University Professor Shares Personal Cultural History: Emphasis on Teaching Indigenous Peoples’ Background: ‘We’re Still Here’
- Maria O'Donnell
- Aug 1
- 6 min read
Written by Maria G. O’Donnell
Photos by Maria G. O’Donnell (14)
In parallel to her ancestors’ lives, Bevin Rainwater’s own has had her journey around the country. Additionally, living in Bristol with her husband and son, the University of Hartford professor has journeyed within her own identity as an Indigenous person. “I’ve been rediscovering my culture—a 20-year journey—that’s amped up the past 11 years,” she said. Now, she feels “more comfortable in that community.”
Life experiences and continuous education with multiple degrees gauged her career choices in teaching Spanish, Indigenous Studies, and technology. Her involvement with the West Hartford Indigenous Task Force, as well as being a Co-Chair with Judy Wyman of the Amplifying Indigenous Voices Affinity Network, enhanced her focus on her Native American culture and heritage.
Rainwater wanted to clarify, “I don’t mind (being called) Native American or Indigenous, just not Indian because I’m not from India. We prefer to be called by tribes,” otherwise, “there’s a generalization attached to it—it puts us all in the same category.” She noted there are 574 recognized tribes in the U.S., and two federally recognized in this state, as well as three state tribes.
“Each tribe and clan is unique and special unto itself,” she explained. “People put us under an umbrella as monolithic; we’re not. A lot has been thrown at us over 400 years—we employ survivance—we’re super resilient, persisting despite all the odds against us. We’re seven-generation thinking,” which means the Indigenous honor past generations as well as taking into consideration the generations to come.
Rainwater illustrated these concepts in describing her own family’s background. Originally from Los Angeles, she said that her grandparents on both sides moved there in the 1930s during the Urban Relocation Policies. “If they could move the Native Americans off the land, they can claim the land, make them assimilate, eradicate their culture, and systematically whitewash them,” she said, noting that the goal was that they “can’t practice their culture—make them act, think and feel white for 100 years. A lot of tribes lost a huge chunk of culture because of the policy during that time.”
Other policies included sending children to boarding schools for assimilation as well as removing Native American children from their families and placing them with white families. Rainwater said, “My paternal grandmother was placed in one of those homes. Her birth certificate was rewritten that she was white.” Although she doesn’t know the actual history and background, Rainwater hypothesizes that her grandmother’s mother may have been a boarding school youth herself and may have even been raped.
Although those instances and policies occurred 100 years ago, mistreatment of the Indigenous has been “going on for 400+ years,” said Rainwater. “The settlers invaded our country, and the policies have been going on since then,” with the boarding schools and urban relocation being more recent.
Such relocation occurred with her grandparents’ families. Her maternal grandfather’s Cherokee family was originally from Tennessee, then relocated to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Her maternal grandmother’s Choctaw family was originally from Mississippi. Rainwater explained that under the Indian Removal Act, all the area tribes were relocated to Oklahoma in what was then called “Indian Territory.” She said that the Trail of Tears is so named because “thousands of Native Americans were forced to march to Oklahoma in the dead of winter.”
Rainwater brought up the recent Land Back Movement in which tribal lands are being returned in states such as California and Maine. “I hope they’ll do even more,” she said. “It’s the Natives’ fight for tribal sovereignty at the town and state level, also through federally organized protests around it. They’re concentrated around tribal states areas.” She added that the argument is that Native people are caretakers of the land and waterways and do a better job than conservationists. Their farming and agricultural methods work with the land, which heals the land after all the modern conventional damage that’s been done.
Like her ancestors, Rainwater moved around the country a lot with her family while growing up, fortunately, however, not under duress. From Los Angeles to San Antonio, TX, to Phoenix, AZ, Rainwater stayed out west, mainly Arizona, where she did most of her schooling through her first year of college at Arizona State. She wanted her career focus to be languages, especially Spanish, which she was most exposed to. Her mom spoke nine languages, including Cherokee.
Also, living in the southwest exposed her to varied cultures: Mexican, Native American, and Mormon, which gave her an appreciation for languages and cultures. Yet Rainwater’s mom grew tired of big cities, and when she drove through Tennessee, “she fell in love with the mountains of Tennessee.” The family relocated again.
Rainwater attended Middle Tennessee State University to receive her B.S. in languages and Master of Arts in teaching languages. She later moved to Knoxville, TN on her own and received her Ph.D. in language from University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She started her career teaching Spanish and has been teaching it for 27 years. Technology and graphic design have been a big part of her life, as well, for the past 20 years. She has experience working at legal firms, which led to work in translating for court and legal cases.
Rainwater brought her own family—husband and son—along with her tech and language talents, to the east coast. She started teaching at University of Hartford in 2015 where she runs the Faculty Center’s Office of Academic Technology & Digital Innovation, and is adjunct faculty, teaching Native American Cultures, Spanish, Computer Science, Technology in Law, Technology & Society, Technical Skills for Business, Paralegal Technology, and will teach Organizational Theory, an Ed.D., program in the fall. She started her Doctorate again four years ago and graduated this past May with an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice.
In July, the highly skilled, accomplished, and educated professor was awarded an Impact Award for Education & Technology, won a 2026 Blackboard Exemplary Course Award for her Technology & Society course, and has been nominated for six Catalyst Awards. She is also a studio artist, and her works are featured in the Amplifying Indigenous Voices Affinity Network Art Exhibition, along with two other Indigenous artists.
As a university professor, Rainwater recognized that “many students don’t know much about Native Americans. It’s an important topic, with a chunk of history and culture missing from mainstream education.” But she has hopes for her students as well as the school. She wants to impart to students that Indigenous peoples’ history is “not just the impact of colonists, but to see the beautiful things Native Americans do, their activism with the environment and contemporary issues. They’re present in protecting the environment, they’re artists and educators. I want students to know our background and that we’re still here—how we live in contemporary society, not just in tribal lands and reservations. We have beautiful cultures and languages that are valid.”
As for the University of Hartford itself, “I would love to see UHart create an Indigenous Center on campus. Only two schools in Connecticut, UConn and Yale, have one. No one else offers an Indigenous Center and Indigenous scholarships. We celebrate diversity at UHart, and I would love to welcome more Indigenous students on campus. Some students are intimidated to join a non-student group; we have no student-led Indigenous group, but we have Affinity, and it’s open to all on campus (students and staff, Indigenous and non-Indigenous). A center would be a place to come for education, resources, and events.”
Finally, Rainwater added, “I would love a minor in Indigenous Studies. That would be awesome.” WHL
University of Hartford Land Acknowledgement Statement
We acknowledge that the University of Hartford resides on the historic homelands of the Siacogs, Poquonocks, and Tunxis, and that what is now called Connecticut encompasses the homelands of the Wangunk, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Nipmuc, Quinnipiac, Niantic, and Lenape, as well as other Indigenous peoples. We honor, respect, and appreciate the relationship that exists among these communities, nations, lands, and waterways, and aspire to uphold our responsibilities according to their example of stewardship.
