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Native American tribal leaders seek to have their ancestors remains from the Carlisle Indian School cemetery brought back to their land

The remains of nine Native Americans were returned in July 2021 to South Dakota.

  • The Associated Press
Loveeda White places an Arapaho flag at the base of Little Chief/Dickens Nor's headstone in the Carlisle Indian Cemetery, Carlisle PA, 2017

Loveeda White places an Arapaho flag at the base of Little Chief/Dickens Nor's headstone in the Carlisle Indian Cemetery, Carlisle PA, 2017

(Agency Villiage, S.D.) — Descendants of Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribal leaders will sign the necessary paperwork Saturday to help bring home the remains of their ancestors from central Pennsylvania.

Relatives of Amos LaFramboise and Edward Upwright plan to gather with South Dakota tribal leaders at the Dakota Magic Casino Convention Center across the state line in Hankinson, North Dakota to sign affidavits that will allow the remains of the two young boys to be removed from the Carlisle Indian School cemetery in Carlisle, Cumberland County, and moved to the Dakotas, Aberdeen American News reported.

LaFramboise’s father helped found the Lake Traverse Reservation government in South Dakota after the Sisseton Wahpeton treaty was signed in 1867. LaFramboise died in 1879 and he was initially buried at the county cemetery and later moved to the school cemetery, according to historians.

Upwright died in 1881 from the measles and is the son of Waanatan II, an early tribal chief.

The school cemetery is on property owned by the U.S. military which in recent years has given tribes the opportunity to claim the remains of the 188 Native American children buried there. Part of that process includes gathering signed affidavits from living relatives of those buried in the cemetery.

In July 2021,  the remains of nine Native American children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania meant to assimilate them into white culture were returned to their South Dakota tribe for burial on its reservation.

Spirit Lake Nation chairman Douglas Yankton Sr. said signing the affidavits moves the tribes closer to bringing home the remains so they can be buried with their families. The next hurdle is deciding how many people will participate in this process and what expenses the U.S. government will pay.

But, at least with the affidavits, Yankton said, the disinterment can be scheduled, hopefully in the spring or summer.

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