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Correction appended Aug. 6

In the thick of the summer, 10 high school and college students sat in the empty library of Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta 鈥� Red Cloud 鈥� High School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. There, they recited everyday phrases in Lakota, the language spoken by the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the nation鈥檚 largest.

Ta艐y谩艐 ni拧t铆艐ma he? Did you sleep well? 

Ok贸iha艐ke k’u艐 heh谩艐 t葻abwa拧kate. Last weekend I played basketball.

T谩ku wi膷h贸ka艐 w贸tapi he? What鈥檚 for lunch?

The students were paid participants in the school’s annual summer language internship program, learning the language and culture to teach others 鈥� and posting videos of themselves speaking, translating and describing everyday activities in Lakota.

It鈥檚 part of Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta鈥檚 mission to preserve the 1,000-year-old language, which is in danger of being erased because it is to younger generations.

Opened in 1888, Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta (mah-PEE-yah loo-tah) was one of many boarding schools the U.S. government created to culturally assimilate and “” Native Americans. Roughly 19,000 children were taken from their families and forced to attend. The schools made the children use English names, cut their hair and prohibited them from speaking their language, according to a 2022 federal .

鈥淏oarding school rules were often enforced through punishment, including corporal punishment such as solitary confinement; flogging; withholding food; whipping; slapping; and cuffing,鈥� the report said. as a result of abuse and inhumane conditions.

While the Lakota population is more than 170,000 strong, there are fewer than , according to the Lakota Language Consortium. Most are in their 70s.

Ashlan Carlow-Blount, 17, didn鈥檛 grow up speaking Lakota, but discovered a passion for it in high school. She joined the internship to improve her speaking skills and share the language with other young people.

鈥淥ur ancestors couldn’t speak it 鈥� if they spoke it, it was like a punishment for them,鈥� Ashlan said. 鈥淭hat’s why we lost our language, because they were so afraid to speak it and they didn’t pass it down. That’s why it’s important to us to [do this], because we have the opportunity to speak it freely now and then keep it going.鈥�

The summer internship is the next step toward fluency for students who have completed other Lakota classes. For two months, they learn through singing, activities, group conversations and lectures. This year鈥檚 group began to 鈥� sometimes receiving thousands of views.

Learn some Lakota sentences with us!!

鈥淥ur summer interns kind of put [the program] on the map, and it was a good outlet for them to showcase what they’re learning and also showcase how language could be used in the day-to-day,鈥� said Jennifer Irving, Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta鈥檚 communications director. 

Mya Mills, 17, said a lot of teens know basic Lakota words and speak some at home but aren鈥檛 fluent. The internship has helped her speak the language outside of school, and older adults have told her how much they appreciate students trying to bring Lakota back.

鈥淭hat’s the point 鈥� for us still to try to keep it going,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven when we’re around people who don’t speak it.鈥�

Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta鈥檚 internship is only one piece of its mission to increase Lakota fluency, Irving said. The school of 500 students created a dual language immersion program in 2019 that has since expanded from kindergarten through eighth grade. About 90% of classes are taught in Lakota, so students can become fluent early on instead of catching up in later years.

The movement to revitalize and preserve native languages in schools has boomed in recent decades, Irving said. Immersion schools and language preservation programs have increased in and other states like , and . In December, the Biden administration published a 10-year , which called for action to address the U.S. government鈥檚 role in the loss of Native American languages. The program鈥檚 future is unclear under the Trump administration.

鈥淚 think 40 years ago, our education system in this country was very different 鈥� very much reading, writing, arithmetic,鈥� Irving said. 鈥淲e all see now, not just with tribal languages or Lakota language, but we see the benefits for students that are in immersion classrooms and in immersion schools.鈥�

Researchers that Native American students in bilingual programs scored higher on English language standardized tests than those who received education in an English-only program. Including indigenous languages and culture in school curriculum have also been identified as ways to improve chronic absenteeism for Native American students, according to a from the national nonprofit Attendance Works.

The Minneapolis American Indian Center, which serves more than 35,000 Native Americans in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, created a in 2019 that teaches youth the Dakota and Ojibwe languages. Coordinator Memegwesi Sutherland said he鈥檚 seen students have 鈥渓ife-changing experiences鈥� after being exposed to their language and culture for the first time.

鈥淢ost schools don鈥檛 offer much for a Native education,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tudents who do take my class end up learning a lot 鈥� they want to reconnect with their people, relearn their language and culture, and sometimes their [college] majors change and they ask me how they can keep learning it.鈥�  

Kiana Richards, a 2017 Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta graduate, became so passionate about Lakota while in high school that she earned an associate degree in the language. She joined AmeriCorps and worked as a Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta employee from 2018 to 2020. But she stopped speaking Lakota when the pandemic struck, and after several years realized her fluency had 鈥渃ompletely faded away.鈥�

Last year, she rejoined AmeriCorps to refresh her Lakota skills and teach students about the language and culture.

鈥淚 wanted to continue to keep doing this for the sake of my own self, my identity, my Lakota identity, and for the sake of me wanting to be an immersion teacher,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want to encourage the [students] so much, because it is a part of who we are.鈥�

Tylia Mad Plume, a 2023 Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta graduate, said she initially cared only about getting a decent grade in high school Lakota classes. But after an educator encouraged her to work with children, she joined AmeriCorps to help teach while taking language classes herself.

Both Mad Plume and Richards were fired from AmeriCorps this spring, when the Trump administration from the national service organization. The school used its own budget to hire them as staff for the summer internship.

Many Ma葻p铆ya L煤ta staff come from AmeriCorps. Funding has since been reinstated to Democratic-led states that sued, but the school is still waiting for a solution as a named plaintiff in a lawsuit that seeks a in every state. 

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to keep going, to keep the Lakota Nation sovereign, because it鈥檚 really scary with everything going on right now,鈥� Mad Plume said. 鈥淵ou have to keep that because in history, for the people who didn鈥檛 keep it or the tribes who weren’t as strong in their language and culture, it’s gone.鈥�

Richards said she鈥檚 excited for the future because while Lakota wasn鈥檛 passed down through generations in the past, she believes the current generation will bring it back. 

This is foretold in the Lakotas鈥� seventh generation prophecy, she said 鈥� a made in the 1800s by Lakota holy man that after generations of great suffering, the Lakota of the seventh generation 鈥� the current generation 鈥� will take back what little culture and rights remain to spur positive change for the future.

鈥淗ere we are in that moment,鈥� Richards said. 鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 coming full circle, because now we’re teaching the [children] how to speak Lakota and some of them are more fluent than I am. It’s amazing to see, and that’s what encourages me and inspires me. It’s so important because it connects us to who we are, in our spirits, our knowledge.鈥�

Correction: The name of the Twin Cities cultural center is the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

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