American Indian History and Public Education with Julie Cajune (Salish)

American Indian History and Public Education
American Indians are a distinct minority in the United States for several reasons. First, they are the original people of this land, and second, they hold political status as tribal nations. Many Americans do not understand the political distinction of American Indian Tribes. If we recall our public school years of social studies, we find scant content on American Indian nations or individuals.
This circumstance influenced Salish educator Julie Cajune throughout her career in public education and with her own tribal nation. One of her efforts to address this situation resulted in the book Our Way, A Parallel History.
Julie will discuss the importance of history education for a literate society and healthy democracy.
Julie Cajune (Salish) holds a master’s degree in education from Montana State University-Billings. After several years of classroom teaching on her home reservation, Julie began developing tribal history materials and curriculum and served as her Tribe’s Education Director. Julie has collaborated with Indigenous scholars, knowledge keepers, artists, and musicians, as well as elders and poets to produce materials in a variety of media including DVDs-Stories from a Nation Within, Art and Identity, Remembering the Songs, and Inside Anna’s Classroom- and children’s books-Gift of the Bitterroot and Huckleberries, Buttercups and Celebrations, and a variety of other publications Julie is a recipient of the national Milken Educator Award, the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award, and two Lifetime Achievement Awards. She continues her work to add Native voices to the master narrative of American history.