This talk invites students and community members to explore how young researchers are helping uncover the layered histories of Native American boarding schools, especially in the heartland of Native America—Oklahoma. Centered on the collaboration of students and professionals engaged in mentored, community-centered research, this presentation highlights how archival searches, archaeology, oral histories, and digital mapping are used to understand and share Indigenous stories. Dr. Farina King has mentored and guided university students to work closely with Native Nations and communities affected by boarding schools—institutions that deeply impacted generations of Native American lives. By reflecting on what it means to listen, learn, and serve through research, this talk introduces audiences to the complexity of Indigenous education histories, the importance of tribally specific and intertribal perspectives, and the continued relevance of these histories today. This session offers insight into how students across disciplines can respectfully engage with Native histories and communities, and how this kind of work contributes to broader efforts of Indigenous truthtelling and healing.

Dr. Farina King, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, is the Horizon Chair of Native American Ecology and Culture and Associate Professor of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Her research centers on Native American oral histories, especially among her Diné relatives and connections in Oklahoma. In 2023-2024, she served as the interim department chair of Native American Studies at OU. She received her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in History. She is the author of various publications, including The Earth Memory Compass: Diné Landscapes and Education in the Twentieth Century; co-author with Michael P. Taylor and James R. Swensen of Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School and author of Gáamalii dóó Diné: Navajo Latter-day Saint Experiences in the Twentieth Century. She is a co-editor of The Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures with the University Press of Kansas. She is the past President of the Southwest Oral History Association (2021-2022).