Last Updated: June 2024

In 1999 the Montana Legislature mandated that all Montana public schools must instruct students on the Native American history and heritage found within the state. Montana was the first state to require Native Representation in the classroom and was followed by other states such as Washington, North Dakota, and California. Tribal histories and contemporary tribal members, governments, and nations have shaped and are shaping the social and political landscape of Montana.

An educated and contemporary Montana citizen has basic knowledge of Montana tribes. The Montana Office of Public Instruction provides tribally sanctioned learning and teaching materials; and The Montana University System (MUS) offers trainings for IEFA across its various campuses.

The MSU Department of Native American Studies is committed to the following seven guiding principles behind Indian Education for All (IEFA) in an effort to continue Montana Indian education and/or begin Indian education for those coming from out of state.

The Seven IEFA Essential Understandings

 

1. There is great diversity among the twelve sovereign tribes of Montana in their languages, cultures, histories, and governments. Each tribe has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to modern Montana. 

2. Just as there is great diversity among tribal nations, there is great diversity among individual American Indians as identity is developed, defined, and redefined by entities, organizations, and people. There is no generic American Indian. 

3. The ideologies of Native traditional beliefs and spirituality persist into modern day life as tribal cultures, traditions, and languages are still practiced by many American Indian people and are incorporated into how tribes govern and manage their affairs. Additionally, each tribe has its own oral histories, which are as valid as written histories. These histories predate the "discovery" of North America. 

4. Though there have been tribal peoples living successfully on the North American lands for millennia, reservations are lands that have been reserved by or for tribes for their exclusive use as permanent homelands.  Some were created through treaties while others were created by statutes and executive orders. The principle that land should be acquired from tribes only through their consent with treaties involved three assumptions: 

  1. Both parties to treaties were sovereign powers. 
  2. Indian tribes had some form of transferable title to the land.
  3. Acquisition of Indian lands was solely a government matter not to be left to individual colonists or states. 

5. There were many federal policies put into place throughout American history that have affected Indian people in the past and continue to shape who they are today. Many of these policies conflicted with one another. Much of Indian history can be related through several federal policy periods:

  • Colonization/Colonial Period, 1492-1800s
  • Treaty-Making and Removal Period, 1778-1871
  • Reservation Period – Allotment and Assimilation, 1887-1934
  • Tribal Reorganization Period, 1934-1953
  • Termination and Relocation Period, 1953-1968
  • Self-Determination Period, 1975-Present

6. History is a story most often related through the subjective experience of the teller. With the
inclusion of more and varied voices, histories are being rediscovered and revised. History told from American Indian perspectives frequently conflicts with the stories mainstream historians tell.

7. American Indian tribal nations are inherent sovereign nations and they possess sovereign powers, separate and independent from the federal and state governments. However, under the American legal system, the extent and breadth of self-governing powers are not the same for each tribe.