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'How could this have happened?' Recalling the history of Phoenix Indian School

Published June 21, 2022 at 12:20 PM EDT
Memorial Hall is one of three buildings that still remain on the campus of Phoenix Indian School. The school operated for nearly 100 years near downtown Phoenix. (Peter O'Dowd)
Memorial Hall is one of three buildings that still remain on the campus of Phoenix Indian School. The school operated for nearly 100 years near downtown Phoenix. (Peter O'Dowd)

Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on July 1, 2022. Click here for that audio.

A prominent boarding school for Native American children operated in central Phoenix from 1891 to 1990. In the early years, officials tried to wipe out the culture and identity of the students who went to Phoenix Indian. But as reforms slowly changed native boarding schools over the course of decades, it became a place where students could reclaim some of their history.

Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd visited the campus of Phoenix Indian School to learn about its complicated and traumatic past.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.