The Second NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION CONFERENCE August 26-27-28, 1970

With the 2006 Anchorage Alaska convention of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) approaching in October the Second National Indian Education Conference held at the Leamington Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota is a reminder of where we have been these past 36 years in Indian education. Technically the second national conference is the first conference of the National Indian Education Association as an organization so the 1970 conference was the NIEA conference and convention. In the time between the first and second national conference NIEA was incorporated and embarked following the publication of the Kennedy Mondale Report of the Senate Sub Committee on Indian Education embark on significant effort to conceive and lobby for the passage of what became the Indian Education Act of 1972.

Bill Demmert in reflecing upon that time writes "The single most important role that the NIEA engaged itself in early in its history was in providing leadership and support for developing and implementing the Indian Education Act of 1972. Will Antell (president of NIEA at the time) and William Demmert (a graduate student at Harvard during this period, a founder and member of the Board of NIEA) were engaged by the U.S. Senate (Senators Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy) to work on the Indian Education Act of 1972. William Demmert later became the first Deputy Commissioner of Indian Education, in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, U.S. Office of Education, and Will Antell became the first chairman of the presidentially appointed National Advisory Council for Indian Education (NACIE). Both positions were created under this new legislation." http://www.nwrel.org/indianed/cbe/

The second conference reflected significant energy to create the organization and focus on the policy issues related to the education of American Indians at the time. We have not moved to far beyond these original ideas and thoughts ideas that focused on the need for a conference planned by “Indian people and for Indian people” and Indian culture and values as a central concern” The preamble to the conference program is as follows
“The success of the first National Indian Education Con­ference indicates that the Indian people stand firmly behind an effort to attack the problems of Indian education on a national level. Because a major concern is the development and maintenance of forceful leadership from within, the second National Indian Education Conference again has been planned by Indian people for Indian people. Because Indian cultures and values emerged last year as a dominant concern, these have been designated as the conference theme and will be stressed in each of the workshops.

In addition, four critical issues have been selected for in-depth study for the morning workshops. The themes of these workshops are (1) Theories and Ideas Pertaining to Indian Education; (2) Curriculum - The Need for Revision and Increased Sensitivity; (3) National Priorities Facing In­dian Education; and (4) Methods of Teaching Indian Children - Urban and Rural. Each of these intensive work­shops will meet for a total of eight hours over three sessions. This format will provide an opportunity for parti­cipants to pursue exhaustively these vital educational issues. Sessions will provide the greatest impact for those who participate in a single continuing workshop for the three days. Twelve additional workshops covering a broad range of topics are scheduled for the afternoon.

The second National Indian Education Conference has be­come a broad effort to provide all Indians a more articulate-voice in the improved education and opportunities of the people. A parallel effort to recruit members for the National Indian Education Association will be instigated during the Conference. Concerned Indian people, with the education of their children as their main focus, are invited to apply for membership. Associate memberships are avail­able for non-Indians interested in, concerned with, and working for Indian education.”

The second National Indian Education Conference was designed to promote: 1. Common bonds among those concerned with Indian education.2. Opportunities for Indian Americans across the nation to share their ideas about Indian education.3. Sound and feasible solutions to the existing edu­cational deficiencies among Indian Americans.

The presenters represent a who’s who of the significant Indian leadership and thinkers of the time and included along with their descriptions as they were in 1970
Dan Honahni, Hopi, formerly Director of the Liai­son Network of Project Necessities and currently Vice President of the National Indian Education Advisory Committee and graduate student at Harvard University will chair this workshop. Robert E. Powless, Oneida, director of PROJECT PRIDE at Stevens Point, Wisconsin State University, is the chairman for this session. Jerry Buckanaga, Chippewa, princi­pal of the Pine Point Experimental School in Min­nesota; Donald D. Ross, Brule Sioux, Director of Indian Programs and Studies, Huron College, Huron, South Dakota; Ada Deer, a Menomonie from Wisconsin, Director of Upward Bound at Stevens Point, Wisconsin State University; John Borbridge, Jr., Haida-Tlingit and President of the Central Council of the Tlingits and Haidas of Alaska; Dillon Platero, a Navajo educator and director of the Rough Rock Demonstration School; Dr. Roger Buffalohead, Ponca, acting chairman of the University of Minne­sota Department of American Indian studies;
William Demmert, Jr., Tlingit, a graduate student at Harvard University, a former administrator of the Klawock School District in Klawock, Alaska; Samuel Billison, doc­toral candidate at the University of Arizona at Tucson; Eugene Sekaquaptewa, instructor at the Indian Education Center at Arizona State Univer­sity; Eben Hopson, Executive Director, Alaska Federa­tion of Natives and Member of the Board of Trus­tees of Sheldon College, Sitka, Alaska; Bud Mason, Arikara-Mandan, chairman of the National Indian Students’ Associ­ation; Russell Means, a Sioux, Execu­tive Director of the American Indian Center, Cleve­land, Ohio; Clyde Bellecourt Chippewa, American Indian Movement, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dennis Banks, Chippewa, American Indian Movement, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lehman Brightman, Sioux, who is Director of the Department of Indian Studies, University of California at Berkeley; Ned A. Natathli, President of Navajo Community College in Many Farms, Arizona; Bea Medicine, Sioux, Standing Rock, assistant professor of anthro­pology at San Francisco State College.

(End of part I of the August 11, 2006 edition of Big River News part II will focus on the ideas and views expressed in Workshops at the second national conference on Indian Education.)