Indigenous languages make inroads into public schools

Whenever November would roll around, James Gensaw, a Yurok language high school teacher in far northern California, would get a request from a school administrator. They would always ask him to bring students from the Native American Club, which he advises, to demonstrate Yurok dancing on the high school quad at lunch time. James Gensaw's work in California's public high schools as a Yurok language teacher and mentor to Native American students is part of a reckoning with equity and justice in schools. Yurok language classes are also offered in local Head Start preschool programs as well as in some K-8 schools when there is teacher availability, and at the College of the Redwoods, the regional community college.