Diversity Facts

Native American Heritage Month Facts:

• The first Native Americans have occupied New England for at least 10,000 years. These Native Americans are considered to be from the Abenaki Tribe.
• There were over forty Indian Tribes on Native American Nations.
• Indians were denied the right to vote in the 14th Amendment. It was not until 1965 (Voting Rights Act) that that right was given to them.
• Our Federal System was modeled after the Iroquoian League of Nations with its separation of central government and state government powers.
• The first contact between southeastern American Indians and Europeans was the expedition of Hernando de Soto in 1540.
• The tribe Abenaki means "east land" or "morning land". The Abenaki formed an early attachment for the French, and carried on an almost constant war with the English until the fall of the French power in America.
• The Ocheese, or the Creeks, were in the Southeastern United States, mainly along the water in the states; Oklahoma,  Alabama and Georgia.
• When a Creek town reached a population of about 400-600 people they would split, with about half moving to a new, nearby site. The new town would build its ceremonial center and develop its own villages, but would also retain a "mother-daughter" relationship with its original town. This is how the confederacies were formed.
• The two sketches below are of Creeks who went to New York in 1790 to meet George Washington. The man on the left is called Hysac, or "The Woman's Man", and the man on the right is Hopothle Mico, or the "Talassee King of the Creeks".

The University Diversity Facts

With a mission to “graduate men and women who cultivate a mature spiritual life, who live by high intellectual and moral standards, who respect the dignity of other persons,” members of the Mount community embrace diversity on campus. We attract students from diverse geographic, economic, racial, and religious backgrounds.

Historical Firsts
The first United States Minority to be accepted to Mount Saint Mary's University

Commander John W. Williams, Jr., USN (Retired)
Accepted in the Fall of 1961, John Williams Graduated in 1965.
He was awarded the Bicentennial Medal on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
for opening the doors of diversity at the Mount. 

The first United States Minority Female to be accepted to Mount Saint Mary's University

Ms. Cynthia Alexander
Accepted in the Fall of 1976, Cynthia Alexander Graduated in 1980.