The marginalization of Native Americans wasn’t simply a crime of our country’s distant, unenlightened past. The documentary Dawnland chronicles the effort in one state, Maine, to come to terms with a practice that endured through most of the 20th century, when welfare workers removed Wabanaki children from their families and placed them in foster care – presuming that assimilation into white society would improve their quality of life and offer them a better future.
The Library and KCPT- Kansas City PBS screen the film as part of the Indie Lens Pop-Up community cinema initiative. Dawnland follows the work of Maine’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up in 2012, in gathering stories from the state's indigenous people. A discussion follows the screening.
