Irene McHenry writes: “We will have a unique program at our meetinghouse this Sunday, Nov 2, from 1:00 - 2:00pm (following community lunch). The program is designed as a participatory experience in understanding little known facts and perspectives on Native American history. It was created by Paula Palmer from Boulder, Colorado meeting, and she is traveling around the country offering this program to meetings and schools. I experienced the program at Friends General Conference this summer, and was so moved that I wanted to bring it to Chestnut Hill Friends. The Religious Education committee is sponsoring this. I hope that you can come to this special program, and I encourage you to bring friends.”

Toward Right Relationship Project Director, Paula Palmer, is a sociologist, writer, and activist for human rights, social justice, and environmental protection. As director of Toward Right Relationship, a project of the Indigenous Peoples Concerns committee of the Boulder Friends Meeting (Quakers), she created and facilitates workshops titled, “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Toward Right Relationship with America’s Native Peoples” (for adults) and “Re-Discovering America: Understanding Colonization” (for middle schools and high schools).

For 17 years, as executive director of the non-profit organization Global Response, Paula directed over 70 international campaigns to help Indigenous peoples and local communities defend their rights and prevent environmental destruction. In Costa Rica, where she lived for 20 years, she published five books of oral history in collaboration with Afro-Caribbean and Bribri Indigenous peoples, through a community empowerment process known as Participatory Action Research.

Paula is a recipient of the Elise Boulding Peacemaker of the Year Award (given by the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center), the Jack Gore Memorial Peace Award (given by the American Friends Service Committee), and the International Human Rights Award (given by the United Nations Association of Boulder County).

In the list at the bottom of this page are links to four helpful additional documents on some of the issues to be presented.