At 03:54 PM 2003-06-12 +1200, I wrote {title: 'Fw. Non-White, in early Oklahoma's education system.' at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/10261 (after signing-in)} :- At 08:27 AM 2003-06-11 -0500, Diane wrote {title: 'Re: OT For Diane and Anne --> Irish music and Americ an "Blue Grass"' at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/10236 }: .. the Land Runs are bittersweet in our state [Oklahoma]. They provided much-needed opportunity for the economically disadvantaged from other areas but did so at the expense of the Native Americans who had been consigned here. The full story is much more complex than that - because lots of whites and blacks did slip over and live here among the Indians (most in eastern Indian Territory were Civilized Tribes, so basically it was just like living anyplace else in the 1800s US) and there was a lot of inter-marriage. "True Grit," both the movie and the book, give a taste of what it was like in No Man's Land, which was actually No White Man's Land. In that story, a young girl must find her father's killers by following them into what is now eastern Oklahoma but at that time was Indian Territory and thus outside US jurisdiction. If any of you *really* want to know more about pre-state Oklahoma, you might check out http://www.ou.edu/education/Annual_report01.pdf (if your computer can support Adobe), to see an article I wrote on the history of education in Oklahoma for our annual report in the College of Education. It's called "Fulfilling Oklahoma's Education Legacy in the 21st Century" on page 8. (Please excuse the booster tone of the article; it's written for alum.) Anyway, at the lower economic classes, there was actually a lot of intermarriage and interaction among all the races both before and after the run, resulting in that one-fourth of our population identifies as Native American and a much higher percentage of native Oklahomans claim Native American ancestors. In my husband's case, he is the great-grandson of a Cherokee woman and her second husband, an Irish immigrant (her first husband was a Hispanic). The family still has its Cherokee allotment land (the portion given to individual NAs before the state opened to land runs. Before that, the land was held by the tribe.) Diane - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page 8 (of 20) of http://www.ou.edu/education/Annual_report01.pdf (7 MB) is: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Fulfilling Oklahoma’s educational legacy in the 21st Century The 21st Century College of Education is carrying out an educational legacy with roots in the American Indians’ academies and seminaries, the former slaves’ prairie schoolhouses and the immigrants’ dream of a better life for their children. The state of Oklahoma was forged by diverse groups of unique individuals seeking new opportunities, including education for all learners. The College of Education faculty have the same vision, as they teach, research and put into practice the most effective ways to learn, says Professor Grayson Noley, chair of the College’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. "There’s no question we value diversity, and we try to emphasize what we value in our scholarship," he said. The diversity of learners is a component of all courses in the College, starting with the initial course for all education majors: Schools in American Cultures. Several programs in the College also promote educational opportunities for a diverse community. Just a few of those are the Bilingual Master’s Program, the American Indian Leadership in School Administration program, the Center for Educational and Community Renewal and the Oklahoma Center for Children with Learning Differences. Noley, who also heads the American Indian Leadership in School Administration program, pointed out that the educational legacy of America’s native peoples is an important one in Oklahoma, once the site for the forced relocation of many American Indian American Indian tribes. Today almost 8 percent of Oklahomans are American Indians, making up the state’s largest minority group. Indeed, one out of every four Oklahomans is a member of a minority group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite the tragedy of the Trail of Tears, these American Indian nations almost immediately opened schools upon their arrival in Oklahoma. "The tradition of public education begins in Oklahoma with the Cherokees and the Choctaws, back in the 1830s," Noley said. "By 1900, they had more experience in the operation of public schools than nearly every state in the union." Besides community public schools, the tribes also established the now-famous system of elite academies (for males) and seminaries (for females), designed to give top-notch education to the students. Many of those went on to attend prestigious "white" universities such as Oberlin, Union College and Princeton. Oklahoma’s American Indian heritage is often reflected in the College’s programs and projects, such as the American Indian Leadership in School Administration program, designed to recruit American Indian teachers to study to become school administrators. Fourteen completed the program this fall, and another 16 will graduate by the end of summer. "Compared to the percentage of American Indian students in Oklahoma schools, the one percent of teachers and administrators who are American Indian is very, very small," said Noley, a Choctaw. "It’s important to do something special to address this need." Also working in this area is Educational Psychology Assistant Professor Rockey Robbins. He focuses on ways to adapt counseling methods for different cultures, specifically by creating a therapy model for working with multi-family groups such as American Indians. "I get lots of calls about it from people who are fascinated with the unique approach. I think it works very well with Indian people who define themselves more in terms of their social network than in terms of being isolated individuals," said Robbins, a Cherokee. Robbins and two Educational Psychology colleagues -- Professor Cal Stoltenberg and Associate Professor Terry Pace -- have also scrutinized psychology’s most used personality and marital satisfaction instruments, the MMPI-2 and the MSI-R, and their use among American Indians. "These tests are used in courts and other situations to give ‘objective’ support for mental problems of clients. We have found that these instruments suggest ridiculously high pathology among American Indians," Robbins said. "This is dangerous stuff for Indians in child custody cases or Indians who are applying for jobs that require personality-testing scores. We don’t believe that Indians are more pathological than main-stream Americans and are trying to get the word out in chapters and articles that the tests should only be used cautiously with American Indians." Robbins has also developed "The American Indian Constructionist Family Therapy Model," a dream-catcher meditation technique and a narrative technique to be used with Indian adolescents. He is in the process of working with OU doctoral students in the creation of a medicine-wheel technique for Indians with alcohol abuse problems and a fan technique for Indian women with identity issues. Other research projects related to this area include a study by Educational Psychology Professor Avi Scherman and Robbins on unique aspects of American Indian grandparenting and another Robbins’ study on psychosocial development of Indian adolescents in Indian boarding schools. "There is a need for culturally appropriate methods in psychology, or else we will continue the long process of colonialization," Robbins said. Recruiting and keeping students from a variety of backgrounds and ability levels are priorities at the College and university, Dean Joan K. Smith said. Besides the many programs mentioned above, several organizations allow students to be effective partners in the College. These groups include the Association of Black Education Majors, the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee, Graduate Student Advisory Council, Kappa Delta Pi honor society, Native American Educators, Student Council for Exceptional Children and Student Oklahoma Education Association. The new "buddy" program -- initiated by students -- places upper classmen as mentors to sophomores entering the teacher education program. "Our retention rate for students in the teacher certification program is among the highest on campus," Smith said. Just as Oklahoma continues to attract people of all backgrounds, the College of Education welcomes the same kind of diversity. Robbins recalls a medicine tree he had placed in the College’s counseling psychology clinic, where graduate students provide mental health services to the public. "I had brought the tree to our counseling psychology diversity group and later saw that our students had hung a couple of dozen cultural symbols on its limbs: Chinese, American Indian, Euro-American, African American, Hispanic, etc.," Robbins said. "It was so beautiful. It really spoke to me about what we are about in education. I find it so stimulating to meet people who come from a place really different from where I come from, and yet it’s an even greater moment when I further realize we come from the same root as human beings." The tree still sits in the counseling psychology clinic, and it still attracts new expressions of the College’s diverse family. -=# Box #=- Breaking down walls A 1950 Supreme Court ruling allowing a black retiree to pursue a graduate degree at the College of Education helped bring about the Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that ended school segregation. On Jan. 28, 1948, a retired professor, George McLaurin, applied to the University of Oklahoma to pursue a Doctorate in Education. School authorities were required to deny him admission solely because of his race, as Oklahoma statutes made it a misdemeanor to maintain or operate, teach or attend a school at which both whites and blacks were enrolled or taught. McLaurin, 68, filed a complaint to gain admission. On Oct. 6, the Court for the Western District of Oklahoma found the State had a constitutional duty to provide McLaurin with the education he sought. OU's Board of Regents then voted to admit McLaurin, but on a segregated basis. On Oct. 13, 1948, McLaurin entered OU and sat at a designated desk on the mezzanine level of Bizzell Library rather than the regular reading room; at a desk in an ante-room adjoining Classroom 104 in Carnegie Hall; and ate at a separate time from the white students in the cafeteria. McLaurin once again filed suit, challenged the constitutionality of the separate-but-equal doctrine under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. On June 5, 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that separate but equal conditions are unattainable in graduate and professional education and, therefore, McLaurin had been denied his rights under the 14th Amendment. The court decided that, as a result of McLaurin's segregation, he was "handicapped in his pursuit of effective graduate instruction. Such restrictions impair and inhibit his ability to study, to engage in discussion and exchange views with other students, and in general to learn his profession." The case became the climax of the NAACP's plans between 1930 and 1950 to overturn the separate but equal doctrine in public education by demanding equality in graduate and professional schools and laid the groundwork for challenging school segregation. Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African American U.S. Supreme Court justice, served as an attorney for McLaurin. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - sent-on to LessIsMore and GV-NZ by David.