“In the face of white colonialism, Native American leaders have long had to wrestle with the timeless question: how can we change without destroying ourselves? As John A. Goodwin demonstrates in this deeply researched and thoughtful study, answering this question has always been at the heart of Native intellectuals’ efforts to create a model of higher education both by and for Indians. To understand the multiple struggles they encountered in this journey—a journey in which the issues of power and purpose were central—this study is must-reading.”—David Wallace Adams, author of Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875–1928
“Goodwin’s sympathetic and insightful history underscores the importance of tribal colleges and universities as intellectual spaces that are educating, decolonizing, and sustaining the tribal communities they serve. This book fills a gaping void in American Indian historiography and will undoubtedly transform how scholars think about Indian education.”—Bradley Shreve, editor of Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education