Dr. Ann Robinson, director of the at UA Little Rock, is using her research skills to conduct a biographical study on Dr. Stuart Tonemah, a leader of gifted, creative, and talented education for Native Americans.
A member of the Kiowa and Comanche tribes, Tonemah directed the first office of Native American Programs at Dartmouth, testified to Congress on Native American students’ needs, and wrote commissioned reports on K-12 gifted education best practices for talented indigenous students.
“This is a very fun project for me. Lots of scholarship is fun but this study is a delightful walk down memory lane,” Robinson said. “I met Stuart Tonemah twice in my life. He was extremely kind and made quite an impression. He was easy to talk with and always interested in whatever early career scholars were doing. He was incredibly innovative in advocating for the development of programs for gifted and talented Native American youth.”
In 1969, Tonemah established the National Indian Education Association to advocate, plan, and promote the unique and special education needs of American Indian and Alaska Native people. It has grown into the largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native educators, administrators, parents, and students in the country, providing a much-needed forum for the issues affecting the education of Native people in the U.S.
“He was one of the few Native American scholars interested in gifted education,” Robinson said. “He did a lot of work for the U.S. Department of Education, served on presidential commissions, and was a skilled diplomat. He wrote and published in the field when not many Native American scholars were interested in gifted education. He also started a foundation in Oklahoma to assist with all kinds of projects to develop talents among Native American students.”
Tonemah passed away in 2009. Robinson has been collecting information on Tonemah’s life through newspaper articles, scholarly work, and even a family Facebook page celebrating his life.
“A Kiowa educator, Stuart’s life and work are exemplars for educational advocacy and action today,” Robinson said. “Dr. Tonemah lived much of his life in Oklahoma where there are family and tribal community members whose perspectives are critical to this research project. I found the Tonemah family Facebook page. There are clips of Stuart talking with community members at gatherings, and those are just precious.”
Robinson had the opportunity to learn more about Tonemah’s life through interviews and a trip to visit with his daughters, Carrie Tonemah Parks and Jennie Tonemah Underwood, at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Surrounded by photos and scrapbooks, she learned endearing details about his life. In 1961, Tonemah earned the nickname of “Golden Toes Tonemah” and helped lead the Oklahoma Junior College football team to .
Robinson also learned about Tonemah’s dedication to providing summer educational programs for American Indian children. He started Project Eagle as a summer camp for American Indian adolescents and their families. Another summer project, Explorations in Creativity, was a four-week summer program for American Indian high schoolers held at Riverside School in Oklahoma, a former boarding school. One of Tonemah’s daughters attended the camp, while another served as a camp counselor and met her future husband there.
“Fortunately for us, Dr. Tonemah’s research ended up published in the scholarly literature and in governmental reports, but it’s clear to me now that I’ve only seen a tiny portion of the projects he created,” she said.
Robinson has presented her biographical research to the American Educational Research Association and the National Association for Gifted Children. She also wrote a blog for the National Association for Gifted Children that traces Tonemah’s influence. In the future, she would also like to include his story in a second volume of a book project she edited, “A Century of Contributions to Gifted Education: Illuminating Lives.” It represents a history of the field of gifted, creative, and talented education told through life stories of influential scholars in the field.
“His story needs to be documented and shared in a permanent way,” she said. “What is most distinct about his life is how he influenced not one but two educational movements – gifted, creative, and talented education and Native American education. Few figures in educational history influence more than one area of inquiry. He was such a humble person that he didn’t particularly make sure we knew about all of the wonderful things he accomplished. He made a significant impact. Even 15 years after his death, I don’t think his whole story has been told. We have more to learn from Stuart Tonemah.”
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