An exploration of the history of Native American boarding schools in the United States, and the legacy of abuse wrought by them in an attempt to destroy Native culture and life.
Important ... Pember’s journalism and advocacy, along with that of a growing number of writers and activists, both Native and not, are making clear the scope and impact of one major pillar of this epochal injustice ... It’s essential that stories like Pember’s stories are amplified and the momentum toward justice is sustained until such a time as it can be delivered.
Pember’s accessible blend of the personal and the historical gives Medicine Rive the potential to further popularize this history. The book could not be more necessary or overdue, especially as we face yet another administration that refuses to reckon with the government’s role in the attempted destruction of Native culture ... While Pember’s meticulous recounting of this history can at times drag, when she pulls back from these recitations to draw connections to her mother’s experience, Medicine River sings ... Medicine River stands out against typical historical accounts of the boarding school era, which tend to focus only on what happened between 1819 and 1969. By expanding the frame up to the contemporary moment, both by telling her own life story and by examining the efforts of boarding school survivors to demand accountability from the Catholic Church and the federal government, Pember illuminates how Native cultures have resisted and persisted through centuries of attempts to eradicate their people ..
Medicine River itself at once stands as a moving witness to Pember’s family’s traumas and a rousing demand for accountability from the government and religious organizations that attempted to destroy her tribe.
