A&S Research Proposal

Laura Del Hierro

Native American Integration Program
Aims
I will establish and explain the necessity for the integration of Native American studies
into the University of Richmonds curriculum. It is essential that college students, specifically
students attending liberal arts schools, are educated on Native American history and issues.
Native American history is central to the history of this country and it is vital to understand how
institutional racism continues to alienate the social and political issues that Native tribes
encounter in America today. In my research I want to focus on the political and social issues that
Native tribes located in the state of Virginia face. Issues regarding public health such as access to
healthcare, sexual violence against women and children, and education discrepancies present in
Native American students. I hope to address the issues that tribes encounter in the state of
Virginia due to lack of representation. I will also focus on the beliefs and customs of the selected
tribes in Virginia and learn from their culture and experience. Most of my research will derive
from the integration of a pilot program implemented at the University of Richmond that will
establish a learning community that emphasizes on the Native American experience and culture.
I hope to incorporate classroom knowledge through community engagement by students building
a relationship with local Native tribes, participating in events that focus on Native studies, and
volunteer work.
Background
The context that would frame my research is the societal and political oppression towards
Indian tribes in the United States specifically in the state of Virginia. Through my work I want
readers to know that federal recognition is important for the sovereignty of the tribe and its well
being as a culture. The book Were still here by Sandra F. Waugman provides readers with
personal accounts of Virginia Natives and insights on current issues revolving reservation
culture. Since I will be looking at the lack of federal recognition and the organization of
reservations. It is important to understand how the reservation system is set up and what policies
are followed and implemented. It is important to understand the the organization of the
reservation system and the ramifications it has on Native Americans such as poor healthcare and
poor education. A strong knowledge on the importance of federal recognition allows people to
understand the benefits that tribes acquire from the federal government. I will focus my research
on the Pamunkey and Monacan tribes. It is important to be familiar with the history of Virginias
first people because it has created a system that disregards the basic human right of Natives
and it fails to help Indian tribes succeed due to the lack of acknowledgment.
Argument and Significance
I will examine issues that are especially prevalent in Native Americans due to systemic
racism, in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other forms
of institutions support and reinforce ways to perpetuate the racial inequality and inequity within a
racial group, such as education inequality and access to healthcare. Specific questions that I will
be researching are: Why are the tribes in Virginia state recognized but not federally recognized?
What makes a tribe eligible for federal recognition? How does federal recognition benefit
Virginia Indians? How is the reservation system organized? Why was it organized and what are
its ramifications on Native Americans? How does the alienation of reservations contribute to
issues of poor healthcare and education? What historical acts have perpetuated the dispossessing
of Indians?
It is vital that we understand the history and the issues that Native Americans experience
under the American government because it abuses the basic human rights of a population that is
portrayed as small and vulnerable. History in elementary and secondary level school does not
accurately depict the history of Native Americans nearly enough to discuss and think about the
issues that are still affecting the Native population today, they are nearly invisible in the social
studies curriculum. The dispossession of American Indians is not incidental but central in the
history of European colonization of the Americas. The colonization of the territory and alliances
are crucial to the violent acts upon Native Americans. The view of American Indians is important
to future US history that leveraged the westward expansion without any consideration of the
damage it did to the remaining American Indian population. Since the revolution, policy toward
Native Americans and attempts to exterminate or assimilate Natives have indelibly marked US
history. Ignorance of these events and policies, and the suffering they caused, is, in effect
ignorance of American history. To neglect the acts against Native Americans, is to forget about
the extermination of millions of American Indians by the 1900s. The lack of information and
misinformation about American Indians, in the American education system perpetuates an
oppressive system that to this day has failed to make reparations to the damage that is caused and
continues to resonate within the Native community. The failure to incorporate Native American
studies in academic settings has detrimental affects further in academia because in college,
professors have to cover a lot of background history and must tackle the misconceptions of
Native Americans that are taught during earlier years. The integration of Native studies to a
liberal arts education is important because discrimination against Native Americans is far more
ingrained in the American way of life, these issues need to be tackled and discussed in order to
make a change. All the resources needed are available in higher learning institutions and target
education by remolding the curriculum that contributes to systematic racism. Through the
implementation of Native studies this addresses the issues of systematic racism by improving an
institution (education) that indirectly/directly influence the ideas and career path of young
ambitious people. The issues present in the Native American community have been continuously
ignored and they are far more complicated than a few social, economical, and political
discrepancies, they begin with the dislocation of American Indians and the colonization of
America.
Research/Methods
I will read and analyze historical content. I will speak to Virginia Indians and contact
people from the Native American Museum in D.C. I will try to get in contact with a tribe
member that can share their experience living on a reservation. A lot of my research will derive
from many texts, policy reading, and historical texts. Most of my analysis will be made from the
primary, secondary, and current information regarding Native American history and recent issues
affecting their community.
 Works Cited

Education, Virginia Department of. "Virginia's First People Past & Present." VDOE :: Virginia's
First People Past & Present. Accessed April 28, 2017.
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/history/virginias-first-people/index.shtml.

"Exploring Western Tidewater." Virginia Humanities. Accessed April 28, 2017.

http://virginiahumanities.org/page/2/?s=virginia%2Bindian%2Bhistory.

Francis Paul Prucha. Documents of United States Indian Policy (Third Edition). Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 2000. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed April 18, 2017).

Heim, Joe. "A renowned Virginia Indian tribe finally wins federal recognition." The Washington
Post. July 02, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-
renowned-virginia-indian-tribe-finally-wins-federal-recognition/2015/07/02/40cc0dd4-200a-
11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html?utm_term=.777add1e2ad0.

Waugaman, Sandra F and Danielle Moretti-Langholtz. We're Still Here. 1st ed. Richmond, Va.:
Palari Publishing, 2006. Print.

Wolfe, Contributed By Brendan. Racial Integrity Laws (19241930). Accessed April 28, 2017.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Racial_Integrity_Laws_of_the_1920s

"S. Rept. 112-201 - EXTENDING FEDERAL RECOGNITION TO THE CHICKAHOMINY

INDIAN TRIBE, THE CHICKAHOMINY INDIAN TRIBE-EASTERN DIVISION, THE
UPPER MATTAPONI TRIBE, THE RAPPAHANNOCK TRIBE, INC., THE MONACAN
INDIAN NATION, AND THE NANSEMOND INDIAN TRIBE." Congress.gov. Accessed April
28, 2017. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/112th-congress/senate-report/201/1?q=
%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Thomasina%2BE.%2BJordan%2BIndian%2BTribes%2BOf
%2BVirginia%2BFederal%2BRecognition%2BAct%22%5D%7D.