I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to consider the role of history and its relationship to “American Indian education” in this special issue of theHistory of Education Quarterly.Before I offer some commentary and ideas, I want to offer a caveat—or a confession—that should inform the way my paper is read. My caveat/confession is that I am not a historian, let alone a historian of education. Instead, I am an “Indigenous” anthropologist of education. Of anthropologists, Vine Deloria Jr. has written, “Into each life, it is said, some rain must fall… But Indians have been cursed above all other people in history. Indians have anthropologists.” My own thinking about anthropology is that much of Deloria's disdain is well placed. Some of what anthropologists do, however—listen to stories and engage with people and place—is useful to conversations about what American Indian education is and can be. In this case, sometimes rain feeds growth. It is from this viewpoint of growth and possibility that I offer my thoughts on the role of history, its methods, and what this might mean for American Indian education.
