Volume 14 Number 3
May 1975

Beverly J. Pyke, Beatrice H. White and Charles E. Heerman

Akwesasne is the community area on the Mohawk Reservation where the Library Cultural Center is located. The name "Akwesasne" means "where the partridge drums." Warriors traveling along the St. Lawrence River during the eighteenth century could hear the noise of the bird in this locale. The reservation itself lies along both sides of the St. Lawrence River. The tribal population of 6,000 is equally divided between the U.S. and Canadian sides of the reservation (see Reference 1).

Investigation into the reasons for the Mohawk children being transferred brought to the Mohawk people an almost instant awareness of education and its implications. They were informed that New York state law excluded Native Americans from participating in school board elections either as voters or as candidates. Secondly, the Mohawk people discovered that the state of New York has primary responsibility for the education of Native American youth living in that state. On a per pupil basis the total amount of state funds combined with federal funds accounts for a higher than average support for the education of their children.

Educational finance was brought home to the Mohawks for, with the transfer of Mohawk children and school funds to the Salmon River Central school, the school board authorized extensive additions and improvements to the physical plant of that school. At the same time the board did little to recognize the unique needs of Mohawk children, such as incorporating Mohawk culture and history into the Salmon River Central curriculum.

Over a two-year period the Mohawk people reversed the New York state law through sustained legal action. Since 1970, they have been able to hold approximately 35% of the school board seats. This growing awareness of education has gone beyond the simple rewriting of a state law and the seating of Native American school board members. It brought the Mohawk people to the point of considering a total educational complex for the reservation--a Library Cultural Center which would be located at Akwesasne.

Through a series of self-initiated projects, the Mohawk people financed and built the center. Ground was broken in October, 1970; within 11 months the center was completed. Shortly thereafter, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) entered the picture, and the Mohawk center was designated as one of three demonstration sites for Native American libraries. The other two sites are located on the Navajo reservation in the Rough Rock community and in the Standing Rock community in the Dakotas.

The identification of information needs by the Mohawk people represents a process of community involvement. The NIEA, in developing a questionnaire for surveying the information needs of the Mohawks, trained members of the tribe to administer the instrument. In addition to public school information, the instrument included an "Adult Information Needs Interview Schedule." It was found that the area of adult education was badly neglected; that many adults were functionally illiterate, and at the same time sought to improve themselves (see Reference 2).

It was then that the Mohawk people sought a Right To Read (R2R) grant which would enable Mohawk adults to achieve an eighth grade level of reading. Utilizing the R2R project as a foundation for literacy training, the Mohawks added an Adult Basic Education (ABE) program for the eighth grade level and included the program for General Educational Development (GED) for the high school level. Finally, it was determined that college extension should be included in order that those who had finished the GED could then go on to higher education.

The Akwesasne Right To Read program represents one of the 74 community-based sites designated in 1972. The program is housed in the Mohawk Library Cultural Center which is located near the middle of the Mohawk Reservation on the U.S. side. Like the NIEA survey, the beginning of the Akwesasne program represents a process of community involvement. Students were engaged from the start in partitioning off the R2R center from the rest of the classrooms. This included finish work such as paneling and the building, sanding, and finishing of bookshelves for the center.

The director of the R2R program is a member of the Mohawk Nation as is the assistant director. The director is college educated, while the assistant director has had extensive experience as Title I teacher in the public schools of Massena, New York. The assistant director is concurrently working toward a degree in education.

Prior to the start of the R2R program the directors were taught diagnostic-prescriptive techniques at the Albany Learning Center. Secondly, the directors were participants in a reading workshop; a group effort of St. Lawrence University, the St. Lawrence County Community Development Corps, and the organization, Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. Areas covered in the workshop included leadership and program organization; techniques in the teaching of reading; the diagnosis of adult reading problems; and, a review of materials for teenagers and adults. The directors have subsequently sustained ongoing training through consultantships and by utilizing the expertise of technical assistants provided by R2R.

Recruitment, testing, and teaching are handled by the two directors. In addition, the directors have been able to integrate volunteers from St. Lawrence University into the program as tutors. Initial reading instruction for nonreaders is handled through the language experience approach. Continued instruction is maintained with materials which include Barnell Loft, Modern Curriculum Press, EDL, SRA, and Language Master. Additional tutoring is undertaken in homes for those either unable or unwilling to participate in the program within the confines of the R2R center.

During the two years of operation Akwesasne R2R has made a direct impact on the lives of the Mohawk people. Of the 59 people who participated in R2R alone, 16 have gone on to courses of study in higher education. Ten members of the Mohawk Nation have completed the GED at the high school level, while two have completed courses of study in ABE. Finally, two participants have gone on to trade school with a firm foundation of literacy skills gained from R2R

Many adults have also benefited from Akwesasne R2R through concurrent enrollment in ABE, GED, or college extension and in R2R. In these arrangements R2R has served a support function for those adults who have a level of literacy and seek to further improve their skills.

A third impact has also been made; there is an increased level of self-esteem among Mohawk adults. Parents and grandparents in their youth had been denied a good educational experience. The elementary and secondary schools represented a deterrent to learning in that the Mohawks were forbidden to speak their native language in the schools.

Their cultural heritage and history were ignored, and many were forced to leave school prematurely because of economic hardship.

Due to these poor beginnings, parents and grandparents realize the advantages of having a good education. Because of R2R and the Library Cultural Center, adults who were at a nonfunctional level of literacy are taking advantage of the opportunity to learn to read for the first time in their lives.

In building a structure for adult education, the Mohawk people have paid meticulous attention to the element of community involvement. Among the recommendations of the NIEA information survey, three, in particular, are worth noting: (1) services should employ local, trained Indian persons; (2) services should honor, not alienate, the background and traditions of patrons; (3) services should be attuned with other community operations. To accomplish these and other goals, the Mohawk people have built a comprehensive educational structure (see Reference 2).

It is obvious even to the casual observer that the Mohawk Nation represents a culturally and geographically cohesive community. The educational structure meets the needs of the Mohawk community. This can be seen in the operation of the evening program in the basement of the Library Cultural Center. In the R2R center, tribal members are being taught basic literacy skills by the R2R directors. In adjacent rooms other members of the tribe are hard at work in ABE, GED, and college extension classes, all taught by members of the Mohawk Nation. Upstairs in the library, staffed by tribal librarians, students from all of the programs come and go, making constant use of the facility. At the same time a Tribal Council meeting is taking place next to the library. The morale of those attending is very high due in no small part to the element of "community" apparent in the educational program.

By reversing the New York law which blocked their participation in public school affairs, the Mohawk people have achieved a degree of control over the education of their children. The tribal effort involved in building and operating the Library Cultural Center is further evidence of the rising educational expectations of Mohawk adults. It is doubtful that these expectations will subside in the near or distant future.

1. Harry Cook. "St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation at Akwesasne." Report prepared for the Akwesasne Library and Cultural Center.

2. "A Summary of National Indian Education Association Library Project." Bureau of Field Studies and Surveys, College of Education, University of Minnesota, June, 1972.