When the La Crosse Public Library released Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 57: "The Invasion," it mentioned a part two would soon head to production. Part two, "Dark La Crosse Stories Episode 63: St. Mary's Boarding School," is available now.
La Crosse Public Library librarian in the Archives & Local History Department Jenny DeRocher led the research and script writing, with support from FSPA Truth and Healing team members Henry Greengrass and Sister Eileen McKenzie.
Episode 57: "The Invasion," focused on the persecution and forced movement of Indigenous people--the Ho-Chunk peoples. This follow up episode focuses on the FSPA-administered St. Mary's Indian Boarding School in Odanah, Wisconsin, and provides an overview of the the Federal Indian Boarding School era.
FSPA's Truth and Healing Team formed in 2020 and continues to work, with the Anti-Racism Team, to support the U.S. Department of Interior Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. This initiative describes the era as "between 1819 through the 1970s, the United States implemented policies establishing and supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation. The purpose of federal Indian boarding schools was to culturally assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children by forcibly removing them from their families, communities, languages, religions and cultural beliefs."
Visit the Dark La Crosse Stories YouTube playlist to listen to the earlier episode, "The Invasion."