In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Christian churches collaborated with the government to create hundreds of boarding schools for Native American children. The conditions at these schools, some of them Quaker-run, were unspeakable. Although the wrongs committed at these institutions can never be made right, we can start the truth, healing, and reconciliation process for all of us.
The driving principle behind these boarding schools, rooted in white supremacy, was that Native children would be better served if they were stripped of their culture and forced to assimilate into white, Christian society. But this dark chapter in American history has largely been unacknowledged by the government—until now.
In June 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. Its primary goal is to investigate and document the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of these schools.
In Sept. 2021, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the U.S. Act (H.R. 5444/S. 2907) was introduced in Congress. If passed, the legislation would establish the first formal commission in U.S. history to investigate the human rights violations that were committed and make recommendations for further government action.
This reckoning must extend to the Quaker community, too. As chronicled in Friends Journal, Quakers managed a number of these schools, and conditions were brutal. As Lakota physician Charles Eastman said, recalling his experience at a Quaker school: “We youthful warriors were held up and harassed … until not a semblance of our native dignity and self-respect was left.”
We must acknowledge our complicity in the historic trauma of the boarding school era. Now is the time to work in solidarity with tribal nations, tribal organizations, and the broader faith community to advance congressional efforts to establish a truth, reconciliation, and healing process for all those affected.
Many Quaker organizations, meetings, and churches are sharing their concern around Indigenous justice and Indian boarding schools. FCNL is collecting and sharing these minutes, statements, and other resources from Quakers about the need for a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian boarding school policies.
If your organization, church, or meeting has approved a minute, statement, or resource on Indigenous justice and/or Indian boarding schools, please email it to Quakers@fcnl.org to include it in this collection.
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