Orange Shirt Day
Commemorating the residential school experience, witnessing and honoring the healing journey of the Survivors, their families and communities.
Orange Shirt Day is September 30th. The day became a national holiday in Canada in 2021. The annual date of the event signifies the time of year when Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools.
As part of The Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) process in Canada this information serves as a foundation for truth telling and these profound injustices are now being recorded and preserved for safe keeping as a legacy for future generations to learn and heal from. The TRC concluded in 2015 that these schools were a form of ‘cultural genocide’ as the use of Indigenous languages and cultural practices were banned at the schools, sometimes through the use of violence.
The history of the Indian boarding school system in the United States, came to prominence throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Often through force or coercion, Indigenous children were removed from their communities with the specific intent of assimilating them into the dominant ‘white’ society and eliminating “the Indian problem” for good. Many children never returned home, their families given a vague explanation or none at all. These children were forever known as missing.
But for some, gathering on this day is also a recognition that despite what has been done to the children, despite what has been done to Indigenous communities, there is a beauty and power in coming together on this day — and that is reflected in the vibrancy of the orange shirt.
Further Reading
“‘Kill the Indian in him, and save the man’: R.H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans.” Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/teach/kill-indian-him-and-save-man-r-h-pratt-education-native-americans.
Armstrong, Samuel Chapman (1839-1893). 1883. The Indian question…. Hampton, Virginia: Normal School Steam Press. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, American Indian Histories and Cultures, http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_389_H2_A7_1883, (Accessed September 21, 2022).
Bureau of Indian Affairs. “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.” U.S. Department of the Interior, 2022. https://www.bia.gov/service/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative.
Deerchild, Rosanna. Unreserved. Podcast. “Making the most of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.” Aired Sept 24, 2022 on CBC radio. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-105/clip/15938509.
Hultgren, Mary Lou., Paulette Fairbanks. Molin, and Rayna. Green. To Lead and to Serve: American Indian Education at Hampton Institute, 1878-1923. Charlottesville: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy in cooperation with Hampton University, 1989.
Krupat, Arnold. Changed Forever: American Indian Boarding-School Literature. 2 Volumes. Albany: SUNY Press, 2018 and 2020.
Newland, Bryan, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs. Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report. United States: Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, May 2022.
Orange Shirt Day: September 30th. Edited and approved by Phyllis Webstad and Joan Sorley. Canada: Orange Shirt Society, 2020.
Orange Shirt Society. https://www.orangeshirtday.org/.
Sudlow, Helen W. “Indian education at Hampton and Carlisle.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. New York, 1881. http://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Details/Ayer_389_H2_L9_1881.
Szasz, Margaret Connell. Indian Education in the American Colonies, 1607-1783. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports. Manitoba, Canada: National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, 2015-2016. https://nctr.ca/records/reports/.