MIKE Program

MIKE Program and guests experienced the adventures of Carlos Montezuma in celebration of National Kidney Month. Leon Speroff, MD, a Skyline resident and a professor at OHSU, is the author of Carlos Montezuma, MD: A Yavapai American Hero: the Life and times of an American Indian, 1866-1923. Dr. Speroff shared his research on Wednesday, March 15 at the Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University.

Montezuma was taken from his Yavapai family at age 5 and sold to an itinerant Italian photographer. He traveled throughout the United States and faced being Indian in a white society. Montezuma became one of the first Native Americans physicians. Initially he developed a firm belief in the importance of Native American assimilation into white society. Later, he reconnected with his Yavapai people of Arizona, spoke out fiercely against the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and, in the face of great adversity from the U.S. Government, almost single handedly helped his tribe preserve its land and water rights. This MIKE Program benefit is presented cooperatively by Arnica Creative, NARA (Native American Rehabilitation Association) and MIKE Program.