Christian Titman with his eagle feather and his graduation cap. Photo from ACLU of Northern California
A young member of the Pit River Tribe in California graduated from high school on Thursday after winning the right to wear an eagle feather on his cap. Christian Titman, 18, received the feather as a gift from his father and grandfather. He proudly wore it to his commencement ceremony as part of an agreement with the Clovis Unified School District that will help address similar situations for other Indian students in the future. "The eagle feather represents Christian's academic achievement and has important cultural and religious significance," Novella Coleman, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said in a press release. Christian, a senior at at Clovis High School, and his family went to state court earlier this week to protect his rights. They were able to reach an agreement in time for yesterday's ceremony. Get the Story:
After lawsuit, student walks at graduation with eagle feather tribe considers sacred (AP 6/5)
Clovis High grad gets diploma, feather and all (Your Central Valley 6/4)
Clovis High School graduates nearly 700, at least 5,000 fill Lamonica Stadium (KFSN 6/4)
ACLU, Clovis Unified announce details on graduation feather agreement (The Fresno Bee 6/4)
Gallery: Clovis High graduation (The Fresno Bee 6/4)
Student wins fight over wearing sacred eagle feather at graduation (The Los Angeles Times 6/4)
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