GENOA, Neb. – A tribal school in northeast Nebraska gave its seniors a chance to explore their ancestors’ painful history on Tuesday.

Students from Omaha Nation Public Schools made the two-hour trek from Macy to Nance County to visit the site of the former Genoa Indian School.

“I think it’s important because we should learn how to heal from generational curses and from the trauma it’s caused us,” Omaha Nation senior Kacyn Harlan said.

The boarding school opened in 1884. It was part of a system of more than 400 Native American boarding schools.

The schools, in addition to privately funded institutions, were part of an attempt to assimilate Indigenous people into white Euro-American culture by separating children forcibly, or through coercion, from their families and cutting the students off from their Native heritage.

“I feel when they tried to take away our culture, they tried to erase us,” Harlan said. “I feel like it’s really important to learn our culture and keep it going so we can show them that we’re still here.”

At least 102 children died as a result of abuse and neglect at the school before its closure in 1934, though the death toll is believed to be higher.

“It’s crazy that all 19 of us have an ancestor, or many ancestors, that went to boarding schools,” Harlan said. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck miles away from home in really bad conditions where I’m being treated like I’m not a human.”

Researchers are continuing to search for a cemetery once used by the school.