As we prepared this issue of the journal, we sought suggestions from throughout the tribal college community of people who stand out as heroes. Some are featured elsewhere in this issue. On this page, we asked some of the heroes who were identified to tell us who they most admire. Some named tribal college presidents who have been involved for several decades; others named people outside the tribal college community.

Chris Eyre:

Chris Eyre with his two mothers, Barbara Eyre and Rose Anderson

Except for my father, my heroes are my mothers. I was adopted days after I was born. Barbara and Rose are the women who made me and made me complete. They are women who loved as only women can. They are women who baffle and defy mankind with their love. They deserve to be honored and respected for their god-given essence and human intuitions. These women were scared and brave all together.

They are women who acted and reacted for a “helpless” as only women can. And today, I am blessed to have them both in my life. I recognize this and know that “hero” is too small a term for this. They are my personal origin, my two saviors, and I am still learning and loving them both. Aho.

Chris Eyre (Cheyenne and Arapaho) learned the skills of 35 mm still photography in high school and never looked back. Before graduating 152nd out of 171, Eyre had immersed himself in shooting black-and-white film and printing. In 1995, Eyre received his Master’s  in Filmmaking from New York Universities’ prestigious Graduate Film Program. The first feature film that he directed, “Smoke Signals,” won several awards in 1998 when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He has produced or directed six films since then including “Edge of America.” His latest film is “A Thousand Roads,” a dramatic wide-screen film being shown exclusively in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Wilma Mankiller, top, (photo by Gwendolen Cates) and Gail Small (photo by Lisa Thomas).

Wilma Mankiller:

I have many heroes, including Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann, Lakota scholar Dr. Beatrice Medicine, and Vine Deloria, an original thinker. I will focus here on just one – environmental activist and attorney Gail Small, a Northern Cheyenne warrior.

Since high school she has never wavered in her commitment to protecting the homelands of the Northern Cheyenne from environmental destruction. Most of her work has been under the auspices of Native Action, a non-profit organization in Lame Deer, MT, which she started. It is one of the oldest reservation-based, non-profit organizations in the United States.

Through her leadership she has permanently changed the way the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management handle Indian land leases. She is waging a David and Goliath battle against major energy companies to prevent coal bed methane gas development from draining the local water supply.

She developed a Get out the Vote Program, which resulted in a number of Native people being elected to the Montana Legislature. She led the team that helped locate a high school on the reservation. She also forced banks to deal with the people on the reservation more equitably. She does all this while completely immersed in the traditional life of her community. She and her husband raise their four children within the context of their extended family and the traditional values of their community.

Wilma Mankiller is an author, activist, and former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation (1985-1995). In Oklahoma, she is best known for her community development work improving health and youth services. Mankiller received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Who’s Who named her as one of the 50 Most Important People in the United States. The National Conference of Christians and Jews gave her its Humanitarian Award. Her books include Mankiller: A Chief and Her People and Every Day is a Good Day: Reflections of Contemporary American Indian Women. She featured Gail Small in the second book. The American Indian College Fund recognized her at the Gadugi Celebration in May 2005.

Janine Pease, top, and Lionel Bordeaux

Dr. Janine Pease:

Dr. Lionel Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota) is an American Indian hero of major proportion. He is a combination of vision and intelligent activism, two powerful traits framed in Lakota tradition. Lionel holds the vision of a well-educated and self-determined American Indian people.

He holds himself accountable for pursuing that critical work, saying those prayers at the top of the mountain and making the statements among and to significant tribal and community leaders. Lionel operates from a fundamental faith in the Lakota capacity to teach and learn and choose their destiny.

Among the Lionel Bordeaux works of art are the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978, the Tribal Colleges and Universities Executive Order of 1994, the White House Conference on Indian Education (1992), and the fully accredited university status of Sinte Gleska University.

He was a founding member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the National Indian Education Association, the American Indian College Fund, and the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC).

Dr. Janine Pease is a Crow and Hidatsa Indian, enrolled in the Crow Tribe. Over the past 33 years, she has served in many adult and higher education leadership positions, primarily in Montana. For 18 years, she served as president of Little Big Horn College (Crow Agency, MT). She is now the vice president for American Indian affairs at Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Her honors include National Indian Educator of the Year in 1990, the MacArthur Fellowship (better known as the genius award), and the ACLU Jeanette Rankin Award for work in American Indian Voting Rights. Her traditional name is Uk Cheewahgeeday Eeshitchash, “Loves to Pray.”

Dr. James Shanley:

James Shanley

I don’t use the word hero very often since there are so many types of heroes. The word is most often used to describe people who face death for noble reasons and often die in the effort. But there are many other types of heroism. The mothers and families who struggle in dire poverty with a quiet day-to-day desperation and still retain their culture and humanity exhibit a profound type of heroism.

People like the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa are heroes because of love, sacrifice, and wisdom. We all have our personal heroes: mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and mentors who have taught us the value of love, work, sacrifice, and wisdom. The endless sea of change that is the future will bring many new types of heroes, but they will all have some of those basic qualities. I guess that it all adds up to courage.

Dr. James Shanley (Assiniboine) has been involved in the tribal college movement for 31 years. He has served as president of Fort Peck Community College (Poplar, MT) since 1984. From 1975-1980, he served as president of Standing Rock College – now, Sitting Bull College – (Fort Yates, ND). He has played a pivotal role in the history of both AIHEC and the American Indian College Fund.    He helped found the College Fund in 1989 and served as the president of the AIHEC board when Congress passed the 1978 legislation that provides basic institutional funding for most tribal colleges. In November 2005, he was elected co-chair of the World Indigenous Higher Education Consortium. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Shanley is a frequent contributor to Tribal College Journal.

Joseph F. McDonald, top, and David Gipp

Dr. Joseph F. McDonald:

My hero is David Gipp (Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe). David has been president of United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, ND) since 1977. Prior to that, he served as the executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC, 1973 until 1977). He has served as president of AIHEC and the American Indian College Fund.

I marvel at David’s energy and dedication to improving the lives of Indian people. He works tirelessly and travels continually to meetings, hearings, and congressional offices. He doesn’t limit himself to just the needs of United Tribes, but he speaks in favor of all the tribal colleges. David devotes a great deal of time and effort coordinating meetings and conferences for the tribes in North and South Dakota.

David Gipp is a true warrior in contemporary times. The buffalo are gone from the plains, and David is replenishing basic needs of the tribes with educational opportunity.

Dr. Joseph F. McDonald (Salish-Kootenai) has been president of Salish Kootenai College (Pablo, MT) since 1978.  A national leader in American Indian education, he has served on the board of directors of the American Council on Education, the Carnegie Foundation, the American Indian College Fund, AIHEC, and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. He was instrumental in helping the tribal colleges to gain land grant status in 1994. In the 1970s, he created the first Native American Studies program in Montana Public Schools. He also served on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council from 1974 to 1982. He earned his doctorate in education in 1981. In 1999, the Lee Newspapers named him as one of Montana’s 100 most influential people of the century.