From 1900 to present
Residential boarding schools were established in an effort to “kill the Indian and save the man”. These schools operated from 1819 through to 1969, and children were often forcibly taken from their families and placed in these schools. Boarding schools aimed to eradicate Native American language and culture by severing the bonds between children and their communities. Physical, sexual, and psychological abuse were rampant in these institutions, which were frequently sponsored by religious orders who believed American Indian people needed to be “saved” from their traditional culture. The Conestoga Susquehannock tribe has enrolled descendants from two such institutions, the Carlisle Indian school, and the Holy Providence School for Indians and Colored People.
The Carlisle Indian school operated within our historic homelands, and was notorious for its harsh treatment of Native children. Descendants of survivors of Carlisle are enrolled in the tribe today by lineal descent from John Skenandoah, a Conestoga-Susquehannock who was adopted by the Oneida Nation during the decline of our tribe. Our tribe also offers inter-tribal adoption to descendants of Carlisle survivors who are unable to enroll in their nation of origin, though to date, all enrollees who descend from Carlisle students are descendants of John Skenandoah, and therefore Conestoga-Susquehannock by blood.
While the story of Carlisle Indian school is well known, with many resources available that expand on the devastating impact it has had, the story of the Holy Providence School for Indians and Colored People is not often discussed. The school and orphanage was established in 1892, and operated until 1971. It was founded by Katharine Drexel, who created a new order called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. She added the following vow to the usual list of vows nuns take in joining their religious order:
“To be the mother and servant of the Indian and Negro races according to the rule of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; and not to undertake any work which would lead to the neglect or abandonment of the Indian and Colored races.”
The Holy Providence boarding school was the first official work the order undertook and it quickly grew, taking in children and raising them within the Catholic faith. Among our tribe today are descendants of the Benson family whose ancestor Catherine Benson was listed as an “inmate” of the school in the early 1900s. The living memory of these experiences, which sought to replace traditional culture with western religious law, is strong in our tribe, as there remain people in our tribe today who lived with family members who attended the school. As such, the relationships our people have with this institution and the religious order that founded it are deeply complex and highly personal, especially given the history of Conestoga Susquehannock erasure.