Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity resumes meeting this month with a two-part series on Wisconsin’s curriculum requirement on American Indian studies. Our next meeting is This Wednesday, August 16 at 6:30 pm. on Zoom. REGISTER HERE.
Twice in grades K-8 and once in grades 9 to 12, school boards are required to include in the social studies curriculum instruction in the history, culture, and tribal sovereignty of the federally recognized American Indian tribes and bands located in Wisconsin. A legislative study committee has introduced a bill this session (Assembly Bill 209/Senate Bill 198) that would require incorporating American Indian studies into the state model academic standards, and require the Department of Public Instruction to develop informational materials about the requirement for distribution to school boards, administrators, teachers, etc. It would also modify the related requirements for teaching licenses.
On Wednesday August 16, we will hear from Brian Ward, an educator and activist who lives in Teejope (occupied Ho-Chunk Land known as Madison, Wisconsin), and has lived and worked on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He has also worked with Indigenous people in Guatemala and Peru. His master’s thesis work focused on the representation of Indigenous people in K-12 classrooms with a look at the broader societal influence and the solutions states have attempted to remedy these issues. He contributed to the book 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed U.S. History and his writing focusing on Indigenous and environmental issues has appeared in The Nation, Truthout, New Politics, Science for the People, and more. See a list of Indigenous Education Resources from Brian here.
On Tuesday September 12, our presenter will be David O’Connor, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) in northern Wisconsin. In January 2012, he became the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). In David’s role at DPI, he supports school districts’ efforts to provide instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations and tribal communities, often referenced as Wisconsin Act 31, and the education of Native American students. (Additional information and the link to register will be sent later, before the Sept. 12 meeting.)
We hope to see you at both of these meetings!
