The Illinois-Wisconsin Friends Committee for American Indians (I-WFCAI), one of many Quaker organizations established for the benefit of the American Indian, was made a standing committee of the Illinois Yearly Meeting of Friends in 1959.
The Society of Friends has been concerned with improving the status of the American Indian since 1795, believing that to acquire effective influence over the Indian one must first improve the personal and domestic situation of the Indian. Because of the obvious success of their efforts, a request was made by the Grant Administration to the Society of Friends for individuals among them to act as Indian agents. Subsequently, the Quaker program for the welfare of the Indian and other disadvantaged groups proliferated.
The American Friends Service Committee (A.F.S.C.) was established in 1917 to provide an alternative for conscientious objectors through war relief work. It is a non-profit relief agency designed to extend the Friends “ministry of reconciliation” toward situations associated with tension and conflict. As an agency supported by tax-exempt funds, the AFSC is prohibited from attempting to influence legislation; the Friends Committee on Legislation (FCL) was established in 1943 to fulfill that function.
The initial impetus for the I-WFCAI developed out of a request to the 1958 session of the Illinois Yearly Meeting by Mrs. Christine Webster, a Menominee Indian, for help for the Menominees in adjusting to the termination of their federal trust status. At the suggestion of the Illinois Yearly Meeting, the AFSC and the FCL appointed a committee to study the Menominee Indian situation. This group found Wisconsin State legislation, designed to assist the Menominees after federal termination, to be in the best interest of the individual Indian, and, therefore, requested the FCL to work toward passage of the appropriate bills. The needed legislation was passed in 1959, but the study committee was continued as the Illinois-Wisconsin Friends Committee for American Indians.
