Taylor Sheridan has a way of making you feel like you've walked into a history lesson that's actually a trap. You think you're just watching a Western, but then you're hit with the heavy, jagged edges of the 1920s. In the Yellowstone prequel 1923, Lindy and Christy aren't just names in the credits; they are the physical manifestation of the show's brutal, uncompromising look at the era’s "progressive" horrors. Specifically, we're talking about the harrowing subplot involving the American Indian Boarding Schools.
Honestly, it's hard to watch.
When people talk about 1923 Lindy and Christy, they are usually searching for answers about the fate of the two young women trapped in the clutches of the School for American Indians in North Dakota. This isn't just a TV plot. It’s a fictionalized mirror of the real-world Carlisle Indian Industrial School or the Phoenix Indian School. Lindy, played by Madison Taylor, and Christy, played by Cailen David, represent the thousands of Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their homes under the guise of "civilizing" them.
It was a nightmare.
The Brutal Reality of the School for American Indians
The show introduces us to Teonna Rainwater, the fiery protagonist of this specific arc, but it’s her interactions with Lindy and Christy that really hammer home the collective trauma. In the series, Lindy and Christy are often seen in the periphery or in direct conflict/solidarity with Teonna. They are living in a world where speaking their native language results in a beating with a ruler—or worse, a "purification" ritual involving caustic soap and physical assault.
The casting of Madison Taylor and Cailen David was deliberate. You need actors who can convey a century of inherited pain without saying a word.
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Why does this matter so much to the Yellowstone lore? Because it establishes that the Duttons weren't the only ones fighting for survival in Montana and the surrounding territories. While Jacob and Cara Dutton are battling sheep herders and drought, Lindy and Christy are battling for their souls.
Historically, the 1920s were a pivot point. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 was right around the corner, yet the government was still actively trying to "kill the Indian, save the man." This phrase, coined by Richard Henry Pratt, is the unspoken mission statement of the school where we find 1923 Lindy and Christy.
What Happened to Lindy and Christy?
If you're looking for a happy ending, you're watching the wrong show. Sheridan doesn't do "happy." He does "earned."
In the episodes where Teonna finally snaps, the tension in the dormitory is thick enough to choke on. Lindy and Christy are part of that ecosystem of fear. One of the most haunting aspects of their roles is the depiction of internalized oppression. In these schools, the administrators—represented by the terrifying Sister Mary and Father Renaud—often used the students to police one another. It was a psychological tactic designed to break communal bonds.
Think about it.
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You take a group of kids, tell them their parents are heathens, beat their language out of them, and then reward them for snitching on their friends. It’s a recipe for a specific kind of trauma that persists for generations. When we see the interactions between 1923 Lindy and Christy, we see the struggle to maintain a shred of humanity when the system is designed to turn you into a cog.
The violence is graphic. Some viewers complained it was "torture porn," but historians generally agree that the reality was often more grisly than what makes it to Paramount+. There are documented cases of unmarked graves at these schools—a fact that the show doesn't shy away from hinting at.
The Creative Choice Behind the Characters
Why focus on Lindy and Christy specifically? They serve as a foil to Teonna’s radical resistance. While Teonna is the fire, the other girls in the school represent the various ways people survive a catastrophe. Some stay quiet. Some pray. Some try to follow the rules so perfectly that they become invisible.
There's a specific scene where the girls are in the laundry room—a place of endless, backbreaking labor. The steam, the heat, and the constant threat of the strap create a sensory overload. Here, the dialogue is sparse. It has to be. In the world of 1923 Lindy and Christy, words are dangerous.
The actresses bring a groundedness to the roles. Madison Taylor, in particular, has spoken in various interviews about the weight of representing this history. It’s not just "playing a part" when the history you’re portraying is your own ancestors' lived experience. That’s why their performances feel so raw. They aren't just reciting lines; they are channeling a very real, very dark chapter of American history.
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Why This Subplot Is Essential for the Dutton Saga
You might wonder why we spend so much time away from Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.
It’s about the land.
The Duttons claim the land because they worked it. But the story of 1923 Lindy and Christy reminds the audience that the land was "cleared" through more than just gunfights. It was cleared through the systematic erasure of the people who were there first. By showing the boarding schools, Sheridan provides a counter-narrative to the "heroic pioneer" trope.
It makes the Duttons' struggle feel more complex. It asks the question: Is the ranch worth the cost?
Practical Insights for Fans and History Buffs
If you’ve been moved by the story of Lindy and Christy, there are a few things you should actually do to understand the context better. This isn't just entertainment; it's an entry point into a conversation that's been happening for a hundred years.
- Look into the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative: In 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior launched a formal investigation into these schools. The initial reports are harrowing and provide the factual backbone for the scenes you see in 1923.
- Watch for the subtle costume shifts: Notice how the girls' hair is cut. The forced cutting of hair was a major traumatic event, as many tribes view hair as a source of strength and a connection to the spirit. The jagged, uneven bobs seen on Lindy and Christy are historically accurate markers of forced assimilation.
- Read "Education for Extinction": If you want the deep-dive academic version of what Lindy and Christy went through, David Wallace Adams’ book is the gold standard. It explains the "pedagogy of the oppressed" that the show depicts so viscerally.
- Acknowledge the geography: The school in the show is set in North Dakota, which was a hub for these institutions. The isolation wasn't an accident; it was a feature. It made escape almost impossible.
The legacy of characters like Lindy and Christy is found in the modern-day struggles of Indigenous communities for language revitalization and land rights. When you watch 1923, don't just see them as background characters. See them as the witnesses to a crime that the world is only just starting to fully acknowledge.
To truly respect the narrative arc of 1923 Lindy and Christy, one must recognize that for many, this isn't "period drama"—it's a family history. The scars shown on screen are reflections of real ones. The best way to honor that is to keep learning about the real-world counterparts to these fictionalized girls and to support the preservation of the cultures that the schools tried so hard to erase.