Teaching Native Pride

“I think because of the racism that existed on the reservations we were continuously reminded that we were different. We internalized this idea that we were less than white kids, that we were not as capable,” says Chris Meyer, part of Upward Bound’s inaugural group and the first Coeur d’Alene tribal member to receive a Ph.D.

Based on more than thirty interviews with students and staff, Teaching Native Pride employs both Native and non-Native voices to tell the story of the University of Idaho’s Upward Bound program. Their personal anecdotes and memories intertwine with accounts of the program’s inception and goals, as well as regional tribal history and Isabel Bond’s Idaho family history.

A federally sponsored program dedicated to helping low-income and at-risk students attend college, Upward Bound came to Moscow, Idaho, in 1969. Isabel Bond became director in the early 1970s and led the program there for more than three decades. Those who enrolled in the experimental initiative--part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty--were required to live within a 200-mile radius and be the first in their family to pursue a college degree. Living on the University of Idaho campus each summer, they received six weeks of intensive instruction.

Recognizing that most participants came from nearby Nez Perce and Coeur d’Alene communities, Bond and her teachers designed a curriculum that celebrated and incorporated their Native American heritage--one that offers insights for educators today. Many of the young people they taught overcame significant personal and academic challenges to earn college degrees. Native students broke cycles of poverty, isolation, and disenfranchisement that arose from a legacy of colonial conquest, and non-Indians gained a new respect for Idaho’s first peoples. Today, Upward Bounders serve as teachers, community leaders, entrepreneurs, and social workers, bringing positive change to future generations.