Repatriation Ceremony Brings Families Together

The Comanche Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office held a Repatriation Ceremony on Tuesday, September 30, at Watchetaker Hall.

Families were able to receive hair from loved ones who were living in boarding schools, according to Historic Preservation Officer Martina Minthorn.

She said the Comanche Nation NAGPRA office put a claim into the Harvard Peabody Museum to retrieve the hair samples for the descendants of the students.

“These hair samples were taken to be used for research,” Minthorn said. “So over 800 hair samples were taken by students from boarding schools, and so these were the students that were selected. Fourteen students from Fort Sill School were taken as samples, and so now that was in the 1930s, and so now we were able to unite them back with the families that they belong to.”

The day was to remember the survivors of boarding schools.

“It felt really good to unite with these families,” she said. “It was hard for a lot of them to bring back the memories of these descendants. Because usually, in our way, we don't speak their names when they pass on, but to be able to understand with NAGPRA, these things are issues that we have to address today. And so, it felt good to be with the other family members that also experienced that unknowing feeling of their hair being taken, and as being teenagers…hair is something very special to Native people.”

Minthorn said boarding schools began after Native Americans were taken to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida.

“They decided that…the imprisonment was a way to change us, and so that's how the Carlisle Indian School began, and then…all these other boarding schools came about, and right here at Fort Sill, that's what happened to our locals,” she said. “So, ‘Having the wagons come,’ in my grandma's terminology, that's when she got governmentally kidnapped and taken, and so just like all the rest of the kids in her time period…and they were beaten, punished, their hair was cut, their clothes were taken. That was the only thing they knew was the language they spoke, and their way of life had to come to an end, and it was the government…trying to kill us as far as our culture, and so the genocide that happened at all these boarding schools, and so it's sad to see…what our ancestors went through.”

Minthorn said that many in the local community are unaware of what boarding schools are.

“They think it's like when rich people send their kids to boarding school,” she said. “No, this was a whole different era…of torture, having to wear clothes…that were wet. You only had one pair of clothes, one pair of socks, and so you had to keep those clean, and then be outside, and my grandpa talked about…working in the fields, and then they would come in and have to line up, and then if you worked in the fields, you're dirty, and if your hands were dirty, you're going to get hit with the ruler. You had to put your hands out to show them…when you're walking in, but…they were just treated horrible as little kids.”

Minthorn said there is also an effect of generational trauma when talking about boarding schools. 

“When I worked at the Smithsonian, people would say, ‘You need to get over it,’” she said. “Well, let's take away your kids and see how you feel…and so that trauma, that generational trauma, we're experiencing, a lot of people don't understand that.”

Minthorn said people also need to learn about the tribal culture.

“We were such an empire, they had to make us as example, because we were such fierce people that…who else in Oklahoma has a military base in their backyard? Fort still surrounds us. We live in a war zone, and people need to understand that,” she said. “So, we need to ask the questions that need to be asked of our ancestors, our elders. Time is essential…We have to preserve what history, what culture, what language they have and traditions to keep alive, to make them proud, because they suffered a lot with these boarding schools.”

When it comes to the Comanche tribe, the boarding schools have done terrible damage to the people, according to Minthorn.

“A lot of our people suffered from that…because they look at us as being less than, because we didn't speak English…our people were tortured,” she said. “My great-grandmother, she was in her late 90s, would never share language with us, because she was scared for us to know anything. That's pretty sad to know that she was faithful to her Christianity, because this was forced upon her…but when she went to church every Sunday, her prayers were all fluent in Comanche, so her relation to the creator, the Appa, was that language, that connection, and so just knowing…that our ancestors…had to suffer a lot, and so whatever they could keep to themselves and secret was to help preserve us and everything. A lot of our ceremonies, like Native American church, they have to do it at night for secrecy…and those things…it's hard for our traditions…if we don’t keep those alive. It's hard for things to, a lot of people don't talk about a lot of our traditions or understand our traditions anymore, but that's where we need to focus on preserving. Everybody has a busy lifestyle, hustle, bustle, everything, but they need to come back to taking language classes. They're offering, everybody says, ‘Oh yeah, I want to take language.’ But when it comes to action, it's hard for our people to have to balance and do everything, so definitely just try and encourage each other, try to speak it in our homes, try to ask the questions, and visit with the elders.”

Minthorn said one of their goals is to establish a cultural classroom where they will hold lessons every month to help carry out traditions such as making moccasins and leggings, as well as storytelling and mentorship.

“Tonight was beautiful to hear these stories for people and what their relatives experienced, and so definitely, it was sad to hear these stories,” she said. “And I just hope that our kids will be waking up to understanding…who their relatives and who their ancestors are, and to be proud of them, and to ask questions.”

Minthorn enjoyed the fellowship, songs, prayers, and unity of the evening.