The gripping Yellowstone prequel 1923 delves into a harrowing true story, centring on Teonna Rainwater (portrayed by Aminah Nieves), who is expected to be a direct ancestor of Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham). The series graphically portrays her suffering at the hands of nuns in a Catholic School for Indigenous Children.
Although Teonna may have exacted her revenge in the show’s first season, her ordeal isn’t over as she continues to flee from danger. Her grim narrative reflects historical accounts of government-funded boarding schools where Indigenous children were subjected to beatings and abuse.
As reported by pajiba.com, these children were stripped of their identities, forbidden from wearing their own clothes, speaking their native language, or even using their real names. Mirroring the series, they had their hair forcibly cut and were made to adopt American religious education.
The website details the tragic impact of such institutions: “The children spent as many as 10 years in these schools, and once they returned to their reservations, they often had difficulty reassimilating at home, leaving them in a sort of cultural no man’s land where they were not accepted by either Americans or the reservations.”
The brutal objective of these schools, as depicted in 1923, was to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”. Historical records reveal that in one Michigan school alone, over 230 children perished between 1893 and 1931.
Aminah Nieves plays Teonna Rainwater (Image: PARAMOUNT)
Echoing Teonna’s storyline in 1923, bounties were indeed offered for the recapture of children who attempted escape.
The TV series has been praised for its historically accurate depiction of the harsh realities within boarding schools established by Western settlers to forcibly assimilate Indigenous communities during America’s Westward Expansion.
Although Montana hosted only one such institution, the Fort Shaw Indian School, a greater number were found in states like Oklahoma, Minnesota, and South Dakota.
Jennifer Ehle, who portrayed Sister Mary in the show’s inaugural season, spoke to Screen Rant about her character’s mindset, saying: “Sister Mary is a person who believes, as the people who were running these residential schools actually did believe, that you had to ‘kill the Indian to save the man’.”
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Teonna Rainwater managed to escape (Image: PARAMOUNT)
She added: “You had to force assimilation; you had to remove all cultural identity from these children who had been removed forcibly from their families and were living in isolation.”
While most of these boarding schools have since been shut down or undergone significant reforms, the legacy of mistreatment has inflicted lasting damage on those affected. Aminah, the actress behind Teonna, expressed the importance of storytelling for Indigenous people to Screen Rant: “Being Indigenous, it’s our duty to tell our stories and to tell them as strongly, quickly, and powerfully as we can.”
She emphasized: “It’s what we’re born into, and we’re storytellers from the jump. You know what I’m saying? Continuing to tell our story as honestly as we can is very important.”
1923 airs on The Paramount Network and Paramount Plus on Sundays