From Sept. 30 to Nov. 1, the Native American Program hosted a series of events to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Month. Nationally, Indigenous Peoples’ Month is celebrated throughout November.
According to the NAP website, events included a demonstration on the Green, an Indigenous-clothing fashion show, a curated exhibit at the Hood Museum of Art and a screening of the documentary “Sugarcane.” The first event in the series, Orange Shirt Day, raised awareness of the injustices committed against Indigenous youth during the residential school era of the late 19th century. Held on Sept. 30, students donned orange shirts with phrases such as “Every Child Matters” and handed out orange ribbons to show support for the day.
The series continued on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which fell on Oct. 14. The programming began with the annual Midnight Drum Circle, a tradition in which Indigenous students, faculty and supporters play drums, shout war cries and make noise so that Indigenous peoples’ voices are the first ones heard on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, according to participants. The event aims to celebrate “not only our experience at Dartmouth, but also our peoples’ experience,” Kailani Sirois ’27, a Native student who is a member of the Poundmaker Cree Nation and Colville Confederated Tribes, said.
“It’s especially important for us to let the campus know, let the people know … that we are still relevant,” Sirois said. “We’re not alone … and we’re strong, and we’re still here.”
Two Dartmouth students were accused of disrupting last year’s Midnight Drum Circle with alleged racial harassment. Cooper Black ’26 and another student, whose identity could not be confirmed by The Dartmouth, allegedly made mock war cries and racially charged remarks while they crossed the Green toward the Drum Circle procession.
“[The disruption] was super disrespectful and really arrogant on their part,” Sirois said. “It’s really upsetting … There’s a lack of education still with this.”
The two students became the subjects of a months-long Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy investigation by the College’s Equal Opportunity, Accessibility and Title IX Office, The Dartmouth reported in April. In an email statement to The Dartmouth, College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote that the College takes bias and discrimination reports “seriously.”
“Dartmouth remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering a supportive environment for Native American and Indigenous students, ensuring their voices are heard and respected, and their contributions to Dartmouth are celebrated,” Barnello wrote. “We take all reports of bias and discrimination seriously and conduct thorough, detailed investigations when there are complaints. Due to federal student privacy laws, Dartmouth cannot comment further on the details of internal investigations or any possible resulting disciplinary action.”
Following this year’s Midnight Drum Circle, Indigenous faculty and staff held a demonstration on the Green at noon of the same day to celebrate Dartmouth’s current Indigenous students and honor the Abenaki people, upon whose ancestral lands the College sits.
The programming also overlapped with the Indigenous Fly-In Program, which ran from Oct. 13 to Oct. 16. Dating back more than 30 years, the program offers Indigenous high school students the chance to visit campus, stay with current Indigenous undergraduate hosts and experience life at Dartmouth — paid for by the College.
NAP programming enabled fly-in visitors to see Dartmouth from an Indigenous student’s perspective, according to Native Hawaiian student and Hōkūpa`a member Amedée Conley-Kapoi ’26.
“[Fly-In visitors have] an opportunity to be like, … ‘There is a space for us in this world,’ … especially at an institution like Dartmouth, to be heard like this, and to be so engaged in [our] community and culture,” Conley-Kapoi said.
NAP, Native Americans at Dartmouth and Hōkūpa`a — a student-led organization for Pacific Islander students — also hosted an Indigenous Fashion Show on Oct. 17 at the Hood Museum of Art. Nineteen students donned and modeled culturally significant regalia, Conley-Kapoi said.
“The fashion show is an opportunity to show the Dartmouth community that Indigenous people are not only still here, but also that we will always be here … [and] we’re proud to be here, and we’re proud of who we are,” Samantha Pehl ’27, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and fashion show participant, said.
On Oct. 24, the Hopkins Center for the Arts screened the award-winning 2024 documentary “Sugarcane,” which depicts the legacies of the residential school system and the generational trauma it has caused the T’exelcemc people in British Columbia, Canada.
During the last event in the series, held on Nov. 1, Hood Museum intern Kaitlyn Anderson ’24 unveiled her gallery collection, “Across Oceans: Indigenous Solidarity Throughout Pasifika and Beyond,” which showcases contemporary Pacific Indigenous art focused on the themes of empowerment through “community” and “self-determination,” according to the Hood website.
Pehl said the month’s programming helped Dartmouth’s larger student body become “more aware of the NAD community.” She called for non-Native students to take classes in the Native American and Indigenous studies department, engage with NAP events and learn more about Indigenous cultures — especially during Indigenous Peoples’ Month.
“I picked Dartmouth because of the Native American Program and because of the NAD community here,” Pehl said. “I love being a NAD. It’s a really great opportunity, and I’m grateful every day that I’m here and … that there’s such a strong sense of community behind me.”
