The History of Native American Education

Education about Indigenous tribal history in the United States has been taught from the perspective of white history. This diminishes the atrocities that Native American people experienced both at the hands of early European settlers and the U.S. government. Although a major event such as the Trail of Tears is taught fairly often throughout a student’s educational career, there is so much more that is left out in schools. This in itself is a disservice. Working towards achieving equitable education for all is to prevent the erasure of Indigenous Tribal history and to ensure educational opportunities for children in K-12 schools. Through abolitionist and anti-bias/anti-racist teaching, can we start to make changes within our schools and classrooms. Younger students can first start to learn about the tribes that lived on the land before cities, towns, and even their schools were built. Older students can conduct research projects to broaden their knowledge of the injustices that Native American people faced and continue to experience. We hope that this timeline and the information provided acts as a guide and a jumping-off point for ways to include both a broader historical perspective as well as ways to bring in Native American history into your classrooms.