A Conversation with Jamiann S’eiltin Hasselquist
In an interview with the editor of our newsletter, Jamiann describes how her family history intersected with the history of natives in Alaska, including atrocities by Americans, Russians and others. She also speaks of her family members’ fight for survival and cultural recognition. Read the interview here.
Background information on Quakers in Alaska
Quaker missions in Alaska began in the 1880s. Oregon Yearly Meeting, now Northwest Yearly Meeting, helped support a Friends church, orphanage, and day school on Douglas Island. Douglas and nearby Juneau in southeast Alaska are on the land of the Tlingit.
Friends also ran the government day school in Kake for about thirty years. California Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to the Kotzebue Sound area beginning in 1897, on the land of the Iñupiat. They founded Friends churches and worked with the Bureau of Indian Education to establish three day schools. Quakers had extensive boarding schools in the Lower 48 as well. They were influential in the movement to remove Native children from their culture, communities, and families, often using force.
Alaska Yearly Meeting, now part of Evangelical Friends Church International, has twelve member churches, largely in the Kotzebue area. Many members are Iñupiat, one of the Inuit Peoples.
Alaska Friends Conference is a yearly meeting of seven unprogrammed Friends meetings in central and southeast Alaska. AFC belongs to Friends General Conference. Most members are white.
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is the first and only national organization whose purpose is to advocate on behalf of Native peoples impacted by US Indian boarding school policies. NABS seeks truth through education and research, justice through activism and policy advocacy, and healing through programs and traditional gatherings. Jim LaBelle (Iñupiaq), who spoke at the SCYMF 2023 annual sessions, serves on its board of directors.
You can get involved and learn more here.
The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) has been working with members of Congress to reintroduce and pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. The Act would establish a federal commission to conduct a full inquiry into the assimilative policies of US Indian boarding schools.
Whether you are an or represent a Tribe, organization, or group, you can use tools provided by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition to advocate for the bill’s passage in Congress.
Learn more and take action here.
Epistle from the 2023 annual sessions
Traditionally, Quakers write letters "To Friends Everywhere" as a record of their experiences at annual sessions or other gatherings. You can read the 2023 annual sessions epistle here.
The epistle from our Youth Yearly Meeting is here.
Mark Pratt-Russum’s sermon
Mark Pratt-Russum is the released minister (aka pastor) of West Hills Friends Church. His sermon at West Hills Friends on the Sunday following the 2023 annual sessions describes the experience of listening to the Native Alaskan speakers at the plenary.
A Conversation with Jan Bronson
The SCYMF newsletter published an interview with Jan Bronson. Jan is a white woman who is former clerk of Alaska Friends Conference and a co-clerk of Alaskan Quakers Seeking Right Relationship with Indigenous People. The interview was offered to help the SCYMF community learn from Jan’s experience of healing and transformation with the First Alaskans Institute, and to help us prepare to hear the stories told by our Alaska Native guests.
Background information on Quakers in Alaska
Quaker missions in Alaska began in the 1880s. Oregon Yearly Meeting, now Northwest Yearly Meeting, helped support a Friends church, orphanage, and day school on Douglas Island. Douglas and nearby Juneau in southeast Alaska are on the land of the Tlingit.
Friends also ran the government day school in Kake for about thirty years. California Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to the Kotzebue Sound area beginning in 1897, on the land of the Iñupiat. They founded Friends churches and worked with the Bureau of Indian Education to establish three day schools. Quakers had extensive boarding schools in the Lower 48 as well, and they were influential in the movement to remove Native children from their culture, communities, and families, often using force.
Alaska Yearly Meeting, now part of Evangelical Friends Church International, has twelve member churches, largely in the Kotzebue area. Many members are Iñupiat, one of the Inuit Peoples.
Alaska Friends Conference is a yearly meeting of seven unprogrammed Friends meetings in central and southeast Alaska. AFC belongs to Friends General Conference. Most members are white.
Recommended resources
Presenter Jamiann S’eiltin Hasselquist (Tlingít, Deisheetaan Clan, Raven's Bones House) asked Friends to view the following resources:
CDC opioid awareness campaign. Alaska Natives are heavily affected by the opioid overdose epidemic. Stories of Alaska Natives bring to light how their cultures helped with their recovery.
Remembering the 215 Indigenous Children in Unmarked Graves at Canadian Residential School.
Locals in Juneau mourn the 215 Indigenous Children in Unmarked Graves.
A family bio of Mary Moon Orsen. Mary Moon Orsen was adopted by Quaker missionaries who sent her to Carlisle Institute, a boarding school in Pennsylvania.
Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. Mary Moon Orsen was one of the founders of this organization.
ANCSA Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 1971 (Youtube video).
In Utero: It's Where We All Began is a video to learn more about DNA and epigenetics. A review is here.
Right Relations with Indigenous Peoples:
Resources from Sierra-Cascades 2023 annual sessions
A focus of our 2023 annual sessions was the plenary session with three Alaska Native guests. All generously told us their stories of trauma at the hands of boarding schools. Cathy Walling and Jan Bronson of Alaska Friends Conference introduced the speakers:
Jamiann S’eiltin Hasselquist (Tlingít) educated us about the root of her People’s oppression: the Doctrine of Discovery, which is ultimately a failure to see all people of color as fully human. Jamiann shared her journey of seeking and finding her cultural and personal history. She ended her presentation with a list for us of possible actions of reparation and repair.
Jim LaBelle (Iñupiaq), who serves on the board of directors for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and whose mother was an Iñupiaq Quaker, described in detail the dehumanizing experiences he suffered at a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. He had a long journey as an adult to be reintroduced to his culture and has spent decades working to pass that cultural knowledge on to future generations.
Susan LaBelle (Suqpiaq) spoke with us about a boarding school experience where her family relationships were treated as unimportant. Susan went on to become a fierce advocate for keeping Native children with their families and communities. Her organization helped parents and other relatives take the steps necessary to regain custody of their children. She is a retired professor from the University of Alaska School of Social Work.
This video was not filmed on professional equipment We make it available here for people who want to learn from and reflect upon it.
