recent years, she has developed a passion for sharing it.

“What I realized after years of education and studying diverse history in depth for multiple different groups was that when that history is not talked about, it sends a message that your history doesn’t matter.”

After discovering surprising details about her own family’s history, she decided to focus on researching and telling the story of federal Native American boarding school policy.

“I knew my grandma had gone to Canyonville Bible Academy,” Hall said. “I just assumed it was like a camp or a day school.”

Those ideas changed during a conversation with OPB reporter Rob Manning in August 2021.

“I sarcastically said, ‘My grandma went to Canyonville Bible Academy — that was probably a boarding school,’" Hall said. “After I got off the phone, I looked it up, and their website said they had taken boarders.”

Hall had no idea her grandmother and many other students from her tribe lived at religious institutions.

“I didn’t realize that she had been a boarder there, that it was a boarding school where they took in Native Americans,” Hall said.

As part of federal policy, the government often paid this tuition and encouraged, or often forced, thousands of Indigenous children to attend and assimilate.

Oregon tribal members reveal painful past from country’s boarding school policy as Biden issues apology

A national history, a personal story

Hall wanted to know more about her grandmother’s story. She began digging into any records she could find.

Hall discovered that her grandmother, Marilyn Mae Mitchell, was born on the Klamath Reservation in 1922. Her mother died at a young age, leaving Marilyn and two other daughters to live with extended family members. Eventually, the girls ended up in boarding schools.

Marilyn attended Canyonville Bible Academy in Douglas County, Ore. and later Haskell Indian School in Kansas.

Her younger sisters went to Stewart Indian School in Nevada.

Hall says her grandmother rarely spoke about those years.

“My dad just said, ‘They didn’t talk about it.’”

For Hall, uncovering her grandmother’s story gave new purpose to her work: “I feel that it’s so important for this history to be acknowledged.”

She adds, “It’s no longer being covered up and denied.”

LEARN MORE

OPB follows Abby Hall’s journey to uncover her family history with boarding schools in the “Oregon Experience” documentary Uncovering Boarding Schools: Stories of Resistance and Resilience" airing on OPB-TV on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, at 9 p.m. and on the PBS website.

UNCOVERING BOARDING SCHOOLS: Short version for educators

“Oregon Experience” also produced a short film adapted from the full-length documentary. In under 10 minutes, this video is designed for classrooms, community groups, or anyone who wants an overview of the history of U.S. Native American boarding school policy.

The short film for educators is available at the top of the page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/13/oregon-experience-native-american-boarding-schools-history/