History of Native American Studies at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth's commitment to Native American Studies began with the founding of the College. Mohegan preacher Samson Occom raised funds for the College in Britain. The grant for the College, given in 1769 by King George III of England, highlighted Native American education as the purpose of the institution: "...for the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in the Land in reading, writing & all parts of Learning which shall appear necessary and expedient..." Unfortunately no more than 71 Indians attended in the years 1770-1865, and in the century between 1865 and 1965, only 28 Indians enrolled at Dartmouth.
Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP)
Harvard University's founding Charter of 1650 pledges Harvard to "the education of English and Indian youth." With the designation of its vibrant Native American Program as one of the University's twelve Interfaculty Initiatives, Harvard now rededicates itself to its founding pledge. The Harvard University Native American Program brings together resources, faculty, and students from across the University in a shared commitment to research, teaching, and outreach, advancing the well-being of indigenous peoples through self-determination, academic achievement, and community service.
Source: Harvard University website
Cradleboard Teaching Project
The Cradleboard Teaching Project turns on the lights in public education about Native American culture—past, present, and most important for the children—the Future. It comes out of Indian country, and reaches far beyond, into the mainstream classroom and into the future of education.
Backed by lesson plans and an excellent curriculum, the Cradleboard Teaching Project is also live and interactive, and totally unique; children learn with and through their long-distance peers using the new technology alongside standard tools, and delivering the truth to little kids with the help of several American Indian colleges. Cradleboard reaches both Indian and non-Indian children with positive realities, while they are young.
This is the way of the future when it comes to offering a cultural study unit to a child, because it's alive! This is the future when it comes to offering the cultural "real deal" to youngsters half a globe away, in time, we hope, to benefit the lives of Indian children who wonder "Who am I?...and who do others think I am?"
During the five years that Buffy Sainte-Marie spent as a semi-regular on "Sesame Street", it was always her hope to convey in the Native American episodes one message above all: Indians Exist. We are alive and real, and we have fun and friends and families and a whole lot to contribute to the rest of the world through our reality.
It's our hope at Cradleboard that we can joyfully replace the old inaccuracies, with reality, delivered by teams of experts; to the lifelong benefit of Indian children; and that every mainstream child will have access to an enriching Native studies unit provided by Indian people, including children of his or her own age.
Cradleboard (krad-l-bord) a frame, made of natural materials, used by North American Indians to carry a child. The cradleboard style varies from tribe to tribe. It is flexible in use, protective and decorative; a Native American invention much appreciated by other cultures who have adapted the idea to their own uses.
The Cradleboard Teaching Project is a project of the Nihewan Foundation for American Indian education, which was founded by Buffy Sainte-Marie in 1996 with a non-profit registration number of LA:E069-1-177. code 421 ED
Source: Cradleboard Teaching Project