Following approval from the Texas State Board of Education in June, school districts across the state now have the option to offer American Indian/Native Studies as an elective course.
Students who enroll in the course will learn about the history and living cultures of American Indians and understand issues and events from Native perspectives, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Approval came following a years-long process and amid a new state law that bans diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in public schools.
The basis of the Native American Studies course was piloted in 2021 in the Grand Prairie Independent School District.
Hawana Townsley — a descendant of 19th century Comanche leader, Quanah Parker — helped craft the curriculum from the beginning.
“We want to ignite that spark of interest so that maybe these students that are in the class will find an interest, and this will become a lifelong journey that they are taking to learn more about us now and historically,” she said.
Marisa Pérez-Díaz, a member of the Texas State Board of Education, has been a champion for ethnic studies.
“(If) we provide resonant curriculums where our students can see themselves in the language and in the experiences, there's a connection there,” she said. “There's a deeper commitment to their education, and we'll see more successes.”
Orlando Lara, co-founder of the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas, agreed.
“The call for ethnic studies in Texas has a long, long history,” he said. “There's this long kind of unwritten history that we're sort of starting to write now.”
Read a recent letter from the Department of Education below on why American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian history is not classified as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or Critical Race Theory (CRT).
