Founded in 1769, Dartmouth has shaped the educational landscape and prepared generations of leaders to advance industries, societies, and cultures. Dartmouth’s founder, Eleazar Wheelock, a Congregational minister from Connecticut, established the College “for the education and instruction of youth of the Indian tribes in this land… English Youth, and any others.”
Samson Occom, a Mohegan Indian and one of Wheelock’s first students, was instrumental in raising the funds necessary to found the College.
During its first 200 years, Dartmouth did little to actualize its founding commitment to Native students. In 1970, Dartmouth reaffirmed its founding mission through President Kemeny’s recommitment to Native American and Tribal communities, and two years later established one of the first Native American Studies programs in the country.
Today, on average 200 Indigenous students—representing more than 70 different Tribal Nations & communities—attend the College. Dartmouth counts over 1,200 Native graduates among its alumni. As the College embarks on its next 250 years, Dartmouth has adopted a bold new vision that involves, indeed demands, developing honorable, active relationships with Tribal Nations in the present and future.
Dartmouth has established a Tribal Leadership Academy that will continue to build on our charter commitment to Native Americans and will enable the College to engage directly and collaboratively with Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples on activities that advance the interests of political integrity, economic security, health and welfare as sovereign nations.
