Dr. Ka'ow'dthu'ee sits down with Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson (Hopi) during his first visit to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he spoke at Dickinson College’s Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues. Dr. Johnson shares the brilliance of Hopi dryland farming and reflects on the responsibility to carry forward ancestral knowledge. Their conversation explores Indigenous ingenuity—how traditional farming practices embody innovation, resilience, and a deep relationship with the land in the face of climate and cultural challenges.

In this episode of The Indigenous Revolt, Dr.  Ka'ow'dthu'ee shares a personal journey from Carlisle to Gila River, witnessing President Joe Biden deliver a historic apology for the federal Indian boarding school policy. The episode begins on October 24, 2024, traveling from Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania to Phoenix, Arizona, tracing the movement from the site of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School to the homelands of the Gila River Indian Community.

The journey includes reflections from the reception hosted by former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland at the Huhugam Heritage Center on October 24, followed by the presidential apology on October 25, 2024.

Dr. Ka'ow'dthu'ee offers an on-the-groundperspective of what it felt like to be present—to listen, to witness, and to carry generations of survival and resistance into this historic moment. This is not just about an apology—it’s about remembrance, healing, and honoring thosewho came before us.

What might our ancestors have said, if they’d been given the chance to speakfreely? I’m Dr. Ka’ow’dthu’ee, your host of the Indigenous Revolt podcast. I’vespent over 14 months living, working, and praying in Carlisle,Pennsylvania—about a mile from the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

This season of The Indigenous Revolt is made up of recordings I’ve gathered over the past year. I’ve carried these storiesfor months, sitting with them, and only now have I been able to bring these voices together and offer them the care and time they deserve. In this season, we witness former Secretary Deb Haaland’s October 2025 visit to Dickinson’s Archives and the Center for the Futures of Native Peoples. We reflect on the presidential apology delivered later that month at the GilaRiver Indian Community. We step into the National Archives for the first time—a powerful and intimidating experience— And we travel across the ocean to Italy, where original photographs of Carlisle and Hampton Institute Native students are held in a museum collection, raising questions about possession, memory, and healing.

Throughout the season, you’ll hear from fellow storytellers who offer their reflections on Carlisle and the broader experiences that shape their journeys. These are stories of reckoning, movement, and deep listening—across time, land, andocean.

Music courtesy of Fawn Wood

Song: For Sage (featuring Anthony Wakeman) from the Kikawiynaw album

In this episode, Dr. Amanda Cheromiah offers an unfiltered reflection on her first eight months living and working in Carlisle, Pennsylvania—the former site of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Through 20 personal and communal observations, she traces what it means to carry out Indigenous-centered work in a place shaped by historical trauma and ongoing presence. From healing ceremonies, student support, and repatriation to microaggressions, humor, and ceremony, these truths reveal the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual labor of staying rooted in a place of both harm and possibility. She invites listeners to witness the power of intertribal connection, the significance of Grandma’s House as a space of care, and the national momentum building around truth-telling and accountability. This episode is a call to action, a moment of gratitude, and a testament to the living presence of Native Peoples in a place too often spoken about only in the past tense.

This episode was recorded in December 2024.

In this special episode, Dr. Amanda Cheromiah sits with two of the inaugural Student Advisory Fellows for the Center for the Futures of Native Peoples. Kanoa Hunter (Native Hawaiian), a graduating senior majoring in History, and Alex Kluge (German), an international student studying English-Speaking Cultures, reflect on their time at Dickinson College, their experiences with CFNP, and what it means to engage with Indigenous narratives across cultures. From Kanoa’s deep ties to land and community to Alex’s fresh perspective as a visitor on Indigenous homelands, this conversation bridges oceans, languages, and lived experiences. Together, they share what it means to listen, learn, and help shape a Center that honors Native voices and futures.

John Truden earned his PhD inUS History from the University of Oklahoma. His first book- currently under review at the University of Nebraska Press - explores Indigenous-settler relationships in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas between Reconstruction and the Red Power era. His second book will examine Native America during the 1970s. He has published in both academic journals - notably the Western Historical Quarterly - and in more accessible forums such as Oklahoma Humanities magazine, the Osage News, and the Metro Library Podcast. John Truden worked on extensive projects with the Absentee Shawnee Tribe Cultural Preservation Office, the Seminole Nation Historic Preservation Office, and Greetham Law, the Chickasaw Nation's principal legal counsel. Among other projects at Dickinson College, he coordinated the Indigenous Consortium, a campus wide (and beyond) monthly discussion group for faculty interested in Indigenous issues. Outside of academia, John Truden and his wife Emily enjoy traveling, trying new foods, reading together, and playing with their dog Ruffles.

Dr. Truden's Recommended Reading List:

Indigenous History in the (continental) United States

• John Stands In Timber, Cheyenne Memories (1967)
• Adrienne Keene, Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present (2021)
• Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (2023)
• Nick Estes, Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (2019)
• Claudio Saunt, Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory (2021)

Indigenous Children Literature

• Carole Lindstrom, We Are Water Protectors (2020)
• Ashley Fairbanks, This Land (2024)
• Dawn Quigley, Jo Jo Makoons (chapter book series)
• Angeline Boulley, The Firekeeper's Daughter & Warrior Girl Unearthed (YA literature)
• Chag Lowry, Soldiers Unknown (2019)

Indigenous Fiction

• A three way tie: N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn, James Welch, Winter in the Blood (1974), Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977)
• Louise Erdrich (all of her stuff, because she is the most prolific Indigenous writer working today)
• Robert Dale Parker, editor, The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (2008)
• Gerald Vizenor, Bear Island: The War at Sugar Point (2006)
• Tommy Orange, There, There & Wandering Stars (2019, 2024)

Boarding School-related books

• Brenda Child, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 (2000)
• Celia Haig-Brown, Tsqelmucwílc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School―Resistance and a Reckoning (1987, 2022)
• David Maraniss, Path Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe (2022)
• Julie Pearson-Little Thunder, Chilocco Indian School: A Generational Story (2022)
• Abigail Chabitnoy, How to Dress a Fish (2019)

Law and Policy

• Vine Deloria Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1969)
• Walter Echo-Hawk, In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided (2010)
• Thomas J. Biolsi, Deadliest Enemies: Law and Race Relations On and Off Rosebud Reservation (2007)
• Sarah Deer, The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America (2015)
• David E. Wilkins, Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights (2017)

International Indigenous books

• Haunani-Kay Trask, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii (1999)
• Ailton Krenak, Life is Not Useful (2021)
• Ursula Pike, An Indian Among Los Indigenas: A Native Travel Memoir (Heyday, 2021)
• Darren Byler, In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony (2021)
• Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (2021)

Lynette Stant, a member of the Dine’ Nation, is a distinguished educator with over two decades of experience in elementary education. Currently, she teaches third grade on the Salt River Indian Reservation in Scottsdale, Arizona, where her deep-rooted commitment to student success and cultural empowerment drives her pedagogical approach. Lynette holds a Master’s degree from Grand Canyon University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University. She is also a proud Gates Millennium Scholar Alumni.

A trailblazer in her field, Lynette made history in 2020 when she was named Arizona Teacher of the Year, becoming the first Indigenous woman to earn this prestigious honor. This recognition highlights her unwavering dedication to providing an inclusive, culturally responsive education that nurtures both academic growth and personal development for her students. Her contributions to education extend beyond the classroom; in recognition of her leadership, Lynette was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Arizona University, underscoring her profound impact on the education community and her ongoing commitment to advancing educational equity. As an educator, Lynette’s mission is to ensure that all her students, particularly Indigenous youth, have the tools and opportunities they need to become leaders in a competitive global society. She is steadfast in her belief that education must honor and integrate students' cultural identities, languages, and heritage. Her work is driven by a profound commitment to ensuring that Indigenous students are equipped with a strong educational foundation, enabling them to thrive academically while staying connected to their communities and cultural traditions. Lynette’s career is a testament to the power of culturally relevant, student-centered education and her unwavering belief in the transformative power of teaching.

Song Credit: Kwelosoet by Fawn Wood

Recorded January 17, 2025.

Kate Theimer is a Project Partner with the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, focusing on cataloging photographs and authority control of student names. She also hosts the Carlisle Indian School Research podcast and is the author of A Very Correct Idea of Our School”: A Photographic History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (2018).

Since 2004, Kate has been a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists and has written, edited, or contributed chapters to fourteen books about archives and numerous articles in archival journals. She has given plenary addresses at international archival conferences in New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and Norway and state and regional archival associations in the United States. She has participated in or moderated over twenty presentations at conferences.

Before starting her career as an independent writer and editor, she worked in the policy division of the National Archives and Records Administration. She holds a Master of Science in Information (Specialization in Archives and Records Management) from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts (Art History & Archaeology) from the University of Maryland.

Carlisle Indian School students mentioned in the episode:

Bruce Patterson - https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/ci-search/bruce%20patterson

While Buffalo - https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/white-buffalo-c1882

1884 Student Body - https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/carlisle-indian-school-student-body-version-1-1884

Ice Skating - https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/ci-search/ice%20skating

John Leslie - https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/ci-search/john%20leslie

Recorded on February 12, 2025, in Carlisle, PA.