Despite one in 25 students in Washington identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN), many Indigenous students and families feel disconnected from the education system. Native students rarely see their identities, cultures, or histories reflected in established curricula. Further, traditional curricula often reinforce settler-colonial…

Native students thrive when supported by a proactive network that nurtures positive identity development, affirms Indigenous heritage, and recognizes their diverse strengths. Active family engagement is crucial for fostering a sense of belonging in school, which evidence shows is foundational to academic success. This resource is intended to help…

This report was written in compliance with Senate Bill 5437 Section 6, to explore the development of a Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) Tribal Pathway that meets the needs of Tribal Sovereign Nations in providing ECEAP in their communities and decreasing the opportunity gap…

Imagine a public K-12 school system where Native students and communities can thrive. The Washington Tribal Education Sovereignty then Justice Toolkit is designed to support Tribal leaders engaging in consultation and government-to-government communication with local and state education agencies. The toolkit includes: Part 1: Applying educational…

Just two years after losing her Danish father, Coast Salish mother, and metis sisters to an undocumented tragedy in 1877, Nora Jewell faced another tragic ordeal. The twelve-year-old cleared fields and mended fences for James Smith, a guardian appointed by the court to protect her body and estate until she reached eighteen or married. As Nora…

Visitors to the Yakama Indian Reservation in south-central Washington State can't help but notice Mount Adams. Known as Patu, or snowtopped mountain, and Xwayama, or golden eagle, in the Sahaptin language of the Columbia Plateau, the 12,276-foot peak stretches more than a mile above the forested ridges of the Cascade Range. Images of the mountain…

The recent bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's "Corps of Discovery" created increased interest in commemorations of this event along the entire course of the expedition's travels. In advance of the bicentennial, a number of states established Lewis and Clark commemorative commissions, museums at both national and local levels planned…

This qualitative textual analysis investigates the ideological lenses through which U.S. History content standards for grades 5-12 for Arizona and Washington frame interactions between American Indians and European Americans during U.S. national development. The study's multiperspective critical conceptual framework interrogates the standards not…

In this comprehensive effort to study Indian education policies, the report categorizes the policies of five Northwest Region states based on 13 key policies identified in the literature and describes the legal methods used to adopt them, such as statutes, regulations, and executive orders. The study found that six of the key policies had been…

In this paper, the author describes historic Coast Salish ritual practices and the concepts regarding wrongdoing and redemption that underlie them. He draws out the implications, particularly the associated dangers, derived from these existing rituals for ritual work conducted by outsiders engaging Coast Salish peoples. Finally, he considers the…

This narrative describes the author's visit to Washington DC to attend the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). As a member of the Chickasaw, the author pondered what he would find in the museum that would represent the Chickasaw Nation. Would the museum reflect his people in all their diversity? Would he see something of…

Traces the symbols, perceptions, and experiences that guided the Snoqualmie tribe in maintaining its cultural identity system from 1855 to the present. Discusses adaptation from subsistence to a modern commercial economy; tribal government; and the merging of traditional and Christian symbols and beliefs to form the Indian Shaker Church. (SV)

Traces the efforts of seven landless tribes in western Washington to maintain their tribal identity, establish their treaty rights in court, secure allotments of land, and achieve federal recognition of their tribal status. The absence of trust land holdings among these tribes is the federal government's justification for nonrecognition. (SV)

"Dressed in their finest traditional garb--and chatting on cell phones-- the procession of Native Americans is one of the most fascinating and touching events of the Indian Museum?s opening day," asserted an anonymous copywriter in a lead-in to a Washington Post article on September 22, 2004. This single sentence captured some of the…

This essay quantifies the rise and development of agriculture on the Nez Perce reservation and the surrounding watershed. Included in this study is an analysis of Nez Perce pre-contact economy, society, and environment and how the Nez Perces continue to operate from a collective and communal past. Social power and cultural scale provide a…