The college level course was first offered at Portland State University Spring Term, 2004 and has since been taught by Furse at Portland State and Lewis and Clark College. The Institute is encouraging other colleges and universities to make the course available to their students.
In early 2004, the Institute began planning to enable other educators to use the curriculum at the middle school, high school, and post-secondary levels. On the national level, the value and potential of the curriculum is already recognized. Educators at the National Museum of the American IndianŐs branches in Manhattan and Washington, D.C. have expressed interest in sponsoring teacher trainings in both cities.
Under a grant from The Meyer Memorial Trust, the curriculum will be launched in at least two rural and two urban Oregon schools in September 2005. A firm commitment to use the Great Tribal Leaders has already been received from the newly formed charter school of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians have expressed interest in having the curriculum in Roseburg. Portland Public Schools is also a target audience for the curriculum.
The curriculum will be established in additional venues outside of Oregon. Under a grant from the Qwest Foundation, curriculum will be presented in six selected schools in the states of Washington, Oregon, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, and Minnesota.
The curriculum is based upon a collection of video-recorded interviews with tribal leaders from across the United States, speaking about their lives and work from 1950 to the present. The series, produced by the Institute for Tribal Government, emphasizes individuals who have worked to preserve tribal culture, self-determination, treaty rights, and the constitutionally protected status of tribes as sovereign governments. An accompanying workbook presents the historical, social, political and legal contexts that tribal leaders faced. An extensive bibliography and study guides for the individual interviews and the eras of federal Indian policy since the founding of the US Government are also provided.
In their interviews, the leaders relate from first hand experience the effect that these federal policies have had on tribal people and their work to reshape those policies, influence natural resource managements and other topics of regional, national, and international concern. The continuing survival of Indian tribes and the evolution of tribal governments to meet unforeseen challenges are recurring themes of this course.
The series fills a void in modern American history by documenting the life and leadership narratives of contemporary Native American and Alaska Native leaders. Powerful personal stories bring historical themes alive.
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The Great Tribal Leaders of Modern Times curriculum is based on the 