TELLING AMERICA’S HIDDEN STORY

In 2021, former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced an unprecedented federal investigation into the US federal Indian boarding school system’s centuries-long policies and practices of forcibly separating Native children from their families and communities.
Within Volumes 1 and 2 of the Federal Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, 417 federal Indian boarding schools were identified across 37 states and then-territories operated in the United States and often in partnership with churches and religious organizations between 1819 and 1969. With this federal investigation underway, IllumiNative set out to tell America’s hidden story.

LISTEN TO THE TRAILER

  • American Genocide Podcast Trailer
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  • Podcast Trailer
  • https://illuminative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/American-Genocide_SXSW-trailer_.mp3

LAUNCHING THE PODCAST

In April 2023, IllumiNative launched the American Genocide podcast to tell the story of one school at the epicenter of our country’s dark history, the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This podcast takes listeners on a journey through the then-developing situation and the story of compounding intergenerational pain of Indian boarding schools and the community’s search for truth, healing, and reconciliation.

We partnered with a host of community-based and national Native organizations, including Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, and Decolonizing Wealth, to bring this story to life and reach audiences far and wide.

EDUCATE, INFORM & UPLIFT

This podcast, and the multi-prong activation campaign that followed its release, aimed to not only educate and inform new, non-Native audiences about the atrocities and forced assimilation that took place at these schools and the present-day impacts to Native communities, but also uplift the Oglala Lakota community’s search for truth, healing, and reconciliation and the actions people can take to support the call for justice.

  • 500 Million+ reached via earned media including stories and interviews in: Variety, CNN, Vanity Fair, ELLE, Glamour, Town & Country, and People
  • 21.5 Million paid social, influencer, and partnership impressions
  • 48.5 Million reached via earned talent
  • Won multiple awards including: Webby Awards’ Gold Anthem Award for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Podcast or Audio Category, and DIGIDAY Media Award for Best Podcast
  • Peaked at #36 on Apple Podcast’s True Crime Genre

EPISODES

American Genocide cover art: Aly McKnight (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes)

EPISODE 1

WHO LIES AT RED CLOUD

Two Native women, one a former journalist and the other an activist, launch a deeply personal investigation into events around a former boarding school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The seemingly progressive school faculty – led by Lakotas – is looking to address their dark history by organizing a science-based search for possible mass graves on their campus. It seems well intentioned and even noble. But further conversations with boarding school abuse survivors, that seem to come from every single family in the community, cause our investigators to question if they have been meeting with the enemy.
EPISODE 2

PISSED OFF ACTIVISTS

Crystal and Lashay find themselves in a secluded park where the local youth activists are planning to disrupt the survey for graves with an important protest. They are guided by elder survivors who faced baseball bat attacks and being chained to radiators by the priests at the school. After a heart-wrenching conversation around abuse, inherited trauma, our investigators begin to see what’s really at stake. This is bigger than the search for mass graves, this is spiritual and has the potential to fracture the Native community nationwide. On the heels of this realization, a secret suspected burial site is introduced, where folks report encountering the restless spirits of former students.
EPISODE 3

THE MEDICINE

Crystal and Lashay meet with progressive community leaders who are combating the Catholic church with the strongest weapon they have: their culture. They are locked in a battle of wills with Red Cloud School and what they see as the systemic leeching off-of their people. For a better understanding of the fissure between Catholic and Lakota, the investigators travel with one of the leaders to his dining room table, where three generations of former students describe their ordeals. The investigators are left wondering if they could even trust the findings that the school will hand down in the grave search.
EPISODE 4

THE SCIENTIST DETECTIVE

Crystal and Lashay set out to clear any doubts they have around the integrity of the search of the school grounds. This leads them to the Native scientist who operates the ground penetrating radar. She’s determined, and despite her cutting-edge technology, swears her allegiance is ONLY to the “lost and stolen children” that she searches for under former boarding schools around the country. They also encounter an elder, who claims to have merged Lakota and Catholic beliefs via quantum physics, who will perform a prayer over the grounds. It is an enlightening and unexpected journey into the deep spirituality that looms over the proceedings.
EPISODE 5

CONFRONTATION

The air is heavy as Crystal and Lashay arrive at Red Cloud Indian School on the day the ground will be scanned for unmarked graves. All of the characters we have met along the way have descended on the campus. Some want answers, some want solidarity and some want conflict. It is an explosive situation that is exacerbated by the surprise arrival of high ranking government officials. After this episode, nothing will be the same.
EPISODE 6

WHERE WE STAND

One year after the former Native American boarding school began surveying its grounds for the bodies of former students, Crystal and Lashay examine the results, revisit the characters we met, and take a hard look at what steps have been taken toward truth and healing. It’s an episode full of unexpected surprises that culminates in a bold call to action for Indian country and all of its allies.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & RESOURCES

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

IllumiNative is honored to partner with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) to further educate audiences about the history of U.S. Indian boarding schools and their impact on Native peoples today.

NABS is the only national organization whose purpose is to advocate on behalf of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians impacted by Indian boarding schools in the United States. NABS is a leader in education, research, and policy advocacy, and works directly with Indian boarding school survivors and descendants to foster healing.

For more information on NABS and their indispensable work, please visit:

Primer on American Indian and Alaska Native Boarding Schools in the U.S.

A guide to the history of Native boarding schools in the United States and the attempt to reckon with their troubling legacy.

Truth and Healing Curriculum

A curriculum on U.S. Indian Boarding Schools for teachers and parents to use with their students and children, covering the history, impact, stories, and healing process surrounding this vital but neglected subject matter.

NABS Resource Database

A searchable database containing scholarship, research, bibliographic materials, media, personal histories, and more related to Native American boarding schools.

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

People of Pine Ridge

IllumiNative would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the people of Pine Ridge for welcoming us into their community. Their generosity and openness allowed us to share this story with the world.

Sponsoring Partner

We also want to offer a special thank you to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians who helped make this podcast possible.
Finally, we would like to show our appreciation to the following organizations who helped bring this story to light:

Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis

Diga Studios

Madica Production​

Open Society Foundations​

Pop Culture Collaborative

CAA Foundation