Truth and Healing: reporter visits St. Rose archives

Mary Annette Pember, a journalist with Indian Country Today who also authored the article in The Atlantic titled "The traumatic legacy of Indian boarding schools," visited St. Rose Convent in March 2022. Mary Annette's mother was a student at the FSPA-run St. Mary's Indian Boarding School and her visit to St. Rose included time in the archives.

"The Mother House may be one of the most unlikely spaces to encounter a stunning example of Native resistance to U.S. assimilationist policies. But there it was, hidden in an old report languishing deep within the recesses of the sisters’ archives." 

Read "Perspective: Archived documents reveal covert resistance to boarding school assimilation." Mary Annette also wrote this piece re: report on federal Indian boarding schools due out in April 2022. Read "Report on Federal Indian Boarding Schools due.

About FSPA's Truth and Healing work

As we study more deeply our own history and impact at St. Mary’s Boarding School in Odanah, Wisconsin, from 1883 to 1969, we recognize that the work cannot wait any longer. As members of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, we’re proactively working with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer in Odanah to learn how we can contribute our archival records to both the tribe and NABS’ online database resources center. Our hope is that as we listen to the painful and tragic experiences of Indigenous communities and take responsibility for the role we played, we can take action in dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy in ourselves and our areas of influence.