Giago discusses 'dark legacy' of boarding schools

Monday, February 5, 2007  

Improvements at Indian boarding schools won't erase their "dark legacy," author and publisher Tim Giago says.

Giago attended the Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota. He experienced abuse first-hand, as did his family. His sister, Shirley, was assaulted by a school maintenance man. Other friends were physically and mentally abused.

"It did terrible things to their lives. My sister became an alcoholic. Most of them were drug addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes," he tells The Albuquerque Journal.

Their stories are found in Giago's new book "Children Left Behind: The Dark Legacy of Indian Mission Boarding Schools." His first foray in the subject -- a 1978 book of poems called "The Aboriginal Sin" -- drew the Catholic Church's ire.

"The denial there is frightening," he says. The school denied he was ever a student.

Get the Story:
Indian School's Dark Legacy (The Albuquerque Journal 2/4)

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