By the late 1800s, Native American culture was under attack from a variety of sectors. As westward expansion continued, the U.S. government adopted a policy to the eradicate culture, language and spirituality of America’s indigenous people by taking children from their families, isolating them, and forcing them to deny their heritage. The policy of assimilation transported the children to boarding schools for cultural transformation. Everything Native was to be stripped away. The goal was integration into Anglo society. Their language, as their culture, was to be “unspoken.”
KUED is presenting a new film, “Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools.”The film, produced by John Howe, tells the story of Native American boarding schools including one in Brigham City, and airs on KUED on Tuesday, February 16 at 8:00 p.m.
On Tuesday’s Access Utah we’ll talk with filmmaker John Howe and hear clips from the movie; and our guests will also include Davina Spotted Elk, who is featured in the film.
Davina Spotted Elk is the Associate Producer for the KUED documentary film "We Shall Remain-The Navajo". She is also a Production Assistant for "The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo" and a Location and Script Consultant for the new KUED documentary film "Unspoken, America's Native American Boarding Schools". Davina is the American Indian Education Coordinator for the Salt Lake City School District. She was raised in the Monument Valley area and is a member of Dine' (Navajo) Tribe.
John Howe’s most recent projects are Desert Wars: Water and the West, Wild River: The Colorado, and Utah: The National Parks (all narrated by Joseph Campanella) for PBS and the PBS HD Channel. Other PBS shows include Butch Cassidy and The Outlaw Trail (narrated by Hal Holbrook), Artists of the West (narrated by Joseph Campanella), The Snow Wolves (narrated by Joseph Campanella), Return of the Wolves (narrated by Peter Coyote) and the PBS primetime music specials Christmas with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (featuring Renee Fleming, Peter Graves, Audra McDonald, Sissel), The Gift of Music (Keith Lockhart), and A Christmas Gloria starring Roma Downey from Touched By An Angel (four have been the highest rated holiday performance special nationally on PBS). Also completed is The Great Salt Lake: America’s Legacy of Wetlands narrated by Academy Award winner Joanne Woodward.
John Howe is probably best known for national PBS films (The Last Cowboys, Arctic Wars, Nuclear National Park), along with films for The Discovery Channel (River of Stone with Robert Redford narrating and Desert Dreams) and National Geographic Explorer (Wild Horses) as well as others. His work has been recognized by many national film festivals including New York, Houston, San Francisco, Charleston, Flagstaff, U.S. International, Cindy, Telly, and Iris, as well as multiple CINE Golden Eagles and multiple regional Emmy awards. John Howe holds a Master’s Degree from San Diego State University in Television/Film and a Bachelor’s Degree from Arizona State University in Television. He is the author of articles for American Cinematographer magazine, Current magazine, and the feature film screenplay, THE DEER RIFLE.
