Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School, Wikimedia Commons
Please read this description in full, then use the link at the bottom of the page to get involved.
Purpose
This initiative is intended to organize Lutherans for truth-seeking and truth-telling about Lutheran and broader Christian involvement in Indian boarding schools in the United States and their impact on Native peoples.
Scope
In September 2022 we launched the work with an initial 15 synods across four midwestern states. In May 2023 efforts expanded to 27 synods across ten more midwestern states, which cover all of ELCA Regions 3, 5, and 6. In 2026 we will expand to all ELCA synods across all 65 synods.
Vision
A nationwide network of ELCA members who . . .
- Commit to and carry out research to identify Indian boarding schools and day schools operated or supported by Lutherans (approx. 1820-1970).
- Dedicate time to locate, organize, inventory, and digitize all known Indian boarding school records held by the ELCA and affiliated institutions; with the intention to make them available to impacted survivors, descendants, Tribal Nations, and others.
- Participate in an ongoing truth and healing process for both Native peoples and White ELCA Lutherans.
. . . with the goal being that members throughout the ELCA will know and claim our complicity in the history of church-sponsored Indian boarding schools and the deliberate and devastating impacts on Native people and their communities that the schools created, then and now.
Why this process matters
- Many white Christians, including Lutherans, participated in the physical and cultural genocide of Native peoples in the U.S., settling on stolen Indian land and actively supporting Indian boarding and day schools that deliberately stripped Native children of their language, culture, and family/community ties.
- Most white people don’t know that they need to heal. White people carry a type of perpetrator trauma that often leads to shock, disbelief, denial, and blocking of the truth-telling necessary for healing.
- Many Native people experienced verbal, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of staff at Indian boarding schools. Some children died or were murdered at these schools.
- The terrible legacy of Indian boarding schools lingers in the bodies and minds of direct survivors and their descendants. They suffer tremendous trauma that impacts their well-being — spiritual, economic, and more.
- Native people deserve to heal. Truth is one piece that allows healing to happen.
Why now?
- More than 200 unmarked graves containing children’s bodies were found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada in 2021 (see New York Times article). With this news, the white public’s awareness of the existence and impact of Indian boarding schools has risen sharply over the past few years. We in the ELCA are asking ourselves: What was our involvement here in the United States? What can we do about it?
- Federal legislation moving through Congress would establish a truth and healing commission on Indian boarding school policies in the U.S. Optimistic that this legislation will become law in the near future, we must anticipate that churches will be asked or required to produce information about our involvement in Indian boarding schools. We want to begin that research now so that we can promptly provide crucial information to this commission. (See complete legislation or a summary.)
What we’re doing
- Education — There is much to learn about the history of Indian boarding schools in the United States and their devastating impact on Native American peoples and communities. We will provide reading materials, videos, online events, and critical discussion in our ongoing process of understanding.
- Research — We will work to identify primary and secondary sources of information about Lutherans involved with Indian boarding schools. We will collect information and strive to make meaning of what we find. And we will share our findings with the impacted Native tribes, the church, and the federal government.
What we’ve done
- Identified one Indian boarding school in Wittenburg, Wisconsin, operated by Lutherans (ELCA predecessors) with federal funding. The ELCA holds extensive archival materials and is in the process of digitizing and adding metadata labels to all items.
- Identified several other boarding and day schools that Lutherans operated. The research about these schools is in early phases.
- Engaged many lay and clergy people in quarterly gatherings, online book/film discussions, research, and education efforts.
- Created an extensive Learning Toolkit and other resources for education about Indian boarding schools in congregations, synods, educational institutions, and other contexts. Initiative participants are now facilitating sessions in their various contexts.
- Presented in several webinars about the work and findings to date.
Getting involved
We have need for skills in research, data collection, education, organizing, leadership, and more – all backgrounds and experiences are welcome. For more information or to express interest in participating, please fill out an interest form. We will contact you within a few weeks.
ELCA Indian Boarding School Initiative - Interest Form
Click here to fill out the form
