Picture yourself as a child of the late nineteenth century- taken from your family, forbidden to speak in your own language and forced to assume a new identity.

Beginning in the 1870s, this was the experience for thousands of First American children: stolen and sent far from home to regimented boarding schools designed to erase their cultural heritage.

Many died, but many more persevered. With resistance and a resilience that would transform the institutions that set out to change them.

In “Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories,” a multimedia exhibit from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, you’ll hear a kaleidoscope of voices from the boarding school era.

See it on display for a limited time: April 15 through Aug. 9, only at the Chickasaw Cultural Center.