Work in American Indigenous Communities

Since its establishment in 1911, Phelps Stokes has been committed to promoting the wellbeing of Indigenous communities in the Americas. With an especially rich legacy of work with Indigenous communities in the United States, Phelps Stokes' scope includes Indigenous communities in Colombia and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Timeline: Improving Opportunities for Indigenous Communities in the Americas

1915 Phelps Stokes awards a grant to Reverend Henry Roe Cloud and Professor F.A. McKenzie to conduct a preliminary survey of the state of Indian schools.

1926 Phelps Stokes awards a grant to the Institute for Government Research (now the Brookings Institution) to conduct a research project under the leadership of Lewis Merriam. The report, the Problem of Indian Administration, commonly known as the Merriam Report, served as the basis for the Roosevelt Administration’s policy towards Indigenous communities in the United States.

1939 The Indian Rights Association (IRA) requests assistance from Phelps Stokes to study a controversy over range management on the Navajo Reservation. Phelps Stokes provides financial support for the study. This inquiry was eventually published by Phelps Stokes Educational Director Thomas Jesse Jones as the Navajo Problem: An Inquiry. Phelps Stokes also helps found the American Indian Institute in Wichita, Kansas.

1958  Phelps Stokes begins to expand its work beyond U.S. indigenous communities and provides a grant to the American Indian Development Inc. for a group of U.S. indigenous leaders to travel to Puerto Rico.

1960 Phelps Stokes organizes a symposium on Economic Development and the American Indian during the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology held at the University of Pittsburgh.  

1961 Phelps Stokes provides a grant for a photographic study of Navajo education.

1963 Phelps Stokes is represented at the National Congress of American Indians Leadership Conference where it sponsors discussions focused on juvenile delinquency, law enforcement, land tenure problems and relationships with state governments.

1970 Phelps Stokes President Franklin Williams begins organizing conversations with various organizations, such as the American Indian Community House, to help revitalize and strengthen Phelps Stokes’ presence in American indigenous communities.

1971 Phelps Stokes begins work on the American Indian Reference Book, modeled after the American Negro Reference Book, also previously sponsored by Phelps Stokes.   

1973 Phelps Stokes assists with the development of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and initiates the Indian Educational Development Internship Program at Phelps Stokes.

1974 Phelps Stokes continues to provide technical support to AIHEC and conducts initial research to develop the American Indian College Fund based on the model of the United Negro College Fund whose creation Phelps Stokes supported.

1975 Phelps Stokes receives grant from U.S. Department of State to explore exchange programs between Ghanaian and American Indigenous educators.

1976 Phelps Stokes receives a grant from the U.S. office of Education for its Indian Education Division to provide long-range planning and management assistance to AIHEC member institutions, including: Ft. Berthold Community College, Standing Rock Community College, Turtle Mountain Community College (ND), and Sinte Gleska Community College (SD).

1977 Phelps Stokes establishes the western office of Phelps Stokes, located in Rapid City, South Dakota, and launches the Rural Ethnic Institute. Phelps Stokes also creates the Indian Advisory Board, which guides the Phelps Stokes Board of Trustees in the planning and coordination of a U.S. Department of State-sponsored project, Indian Meso-American Linkages. This program sends four American Indians on a tour of Mexico and Guatemala to determine the feasibility of exchange program between Central and North American Indian groups.    

1980 Phelps Stokes arranges an exchange experience between American Indians and a group of African students studying in the U.S. The exchange is coordinated by the Native American Center for the Living Arts in Niagara Falls, New York.

1983 Phelps Stokes staff travel to West Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Morocco) to study legal and educational institutions in those countries in comparison to American Indian institutions.

2007 Phelps Stokes hosts a three-day conference and film festival at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in Cloquet, MN. The purpose of the conference, titled Erasing Preconceptions: From Stereotype to Reality, is to increase Indigenous students’ ability to understand and deconstruct media images and messages embedded in popular culture.