Stealing Little Moon: Chapter Eleven–Conclusion

by Dan SaSuWeh Jones
In this work of biographical nonfiction, Dan SaSuWeh Jones recounts his family's history at Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, starting with the kidnapping of his grandmother, Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction - Chapter Three, Chapter Four - Six, Chapters Seven - Ten, Chapter Eleven - Conclusion
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. persecution
    causing someone to suffer
    As Ponca tribal members and oppressed people, we had learned the tools and weapons of persecution so well that we used them on one another.
  2. injustice
    an unfair act
    Stories told by Denise and other students during the 1970s and 1980s are thick with the injustices they experienced in the white community.
  3. endeavor
    a purposeful or industrious undertaking
    For the next forty years, the Authority would keep Chilocco’s tree-lined grounds humming with various endeavors.
  4. jurisdiction
    the territory within which power can be exercised
    He was a member of the Yuccie people, a Nation that has long been within the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation.
  5. retaliate
    make a counterattack and return like for like
    If they refused, they knew the government would retaliate, perhaps simply taking the land with no payment at all.
  6. irate
    feeling or showing extreme anger
    When the Boomer returned from his errand, he was met by the irate Sooner.
  7. ensue
    take place or happen afterward or as a result
    Conflicts ensued.
  8. adhere
    be compatible or in accordance with
    They didn’t understand the treaties. Or why tribes don’t adhere to state laws.
  9. terminate
    discharge from an office or position
    They terminated all the maintenance crew but me.
  10. heinous
    extremely wicked or deeply criminal
    Some, like Mount Pleasant Indian School in Saginaw, Michigan, and Genoa Indian Industrial School in Nebraska, were closed and abandoned or demolished soon after the Meriam Report of 1928 exposed heinous crimes against children.
  11. protocol
    code of correct conduct
    So the task force determined a safe and effective protocol for helping survivors tell their stories in a respectful and private environment.
  12. mandate
    a formal statement of a command to do something
    The Department of the Interior’s mandate has long included managing all of America’s natural resources and cultural heritage.
  13. compile
    get or gather together
    While the investigative report was being compiled, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs introduced a new bill to Congress in September 2021.
  14. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    Long before the historic campus was razed in the 1990s, the cemetery was leveled in 1960.
  15. obscurity
    an unimportant and not well known standing
    Just as the government had designed this place to destroy our culture, once we made a success of the school and its students, the government let Chilocco slip into obscurity along with the philosophy that started it all: “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
Created on Wed Nov 19 08:50:20 EST 2025 (updated Tue Dec 23 17:40:10 EST 2025)

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