TO: UUSA Members and Committed Friends

FROM: the UUSA Indigenous Awareness Circle

The UUSA Indigenous Awareness Circle is seeking input from the congregation regarding a proposal to support a federal bill to establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. If there is general support for this bill, we intend to ask the Board of Trustees to bring this to a vote of the congregation at the Annual Meeting. The Indigenous Awareness Circle recommends that we add the name of our congregation to the list of faith-based and other supporters of this bill and sign the attached resolution.

The history of the Indian Boarding Schools published by Heather Cox Richardson may be found here: Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American on November 29, 2024.

Please add your comments below or contact any of the sponsoring members of the UUSA Indigenous Awareness Circle to share your thoughts.

Sponsoring IAC Members: Rodger Mattlage (facilitator), John Gerber (secretary), Sarah Puckett, Jeff Clark, Polly Peterson, and Kate Dahlstedt

The following is a brief summary with relevant background on the proposed legislation.

The facts:

• The Federal Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act aims to address the historical and ongoing impacts of Indian boarding schools on Native communities.
• This legislation is historic and recognizes the importance of acknowledging the trauma and cultural loss experienced by Native children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities and sent to boarding schools.
• By supporting this legislation, we can take a step towards truth, justice, and healing with Native communities. It demonstrates a commitment to addressing the injustices of the past and working towards a better future.

• Most Americans are unaware that the United States established numerous policies that were meant to assimilate Native peoples into white society, which included assimilation through education systems. 
• S.1723/H.R. 7227 will establish a Truth and Healing Commission, which would provide a platform for survivors and their families to share their stories and experiences. NOTE: The bills’ numbers will be updated in the next legislative session.

• S.1723/H.R. 7227 also proposes the creation of a resource center to collect and preserve documents, records, and personal testimonies related to Indian boarding schools. 
• Institutions from many religious traditions currently support this S.1723/H.R. 7227. Unitarian Universalists are conspicuously absent in providing support. 
• The Montana Industrial School for Indians was established in 1886 by the American Unitarian Association (see below).

Montana Industrial School for Indians

The November 15, 1986, issue of UU World noted the hundred year anniversary of the founding of the Montana Industrial School for Indians, also known as Bond’s Mission, by the UUA.

The photo caption reads: The Montana Industrial School for Indians was established in 1886 by the American Unitarian Association. Founded by the Rev. Henry F. Bond and his wife Pamela, the school, also known as Bond’s Mission, was located on a Crow Indian reservation near Custer Station on the Big Horn River. Fifty Indian children at a time lived at the school, which taught farming, mechanics, and the domestic sciences. Students and faculty posed for this photograph in 1888. The school closed after a decade when the federal government withdrew the $108 per pupil annual subsidy. The buildings were sold to the government for one dollar…

FROM: https://www.uua.org/multiculturalism/racial-justice/dod/acting-locally/bonds-mission-montana 

==========================================================

Supplemental research describes the school as run by Unitarians on the Crow Indian Reservation near Custer Station, Montana, 1886–97. Documented as government funded in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Year 1895. The school was reported as closed after losing federal funding.

Source: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/digitalmap/ 

=========================================================

Additional information on the proposed legislation may be found at the

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition