The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) Oral History Project is pleased to announce its 14th stop in Portland, Oregon, from August 25–29, 2025. This visit offers an important opportunity for Indian boarding school survivors from the Pacific Northwest and across the country to share their stories and contribute to a significant national effort.
This milestone event in Oregon provides boarding school survivors with the chance to document their personal histories through professionally conducted video interviews. These testimonies will become part of a permanent collection at the Library of Congress, helping to preserve and honor their experiences for future generations.
The project is a key element of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative — a landmark effort to uncover, acknowledge, and address the history and legacy of the federal Indian boarding school system.
“We are honored to gather with our relatives in the Pacific Northwest, to honor and recognize their voices, to preserve their stories, and this history,” said Oral History Project Co-Director Lacey Kinnart (Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe). “We are committed to working closely with survivors, creating a space where they feel empowered, respected, and fully supported as they share their stories. Above all, we will ensure that every survivor who engages with our project is met with the utmost care, compassion, and respect throughout the entire process.”
Event Details – Portland, Oregon
-
Dates: Monday, August 25 – Friday, August 29, 2025
-
Location: Embassy Suites by Hilton Portland Downtown
319 SW Pine St., Portland, OR 97204 -
Who Should Participate: Survivors who attended a federally supported Indian boarding school in the U.S. prior to 1970
Later in 2025, the Oral History Project will also travel to South Dakota, New Mexico, and Arizona. For more information, visit https://boardingschoolhealing.org/oral-history-project or contact the Oral History Project team at 651-650-4445 or via email at OralHistoryProject@nabshc.org.
About the Author: “Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. “
Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
