Honoring Tribal Legacies Moves to the National Indian Education Association

From the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail's 2021 Annual Report, by Tom Smith, education specialist.

2021 was a banner year for Honoring Tribal Legacies. Developed after the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, the program grew into a two-volume handbook, primary source materials and 21 units of K–12 curriculum. Created with the University of Oregon, the units span every subject and show how to bring Indigenous perspectives into the classroom.

A new home

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is passing the program to the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), which can expand it to include tribes and perspectives from all 50 states and territories and keep building inclusive curriculum. The handover was celebrated in October at the NIEA's annual convention in Omaha, Nebraska, where the board, staff and attendees heard from many of the program's designers and advocates. Speakers included Dick Basch (Clatsop/Nehalem), the trail's former tribal liaison, and Superintendent Mark Weekley, and the trail presented gift blankets, made possible by the Lewis and Clark Trust.

Timeline

← Interagency agreement with the Library of Congress · Trail spending and projects, 2021 →

Sources

Based on "New Beginnings for Honoring Tribal Legacies," by Tom Smith, part of the Lewis and Clark Trail 2021 Annual Report, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The photographs, credited to the NIEA, are left out.