St. Regis

The Akwesasne Freedom School

At this school in upstate New York, students are free to speak Mohawk

Culture

For more than 100 years, the governments of both the United States and Canada forcibly assimilated generations of Native people by taking their children and sending them off to English-only boarding schools — a process the pushed the majority of indigenous languages to the brink of extinction. More than 35 years ago, a small Mohawk tribe in New York decided to fight back — by creating a school of its own.

Tell us about your experience accessing The World

We want to hear your feedback so we can keep improving our website, theworld.org. Please fill out this quick survey and let us know your thoughts (your answers will be anonymous). Thanks for your time!

We respect your time, attention and privacy

This is a news website, not a click casino. We do NOT employ deceptive behaviors, display annoying ads or use third party cookies and trackers to monetize your visit or help advertisers track you across the internet.

Simply, we ask that you would consider a donation to support the journalism we produce every weekday. Thank you.