Background
Information on Charlene
Teters
Background
Information on Charlene
Teters
Education
MFA, University of Illinois,
Painting
BFA, College of Santa Fe, Painting
AFA, Institute of American Indian
Arts
Career
Senior Editor, Indian Artist
Magazine. 1996 to present.
Professor, Institute of American
Indian Art.
International Indian Treaty
Council, Speakers Bureau
Founding Board Member, National
Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media
Just as it has been occurring for over 63 years, a student
dressed as the team's mascot, the
fictitious Chief Illiniwek, leapt and twirled in what
was billed at the time as an authentic
dance, as fans in mock war paint yelled war chants from
the stands. Teters and her
children cringed in their seats. "I saw my daughter try
to become invisible. My son tried to
laugh,".
Ms. Teters is currently an artist and Professor at the Institute of American Indian Art at Santa as well as the director of student placement and alumni affairs. She is the vice president of the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media (NCAR SM) and established the office of racial justice for the National Congress of American Indians. She is a highly sought after speaker on the harmful effects of American Indian stereotpes."Our people paid with their very lives to keep what little we have left.. .and that is what I am protecting. At home, we are taught to respect eagle feathers, respect the Chiefs, respect that paint is sacred, that dance is something sacred to us," Teters explains. "If you've never been taught to respect these things, it might not bother you, but if you've grown up in the community, where those things have meaning, it's going to have that impact on you."
Her efforts to eliminate the use of Indian mascots at the University of Illinois were chronicled in the documentary "In Whose Honor" which was shown on PBS.