Clara Sue Kidwell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clara Sue Kidwell | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 8, 1941 |
| Died | November 26, 2025 (aged 84) Owasso, Oklahoma |
| Alma mater | University of Oklahoma |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Native American Studies |
Clara Sue Kidwell (July 8, 1941-November 26, 2025)[1] was a Native American academic scholar, historian, feminist and Native American author. She was enrolled in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and of White Earth Ojibwe descent.[2] She was considered to be a "major figure in the development of American Indian Studies programs."[3]
Kidwell was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 1941.[4] Kidwell grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and she was named for her two grandmothers, with whom she had a very close relationship as a child.[5] Her paternal grandmother helped raise her while her parents worked as clerks at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.[6] Kidwell attributes her focus on attention to detail to her childhood experiences learning from her parents to keep copies of everything and how to pay close attention to grammar from a high school teacher, Glady Nunn.[6] In 1959 Kidwell graduated from Central High School and went on to attend the University of Oklahoma (OU). Kidwell received her bachelor's degree in 1963.[6] While she was an undergraduate, she made the College Bowl Team which led to her receiving a fellowship in the history of science after she graduated with her bachelor's degree.[6] She earned her master's in 1966 from OU.[6] She finally received her Ph.D from the University of Oklahoma in 1970.[4]
Kidwell began to teach American Indian studies in 1970 at Haskell Indian Junior College (now Haskell Indian Nations University).[7] She worked at Haskell for two years until she left to be an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley where she worked until 1993.[6] At Berkeley, her "research and publication flourished" and she received fellowships from the Newberry Library and the Smithsonian Institution.[8] In 1980, she was a visiting scholar and associate professor at Dartmouth College.[8] After Berkeley, she took her career in a new direction as the assistant director for cultural resources at the National Museum of the American Indian.[6] She helped move one million different pieces from the George Gustav Heye's Museum of the American Indian from New York to Washington, D.C.[2] In 1995, she chose a tenured position at the University of Oklahoma as the director of the Native American studies program.[6] She contributed the piece "Native Americans: Restoring the Power of Thought Woman" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.[9]
In 2007, Kidwell started the American Indian Center (AIC) at the University of North Carolina (UNC).[2] One of her major goals at AIC was to reach out to the many Eastern tribes such as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and Coharie Intra-tribal Council, Inc., who are unable to qualify for federal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for various reasons.[2] Under Kidwell's leadership, AIC has had success in North Carolina increasing programs that address education, health, and child welfare for these kinds of state-recognized tribes.[2] She has also helped increase the "visibility of Native history and culture on campus."[2] Kidwell retired from her position as director of AIC in June 2011.[2]
