Quakers and Indigenous Boarding Schools (HC and SC)

What would right relationship among Native and non-Native peoples of North America look like? How can we begin to take steps in that direction in our communities, places of worship, schools, and other institutions?

The Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples (TRR) program promotes education, reflection, dialogue, and action in response to these queries.

We are a working group of North American Quakers seeking to learn and share the truth of the history that Quakers and Indigenous Peoples have lived through on this continent. We want to acknowledge the wounds resulting from this history for all peoples impacted, and to engage in actions that move toward justice and recognize the dignity of all.

This model minute was drafted and approved in 2022 by Decolonizing Quakers and Friends Peace Teams,
and also endorsed by Quaker Earthcare Witness, as a way of encouraging yearly meetings to be accountable for the Quaker Indigenous Board Schools. Many Yearly Meetings have adapted this minute.

NABS' mission is: "To lead in the pursuit of understanding and addressing the ongoing trauma created by the U.S. Indian Boarding School policy." They accomplish this through education, advocacy, and healing.

Throughout the nineteenth century, boarding schools were established to educate and assimilate American Indian children according to US cultural standards and values. These schools, predominantly run by Christian missionaries, were often funded by the federal government and worked to “civilize” Native American children, forcing many to abandon their names, cultures, and identities in the process. This collection of photos and documents shows what life was like for the many children enrolled in American Indian boarding schools.

The following is a list of resources relating to the history of Genoa and other Indian boarding schools. Our focus is on Genoa, but since the school was part of a system of boarding schools across the United States, and children were often shifted among various boarding schools, we also present resources related to other schools and the boarding school system. We have included a range of resource types, as well as those for a variety of audiences, so that researchers and learners of many backgrounds and at various levels may find materials of interest. Wherever possible, we strive to include resources by Native authors, artists, and creators, in order to present Native voices and perspectives on the boarding school experience.

From the National Archives: In addition to the Student Case Files, researchers can locate administrative records pertaining to American Indian schools at many National Archives facilities nationwide. These records can include correspondence, reports, school censuses, attendance records, and photographs created and maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), its field agencies, and non-reservation boarding schools.

In collaboration with the Catholic Accountability and Healing Project and the USCCB Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR) offers a series of leadership-centered webinars. These webinars are available freely on this site, along with other resources.