Returning the Sacred: Carlisle’s Buried Children Find Their Way Home

The long silence of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School has finally been broken by a profound act of spiritual restitution. On September 30, marked as the National Day of Remembrance, the remains of three Alaska Native students—Tummassak, Lucy Spaulding, and Edward Angalook—were carried from their white ceremonial tent toward their ancestral lands. For over a century, these young souls were trapped in darkness, reduced to bleached gravestones with misspelled names, severed from the very earth that sustains their spirits.

This journey is not merely logistical; it is a healing of the collective soul. As Ahl’lidaaw Gitnack’angeat sang a traditional children’s lullabye over the caskets, the air was filled with a frequency of mourning and release. The sea of orange shirts surrounding the ceremony served as a vibrant reminder of the resilience required to survive such systemic erasure. By returning these bodies to their families, we acknowledge that true peace cannot exist while our ancestors remain displaced. This solemn transfer marks the beginning of a deeper restoration, where history is no longer a burden but a bridge back to wholeness for the Alaskan tribes who wait to welcome them home.