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Summary |
| The Indian girls live and eat with the French girls, but for their instruction, they must have their own mistress, and sometimes more than one, depending on how many of them we have . . . | Indigenous girls live and eat with French girls, but they have different teachers. |
| As for the Indian girls, we take them at all ages. Sometimes it happens that some Indian—whether Christian or pagan—does what he shouldn’t and kidnaps a girl of this nation, keeping her in violation of God’s law. The girl is given to us, and we instruct her and keep her until the Reverend Fathers come to take her back. | The Indigenous girls come and go. Some were kidnapped by rival tribes or colonists. We take them in and care for them until the Jesuits can return them to their parents. |
| Others are like fleeting birds and stay here only until they are sad, which the Indian humor cannot tolerate. As soon as they are sad their relatives take them out lest they die. We give them liberty to do this, for they are rather won over in this way than by retaining them by force or prayers. | Some leave when their families come to get them. |
| Then the others who take off out of fancy or caprice. Like squirrels they climb our palisade, which is as high as a fortress wall, and go running into the woods. | Some run away. |
| Some persevere and these we raise as French girls. They are provided for and they do very well. One of them was given to Monsieur Boucher who has since become the Governor of Trois-Rivieres. Others return to their Indian relatives. They speak French well and know how to read and write. | Some finish their schooling and marry French colonists. |
Marie de l’Incarnation, Letter 235, August 9, 1668. In From Mother to Son, the Selected Letters of Marie de l’Incarnation to Claude Martin. Translated by Mary Dunn. (Oxford University Press, 2014), 201-203.
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Background
The Ursuline order of Catholic nuns was founded in 1553 in Brescia, Italy. Ursulines were dedicated to the education of young girls and providing care for the sick and needy.
The first Ursuline convent in New France was founded in Quebec City in 1639. It supported the mission of spiritually and culturally converting the Indigenous people who already lived in the lands France claimed as a colony. The nuns took in and taught Indigenous girls, converted them to Catholicism, then allowed them to return to their homes. The nuns believed that their young converts would teach Catholic doctrine and French culture to their communities, speeding up the process of converting all Indigenous communities in New France. Some Indigenous parents sent their daughters to the convents to protect them from the years of war, famine, and disease that accompanied the arrival of the French colonizers.
In the convent, Indigenous girls lived with the daughters of French colonists. All the girls learned to read, write, and do basic arithmetic. They also practiced needlework, embroidery, drawing, and other French domestic skills.
About the Document
Marie de l’Incarnation was the founder of the Ursuline convent in Quebec. She wrote many letters to her son back in France. Her letters provide an intimate glimpse into Marie’s life and beliefs, as well as a more general impression of life in the early years of New France. In these excerpts, Marie describes the work of educating the Indigenous girls of New France.
Marie’s letter is full of contradictions. For example, she says that the Indigenous girls she instructs are free to come and go, but also describes them climbing the walls to escape. The girl “given to” the governor of Trois-Rivieres became his wife, which Marie clearly believes was a great honor. But Marie’s word choice does not make it sound like the girl had much say in the matter. It is clear from this document that for all their education, the Indigenous girls were still viewed as lesser in the convent and the colony.
Vocabulary
- convent: The home of a community of nuns.
- convert: To change from one religion to another.
- doctrine: Set of beliefs held by a religious group.
- embroidery: The art of decorating fabric with designs created with a needle and thread.
- famine: Lack of food.
- mission: Trip organized to spread a religion and convert people.
- needlework: The art of sewing.
- nun: Woman who dedicates her life to serving the Catholic Church.
- Trois-Rivieres: The second permanent settlement in New France, founded in 1634.
- Ursuline Order: A community of nuns dedicated to caring for the sick and teaching girls.
Discussion Questions
- What does this document reveal about the French method of conquest in the New World?
- What does this document reveal about the lives of Indigenous girls in New France? What does it reveal about the way the French nuns felt about their Indigenous pupils?
- Why were young Indigenous girls an important factor in French colonization strategies?
- Why did Indigenous communities send their young girls into the care of the Ursuline nuns?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connection: 2.5 Interactions Between American Indians and Europeans
- Use this document to help students understand the many ways women were pivotal figures in the process of colonization in the Americas.
- Pair this resource with Life Story: Marie de l’Incarnation to learn more about the early years of the Ursulines in New France.
- Combine this document with Indigenous Women and Agricultural Innovation for a lesson about the different expectations of women in French and Indigenous societies.
- Teach this resource alongside Life Story: Marie Rouensa and Life Story: Kateri Tekakwitha to consider the impact of Catholic missionaries on Indigenous women.
- Combine this document with either of the following resources for a lesson on how women played important roles as mediators between Indigenous populations and colonists in every colonial empire:
- Explore the impacts of nuns in the American colonies by teaching this resource alongside any of the following:
Themes
DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY
