An Era of Removal
No American Indian family remains untouched by government policies of forced family separation. Prior to the Adoption Era (1940-1978) the progressive approach to America’s “Indian problem” was to “Kill the Indian and save the man” by shipping Native youth and toddlers to an estimated 500 federally-funded conversion schools and religious institutions (Boarding School Era: 1879-1978). This collective era of removal effectively displaced 25-35% of Native American youth from tribal communities nationwide by the late 1960s.
Production Stills
 Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) walks the 'road of her past' - Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |  |  Lakot Mothers (Courtesy University of South Dakota) |
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 |  |  Lost Bird of Wounded Knee (Courtesy of Nebraska Historical Society) |
 |  White Buffalo - Carlisle Before and After (Courtesy of Cumberland County Historical Society) |  |
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 |  Student Drills at Boarding School |  |
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 Carlisle Indian School Student Body (Courtesy of Cumberland County Historical Society) |  Dakota Mothers Delegation Press Conference, 1968. |  |
 |  |  1974 Indian Affairs Subcommittee Hearings on Indian Child Welfare (Courtesy of NBC) |
 Senator James Abourezk (D-SD). Chair, Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, 1974. (Courtesy of NBC) |  |  Senator James Abourezk (D-SD) 1973-79. |
 Woman holding a young Jingle Dress dancer - 140th Annual Fair & Wacipi, Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |  |  |
 |  A Sicangu Lakota child learns to walk at his grandparents’ home in Rosebud, South Dakota / Bryan Heller |  Jerry Dearly (Oglala Lakota) sings the “Song for Adoptees” - Saint Paul, Minnesota / Megan Whitmer |
 |  |  Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) (center) with her adoptive relatives, shortly after being relocated from Rosebud, South Dakota to Valton, Wisconsin in 1956 |
 |  Lynn Castaway Eagle Feather (Sicangu Lakota) (center) with Marlies White Hat (left) and Conrad Eagle Feather (Sicangu Lakota) (right) at the first Gathering for Adopted and Fostered Relatives of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |  Father and son at the 141th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi - Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |
 |  Archie Little (Sicangu Lakota) speaks at a Gathering for Adopted and Foster Relatives of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate - Rosebud Elementary, Rosebud, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |  |
 Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) and Marlies White Hat welcome adopted and fostered relatives of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Rosebud Elementary, Rosebud, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |  Young Jingle Dress dancers enter the arena - 140th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi, Rosebud, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |  Jerry Dearly (Oglala Lakota) discusses his “Song for Adoptees” alongside Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) at the first gathering for adopted and fostered relatives of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Rosebud Elementary, Rosebud, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |
 |  Childhood photo of Mark Fiddler (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) (far right) in his ‘Sunday best’ with his brother and father |  Mark Fiddler (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) prepares to discuss the Indian Child Welfare Act in Washington State Supreme Court - Olympia, Washington / Drew Nicholas |
 Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Deputy Attorney General of Cherokee Nation / Drew Nicholas |  Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) processing her adoption - Winner, South Dakota / Bryan Heller |  |
 Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) walks the 'road of her past' - Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |  |  |
 |  Children playing on cars at the 139th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi / Bryan Heller |  |
 |  Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) and her brother Leonard Medicine Eagle (Sicangu Lakota) discuss the many similarities they've discovered since their reunification in 1988 - Mosher, South Dakota / Bryan Heller |  |
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 |  Sicangu Lakota Color Guard at Evening Grand Entry - 139th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi, Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |  Child welfare attorney Mark Fiddler (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) discusses his role in the U.S. Supreme Court case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl / Megan Whitmer |
 |  |  139th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi, Rosebud, South Dakota / Drew Nicholas |
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 Sandy White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) addresses those gathered at the first welcoming for adopted and fostered relatives of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Rosebud, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |  |  Kendra "Iģmu” McCloskey plays in the back of her parents' pickup truck - 139th Annual Rosebud Fair & Wacipi, Rosebud, South Dakota / Bryan Heller |
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 |  Indian Gospel Chapel - Winner, South Dakota / Benedict Baldauff (Osage) |  |
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 |  Attorney Mark Fiddler (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) participates as counsel in a Washington State Indian Child Welfare case - Olympia, Washington / Drew Nicholas |  |
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