Amerind Free Online Talk: American Indian History and Public Education, with Julie Cajune (Salish)

Amerind Free Online Talk

American Indian History and Public Education

with Julie Cajune (Salish)

Saturday, December 2, 2023, 11:00 am (AZ time)

American Indians are a distinct minority in the United States for several reasons. First, they are the original people of this land, and second, they hold political status as tribal nations. Many Americans do not understand the political distinction of American Indian Tribes. If we recall our public-school years of social studies, we find scant content on American Indian nations or individuals.

This circumstance influenced Salish educator Julie Cajune throughout her career in public education and with her own tribal nation. One of her efforts to address this situation resulted in the book Our Way, A Parallel History.

Julie will discuss the importance of history education for a literate society and healthy democracy.

Julie Cajune (Salish)

Julie holds a master’s degree in education from Montana State University–Billings. After several years of classroom teaching on her home reservation, Julie began developing tribal history materials and curriculum and served as her Tribe’s Education Director. Julie has collaborated with Indigenous scholars, knowledge keepers, artists, and musicians, as well as elders and poets to produce materials in a variety of media including DVDs—Stories from a Nation Within, Art and Identity, Remembering the Songs, and Inside Anna’s Classroom— and children’s books—Gift of the Bitterroot and Huckleberries, Buttercups and Celebrations, and a variety of other publications Julie is a recipient of the national Milken Educator Award, the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award, and two Lifetime Achievement Awards. She continues her work to add Native voices to the master narrative of American history.

https://www.fulcrumbooks.com/product-page/our-way-a-parallel-history (attendees can use coupon code AMERIND25 for 25% off the book)

To register for this free online event, visit: https://bit.ly/AmerindOnline1222023

 

Amerind Free Online Talk: Arizona’s Creation Story: Treaties and Executive Orders Regarding Native Nations and the Arizona Territory from 1846-1912 with Millicent Michelle Pepion, PhD

Amerind Free Online Lecture

Arizona’s Creation Story: Important Treaties and Executive Orders Regarding Native Nations and the Arizona Territory from 1846-1912

with Millicent Michelle Pepion, PhD

Saturday, October 28, 2023, 11:00 am – Arizona Time

 Navajo elders say we exist in the “Fourth World,” the glittering world. In this world, we were given all of the support we needed to sustain life within the boundaries of four sacred mountains. For the Mojave people of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, life began with Mvto at Spirit Mountain. For O’odham peoples, whose traditional territory covered much of southern Arizona and northern Mexico, the epicenter of life lies in the Baboquivari Mountains where, in a cave at the base, resides their Creator, I’itoi. As for the Havasu Baaja, the People of the Blue Green Waters, what is now considered the Grand Canyon National Park also served as the womb for their people’s existence. This talk will focus on the creation stories of these four nations in comparison to the Creation Story of the State of Arizona. Much of the history shared involves the transfer of ownership from Mexico by way of the Gadsden Purchase, along with agreements, treaties, and Executive Orders signed between the Navajo, Mohave, O’odham, and Havasupai peoples, and what we now consider early Arizona pioneers such as Kit Karson, Charles Poston, Jedidiah Smith, and Rutherford B. Hayes, all which played a part in the creation of America’s last contiguous state signed into the Union.

Dr. Millicent Michelle Pepion is Bitter Water Clan born for the Blackfeet Nation. She currently resides in Tucson where she earned a Ph.D. in American Indian Studies from The University of Arizona. Her dissertation research draws connections between U.S. Census data for Native populations and Native Voter Suppression in Arizona. Dr. Pepion’s survey included an overview of all 22 Native Nations in Arizona in comparison to county and state statistics regarding history, land, law, and representation. However, her expertise does not end there. Through various work, Dr. Pepion has developed courses, workshops and presentations that span topics such as Federal Indian Law and Policy, Sovereignty, Native and Western Views on Philosophy, Protection of Sacred Places, Introduction to Navajo Literacy and Culture, Positive Indian Parenting, Traditional Indian Medicine, Indigenous Methodologies, and Writing in Two Worlds. Other degrees include: A.A. in Liberal Arts (Haskell Indian Nations University, 2012), B.S. in Liberal Studies (Arizona State University, 2014), and M.S. in Family and Human Development (Arizona State University, 2016). Dr. Pepion is a 2012 Clinton Global Initiative University Commitment Maker and the recipient of the Cal Seciwa Memorial Scholarship (ASU, 2015), the Heard Museum Eagle Spirit Award (ASU, 2016), and the Margaret Susseman Memorial Scholarship (UA, 2017-2020).

To register for this free online event, visit: https://bit.ly/AmerindOnline10282023