By Caroline Preston, The Hechinger Report, February 6, 2020
Charles Golding looked for two things when he was researching colleges: a top economics program and a connection to his native culture. A Google search led him to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a state flagship school with prize-winning economists and a history of indigenous activism.
The university’s Department of American Indian Studies, founded in 1969, is the oldest such program in the country, and it’s located in the city where the American Indian Movement began in the late 1960s.
But Golding’s arrival on campus was discouraging. His father is a member of Arizona’s Quechan tribe and his mother is from Mexico. He chose a particular dormitory floor because of its designation as a “living learning community” for indigenous students. But he said he was one of just two people who identified as American Indian. Most of his hall mates were white.
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