To celebrate , the is leading a vibrant series of community programs in October and early November, honoring the cultural traditions and contributions of Indigenous students at Dartmouth.
Lily Aspen ’27, an NAP intern who heads the Indigenous Peoples’ Month Planning Committee, says the upcoming events are “a great way to learn more, not only about Indigenous communities and pan-Indigenous beliefs but also to just connect with other people who are also Indigenous.”
The student organization Native Americans at Dartmouth will open the week with its annual Midnight Drumming on Oct. 13. The tradition, which includes drumming, singing, and sharing of words, began in the early 2000s to ensure that the first voices that Dartmouth hears on Indigenous Peoples’ Day are Indigenous. Later that day, all are welcome to join an NAD Gathering on the Green at noon.
The following events are also open to the public:
- 12:30 p.m., Oct. 15, in Collis: Join an informative session tracing the history of the Dartmouth Charter and Samson Occom, the Presbyterian minister, scholar, and member of the Mohegan Tribe who helped raise money for what would become Dartmouth College.
- 8 p.m., Oct. 17, Hood Museum of Art: Indigenous Peoples’ Fashion Show.
- 5 p.m., Oct. 19, and noon, Oct. 20: Two workshops on Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving with Shgen George, an Alaska Native (Tlingit) who is the mother of a current Dartmouth student.
- 4 p.m., Nov. 1, Collis Common Ground: For the first time, the Native American Program will host a Three Sisters Festival with games, crafts, and food. “Three Sisters” alludes to three foods that are core crops of many Indigenous peoples—corn, beans, and squash—and the festival leads in to National Native American Heritage Month in November.
, director of the Native American Program, says the events can help make Native and Indigenous students feel like they are part of a “rich and diverse community.”
“You meet people in these pockets of time and spaces, in small groups, and so being together with everyone is a really powerful experience,” Brown says.
NAP is also hosting two workshops for undergraduate and graduate students ( via Dartmouth Groups). Raven Dial-Stanley, an enrolled member of the North Carolina Lumbee tribe, will lead a Powwow dance workshop on Oct. 7, followed by a Ribbon Skirt and Ribbon Shirt Workshop on Oct. 8.
Dustin Kealoha ’28 is a member of the student planning committee, which is guided by NAP Program Coordinator . Kealoha says that this fall’s schedule will include more guest speakers from different tribal and Native communities, “because we have a lot of different types of Native and Indigenous groups on campus.”
Since the early 1970s, when then-President John Kemeny rededicated Dartmouth to its original mission of educating Native students, more than 1,400 Native students have graduated from Dartmouth. Currently, 200 students representing more than 75 Indigenous communities across the U.S., Canada, and the Pacific Islands are matriculated at Dartmouth, according to Brown.
Kealoha chose to attend Dartmouth because of the strength of the Native American Program and its outreach to the Native community. “Compared to a lot of other schools, Dartmouth is a relatively small campus and has a small student population. But our Native community is really close and strong,” he says.
Aspen, an Alaska Native, says they were “the only Indigenous student in my high school and my middle school. I didn’t really want my college experience to be like that, so I chose Dartmouth because it has so many Native students.”
is available through the Native American Program.
