Orange Shirt Day

What is Orange Shirt Day?

Orange shirt Day is labeled to be a day for truth and reconciliation for a legacy of Boarding School trauma. The orange shirt is representative of resilience, derived from Phyllis Jack Webstad’s experience of having her orange shirt taken on her first day of residential school. Now, it serves the role of demonstrating the visibility of forced assimilation that Indigenous folks endured. Children were removed from their homes & families, punished fro speaking their Native language, and banned from doing any cultural or traditional practices. Many children never returned home and their fates have yet to be accounted for by the U.S. government.

How You Can Help

The Native Resource Center invites you to stop by the center (Ochoa Pavilion 115) to participate in our food stamping project. Each footprint represents one child that was impacted by the boarding school era. It’s estimated that in the U.S., 60,899 children were impacted by boarding schools. As of Fall 2024, we’ve stamped around 7,200 footprints.

The intention is to drape the stamped material from the second floor of Hepner Hall down to the grassy area in front of the building. We will also continue stamping during the day of the event. This collective art project is a way for our community to heal on this day of truth and reconciliation.

For more information visit the Action Items and Resources document for Orange Shirt Day.