Native American and Indigenous Community
Celebrating Recent Events
The second-largest event of its kind in the Northeast, Dartmouth’s 54th Annual Powwow was on Saturday, May 9.
Students discuss the process of planning the Dartmouth lūʽau in anticipation of the Sunday, May 10 event.
Forgotten Founder: The Untold Story of Samson Occom and Dartmouth had its campus premiere on Friday, May 8.
“None of us can change the past, but we can all decide where we’re going to go in the future, and how this story continues.”
SARAH HARRIS ’00, VICE CHAIR OF THE MOHEGAN TRIBAL COUNCIL
Leadership: Dialogue, representation, and strategic direction
The presidential advisory committee, which is made up of Native and non-Native alumni, has advised Dartmouth leadership on Native American affairs since 1972.
Participants in the Tribal Leadership Academy discuss their week at Dartmouth, which features sessions addressing strategies to enhance the political integrity, economic security, health and welfare of the tribal nations of this country.
The conference brought 150 Ivy League Native and Indigenous students to Dartmouth.
Community: Honoring history and creating supportive spaces
Project HEAL, part of Geisel School of Medicine’s chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, unveiled a new work of art by Mateo Tlakuilkoatl Silva ’26 honoring the Abenaki people of the Upper Valley.
Members of Native Americans at Dartmouth created “Every Child Matters” T-shirts and handed out orange ribbons to mark Orange Shirt Day.
A Dartmouth delegation repatriated Samson Occom’s papers to his Mohegan homeland in Connecticut.
Since 1972, the Native American House has been the heart of the Native community at Dartmouth. Known as the Native American Cultural Center, the NAD House, or the NAH throughout the years, many call it a home-away-from-home.
A vibrant series of community programs for Indigenous Peoples’ Day led by the Native American Program honored the cultural traditions and contributions of Indigenous students at Dartmouth.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, met with faculty, students, and staff during a visit in 2024.
A Vibrant Present: Sharing culture through the arts
The We Are Water: A Northeast Celebration concert that marked the reopening of the Hopkins Center for the Arts also celebrated the historic role of the Connecticut River.
Navajo master weavers led a four-day workshop at Dartmouth for students, faculty, and staff.
Photographer Cara Romero tells stories about the beauty and resilience of contemporary Indigenous life.
Mariah Eli Hernandez-Fitch ’23 made the nonfiction film Ekbeh for her senior thesis.
Students walk the runway in the annual celebration of Indigenous fashion, creativity, expression, and design
Hood Museum curators use “Artist Once Known” label to acknowledge their identity and stature.
Prominent Voices
We are reminded within the story of Occom and Wheelock that Dartmouth would not exist without the work of an Indigenous educator, Samson Occom. When we obscure it, we lose a crucial opportunity to remind ourselves of where we come from, who we could be as a community, and how we learn from our past in order to do better.
We have to be open in dialogue —a dialogue that everyone needs to participate in. It’s human to disagree, and it’s human to make light of difficult issues; I think Indigenous communities are just particularly great at it because of our culture, our humor, and our histories.
We are charting a new vision at Dartmouth for the next 50 years of engagement with tribal communities. In addition to recruiting and educating Native students, we are adding the additional layer of engagement with the communities that these young people come from.
Scholarship: Scholar-teachers, student excellence, and alumni achievement
The internships and scholarships are intended to strengthen Native nations.
Heid Erdrich ’86 brought prominent Native American alumnae to speak in her class.
A new Dartmouth-led study provides evidence of intensive farming by ancestral Native Americans at an archaeological site along the Menominee River in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula.
In 2023, the Samson Occom Professor and chair of Native American and Indigenous Studies, delivered the honorary degree lecture and received an honorary degree from Vermont Law and Graduate School in South Royalton, Vt., in recognition of his commitment to Indigenous rights.
Chase Kamikawa ’26 and Mahina Damon ’26, spent three weeks in AotearoaNew Zealand as research assistants collaborating with several Indigenous-led research centers.
Researchers propose best practices for the governance of Indigenous data.