Photo Courtesy of: http://opencuny.org/languagerevitalizationinthe21stcentury/ One of the things most people don’t realize is their limited and often mistaken understanding of Native American history and languages. Below are some interesting things that you should know about Native American languages and how they’ve not only influenced the Native American culture, but current US history and geography as...
Happy Native American Heritage Month! For around 100 years, there has been a push to honor the contributions, sacrifices, achievements, and historical/cultural legacy of the original inhabitants of this great land and their descendants. Now known as Native American Heritage Month, this is our time to celebrate and honor American Indian culture. History In 1900,...
Coming out in September 2014 is a new documentary that follows the stories of 5 American Indian artists who have formed a group known as the Urban Indian 5. Called, I Said I Would Never Paint This Way Again, the documentary started at a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011 and received partial funding to aid...
In the previous Explore Your Ancestry article, we discussed how you could search for your ancestors through the 26 non-reservation boarding schools that were established in the early 1900’s for Native American children. Then through the National Archives that had all of their enrollment information, affiliated tribes, newspaper clippings, and much more. This post will...
When many people think of Native tribes, they think of the reservations and land that they currently live in. But in almost every case, where current Native tribes reside is not where they were originally from. One man, Aaron Carapella who lives on Cherokee lands, has decided to pinpoint the original locations and names of...
For some Native American tribes around the country, there are areas with 14% of houses without electricity or operate without electricity, which is 10 times higher than the national average. But, with recent innovations in renewable energy, Native Americans are now able to use this energy technology to access electricity and bolster their income. Securing...
First created in 1842, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was created to oversee the administration and the management of almost 60,000,000 acres of Native American land. Some 40 years after its fruition, the BIA set out to create 26 non-reservation boarding schools across 15 states and territories within North America. The first of...
One of the most exciting and heritage rich celebrations that we Native Americans have is the powwow. It is our way of meeting together with each other to dance, sing, visit with each other, make new friendships, and make new ones. Powwows are our way to renew and preserve our rich heritage and culture. Here...
There are many ways in which we can preserve our culture including oral traditions, through artifacts, powwows, and much more. One great way to preserve culture is in museums. They can house and display artifacts, hold events, and promote cross cultural understanding. Museums are also a great way to understand other native cultures either within...
Photo courtesy of: http://www.eastoregonian.com/ Born in 1951 to parents of Chinook, Walla Walla, German, Irish, and French Canadian descent, Lavadour grew up in Pendleton, Oregon on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He discovered his love for art and painting as a child and was encouraged by his family to pursue his artwork. Primarily self-taught as an...
