The United States has never acknowledged the historic trauma and pain of the Indian boarding school era—a dark chapter in our history full of terror and cultural genocide against Native children, families, and their communities.
To address this, more than 300 young adults from all over the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for the annual Spring Lobby Weekend, March 16-19, 2024. With the leadership of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, they lobbied for the passage of The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227/S. 1723).
Their lobbying resulted in immediate co-sponsorships for the bill. By early June, it was passed out of committee, setting the stage for a floor vote in the House. The Senate companion bill was heard a year ago, and now heads to the full Senate for a vote in the coming weeks.
“Our network played a critical role in this positive outcome,” said Rachel Overstreet (Choctaw Nation), FCNL’s legislative representative for Native American advocacy. “Together with our partners, we continue to work with legislators to ensure the passage of this important measure for healing and truth for Native communities.”
From the early 1800s through the 1960s, Christian churches collaborated with the federal government to create some 408 boarding schools in 37 states or territories. Each school was intent on stripping Native children of their Indigenous identities, beliefs, and languages.
Quakers ran 30 of these boarding schools, and they have only recently begun to come to terms with their role in running them.
“When we say, ‘boarding schools,’ most people think privilege, polo shirts, horses. Boarding schools are elite. Boarding schools are the top,” said Theresa Sheldon (Tulalip Nations), director of policy and advocacy for The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, in addressing the Spring Lobby Weekend participants. “Most just don’t know the history of boarding schools. They don’t realize that even though boarding schools closed, the stealing of native children continued. All of this was legal. This was all legal by federal law.”
She said that the federal government is primarily responsible because it ran, funded, and orchestrated these schools.
By the early 1990s, due in part to the 1978 passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act, many of the largest schools had closed. Those that remain are overseen by tribal nations. Enrollment, believed to be as high as 60,000 students in the 1970s, was as low as 9,500 by 2007.
The truth of what happened at these boarding schools needs to be known, preserved, and shared.
But closing the schools was only the first step. The truth of what happened at these boarding schools needs to be known, preserved, and shared. The Department of the Interior is currently leading an investigation into boarding schools. But its authority is limited.
The National Congress of American Indians, The Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, and other tribal nations began working to establish a federal commission to formally investigate Indian boarding school policies. The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act is the main legislative vehicle for this.
Once passed by Congress, the commission will also examine the assimilation practices, and human rights violations against Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
Its final report to Congress will contain recommendations on how to work towards healing for survivors, families, and Indigenous populations.
Advocates for the bill stress that the commission must have the authority—such as subpoena power—to access records organizations have not voluntarily disclosed to facilitate the atonement and healing process central to this legislation.
Faith communities, including Quakers, are filling in the gap and beginning to acknowledge their complicity in the pain and harms of the shameful Indian boarding school era.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation would like to especially thank the following guests for addressing Spring Lobby Weekend: Deborah Parker (Tulalip/Yaqui/Apache), CEO of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska), executive director of the National Congress of American Indians; and Theresa Sheldon.
