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Celebrate Native American Culture: About

Celebrate Native American Culture

Link to Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley in the catalog
Link to Poet Warrior by Joy Harjo in the Catalog
Link to New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian by Freddie Bitsoie in the catalog
Link to Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki in the Catalog
Link to There There by Tommy Orange in the Catalog
Link to Manifestation Wolverine by Ray Young Bear in Freading
Link to Dream Drawings: Configurations of a Timeless Kind by Scott N Momaday in the catalog
Link to Rock Art in an Indigenous Landscape by Edward Lenik in the Catalog
Link to American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa in Freading
Link to Native american archaeology in the parks: a guide to heritage sites in our national parks and monuments by Kenneth Feder in the catalog
Link to Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler in the Catalog
Link to Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples by Lucianne Lavin in the Catalog
Link to Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo in the Catalog
Link to Tecumseh and the Prophet by Peter Cozzens in the Catalog
Link to Making History: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts by The Institute of American Indian Arts in the Catalog
Link to Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing by Ken Cohen in the Catalog
Link to Code Talker by Chester Nez in the Catalog
Link to Where the Tall Grass Grows by Bobby Bridger in Freading
Link to An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo in the Catalog
Link to My Life as an Indian by J.W. Schultz in Freading
Link to Arts & Crafts of the Native American Tribes by Michael Johnson in the Catalog
Link to Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe by Kate Buford in the Catalog

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Native American Cultures

Many thousands of years before Christopher Columbus’ ships landed in the Bahamas, a different group of people discovered America: the nomadic ancestors of modern Native Americans who hiked over a “land bridge” from Asia to what is now Alaska more than 12,000 years ago. In fact, by the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million people were already living in the Americas. Of these, some 10 million lived in the area that would become the United States. As time passed, these migrants and their descendants pushed south and east, adapting as they went. In order to keep track of these diverse groups, anthropologists and geographers have divided them into “culture areas,” or rough groupings of contiguous peoples who shared similar habitats and characteristics. Most scholars break North America—excluding present-day Mexico—into 10 separate culture areas: the Arctic, the Subarctic, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, California, the Northwest Coast and the Plateau. Continue reading from History

"We're Not Just Relics of the Past"

TikTok, the mobile application that quickly became a defining cultural aspect of 2020, is most known as a platform where dances and comedy videos go viral. But Native and Indigenous individuals are also using the app to challenge stereotypes about their cultures, and let the world know they are "not just relics of the past."  

Over the past few months, the hashtag #NativeTikTok has racked up more than 1.3 billion views. One popular creator is James Jones, a performer, artist and cultural educator from Alberta, Canada, who identifies as Cree. Jones, who is known as @notoriouscree to his 2.4 million TikTok followers, told CBS News his goal is to use the platform to show the world that Native and Indigenous individuals are "still here." 

"I think a lot of people, especially here in North America, are just being reminded that Indigenous people are still here, and we're not just relics of the past," Jones told CBS News. "That's one of the really good things I like about TikTok is that you get to see a lot of Indigenous creators, artists ... just in their everyday life. You get to see them doing everyday things."

He said his account is dedicated to putting a "cultural spin" on trending content. In his first viral video, Jones dressed in traditional regalia and showcased hoop dancing to the song "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd. The video, posted on April 1, has been viewed more than 2.4 million times, and Jones said he gained roughly 100,000 followers from that post alone.   In several videos, Jones explains the hoop dance is done to tell stories and "for those in need of healing." "We tell stories with our hoops using the teachings of Mother Earth," the text reads on one video. "We're all in this togeather (sic), and we're only going to move forward by supporting and helping each other." Continue reading from CBS News

We Have a Moral Obligation to Learn Native American History

Recent announcements by Canadian First Nation Tribes — Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, Cowessess First Nation, Lower Kootenay Band and the Penelakut Tribe — of unmarked graves on the grounds of former Indian boarding schools where Indigenous children were mistreated understandably grabbed headlines and shocked many.   

Sadly, most Americans are unaware that similar abuses took place across 30 states from 1869 through 1978. Hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their tribal communities and forced to attend government and church-run boarding schools for the purpose of cultural assimilation into U.S. society.  Continue reading from The Hill

Learn More About the History, Culture and Current Social Concerns of Native Peoples

Link to Celebrate Native American Culture Resource Guide
Link to Indigenous Medicine resource guide
Link to Native American Heritage Month resource guide
Link to Native American Arts & Crafts resource guide
Link to Indian Child Welfare Act resource guide
Link to Indigenous American Mythologies Resource Guide
Link to Local Indigenous Peoples resource guide
Link to The Trail of Tears Resource Guide
Link to Native American Music Resource Guide
Link to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Resource Guide
Link to Indigenous American Cuisine Resource Guide
Link to The True Story of Pocahontas Resource Guide
Link to Navajo Code Talkers resource guide
Link to The Lost Children of the Residential School System Resource Guide
Link to The Pequot War Resource Guide
Link to Native American Activism Resource Guide
Link to The Wounded Knee Massacre Resource Guide
Link to Pipelines on Tribal Land Resource Guide

Link to Indigenous American Heritage Resource Guide Series Homepage