Hosted by the Upstander Project with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
A 13-day residential program based in Native homelands in Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts
June 20 – July 2, 2025
With a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the 2025 Summer Institute is designed to give 25 participants an immersive and experiential understanding of Native American history and contemporary realities in the Dawnland, currently called New England. In this region, the colonial narrative remains thick and for many, uncontested. With a majority of Native faculty, the institute aims to help teachers increase their understanding of pre-American Revolution history as they ground themselves in the land-based histories of Tribal Nations in the Northeast. We will accomplish this by visiting Wabanaki, Mashantucket Pequot, Narragansett, and other tribal homelands. We will walk on Native lands and listen to and learn from the stories they hold.
The Institute will deepen participants’ content knowledge to expand curricular offerings and provide context and nuance to conversations and commemorations that will occur in their communities as we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026. The Institute will create a space for participants to formulate new discussion questions to bring to their classrooms or public history spaces.
Two overarching themes will help structure the institute. The first, “Land-based Learning and Indigenous Histories,” will focus on the land and waterways, filled with immersive and experiential learning opportunities and place-based visits. Based in tribal homelands, we will center Indigenous knowledge systems through the lens of land, ecosystems, history, and language. The second, “Memorialization and Land-based Learning,” will focus on public history sites and curricular representations of Native American history, as well as workshops to strengthen the participants’ content knowledge and pedagogical skills.
Application Deadlines:
March 5, 2025: participants must apply by this date
April 2, 2025: participants will be notified
April 16, 2025: selected participants must accept or decline the offer
WHAT WILL I DO AT UPSTANDER ACADEMY?
Upstander Academy participants are immersed in a variety of experiences and activities designed to promote deep reflection and transform learning environments:
- Rethink U.S. history through the lens of tribal knowledge-keepers and scholars.
- Reflect on the survivance of Native peoples and the impact of genocide on their communities.
- Test innovative teaching methods that support critical and creative engagement.
- Learn to interrogate stories from the land, as well as oral histories and primary sources.
- Practice and model upstander skills and join a community of upstander educators.
