AllMovie

Nanci Rossov directs this cross-cultural drama about captured Native Americans enrolled in a turn of the century "Negro" college. The film opens with Richard (Chuma Hunter-Gault) and Cleola (Tembi Locke) announcing their engagement. Though the college prides itself on its integrationist philosophy, the sharp-witted Cleola soon chafes under Richard's and the school's patronizing attitudes toward women. Meanwhile, three Lakota braves are accepted into the school at the behest of a U.S. Army officer who wants to prove that Indians can function in mainstream culture. The trio's reluctance to participate is more and more pronounced as their upwardly mobile Black classmates antagonize them with racial asides. Unbowed won Best Feature at the 1999 American Indian Film Festival.