Native Boarding Schools

In 2021, the bodies of nine Native American children who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School were returned home, more than 100 years after U.S. government policies forcibly separated them from their families and communities. These children were members of the Rosebud Sioux (Sicangu Lakota) Nation in South Dakota.

FCNL welcomed the re-reintroduction of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies in the U.S. Act.

In this video, Paula discusses Friends’ role in the traumas inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America since the arrival of European colonists—particularly in the administration of boarding schools where Native children were forced to abandon their heritage and embrace the ways of White Christian culture, where they would never be truly accepted as equals.

As a Quaker, I find it painful to face our history of participation in these schools. But we cannot live our faith with integrity if we do not.

From the early 1800s through the 1960s, Christian churches collaborated with the government to create hundreds of boarding schools for Native American children. The conditions at these institutions were horrific—yet, the federal government has never conducted a full exploration of the harms and impacts of this federal policy.

Quakers and friends in the FCNL community have been closely following the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act. With a deep concern for the need to advance justice, accountability, and healing for the atrocities of the Indian boarding school era, our network has faithfully uplifted this legislation through intergenerational advocacy.

FCNL welcomed the re-reintroduction of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies in the U.S. Act.

In recent months, the FCNL community has mobilized around the country for indigenous justice in solidarity with tribes advocating for the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act (S. 2907/H.R. 5444).