The Department of Ethnic Studies UC Berkeley

Native American Child Removal, Indigenous Activism, and the Creation of an Archive

ABSTRACT:  The history of Indigenous child removal is a history of violence, and one that has taken different forms over time.  This presentation focuses on those most affected by removal and separation through an analysis of oral histories of Native American adoptees collected in collaboration with the First Nations Repatriation Institute, a community based advocacy organization. These testimonies are searing and powerful, and convey the range of responses and experiences of a diverse group of Native Americans and their ongoing efforts to seek restitution and justice in the present.