National Indian Education Association

In March 1969, Sparlin Norwood, Cherokee, a teacher at Central Junior High School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, organized a National Conference of Indian teachers at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon, as part of his National Education Association position.

The planning committee members were primarily from the greater Minneapolis area but the participants came from different parts of the country and agreed that such a conference should be held again.

The leading organizers of this discussion group included Sparlin Norwood, Hershal (Ace) Shamant, Marigold Linton, Rosemary Christensen, John Winchester, Liz Whiteman, Dillon Platero, and William Demmert and Ned Hatathli, who would all become members of the first "National Indian Education Association" Board of Directors.

This group decided on being an independent organization, and chose "National Indian Education Association" (NIEA) as the name under which it would be incorporated.

The officers, the board members, and other organizational requirements were carried out at the 1970 National Indian Education Association Conference.