A selection of Native American films and clips found on the Internet. Warning : these films may disappear. Let Erik Ponder know if one of these links quits working.
Here’s The Powerful Anti-Redskins Commercial produced by the National Congress of American Indians that aired during Tuesday’s NBA Finals.
By highlighting the beauty, talent, and diversity of Indian Country, we want to show the world all that it means to be American Indian or Alaska Native. Indian Country is modern, innovative, and alive. We have a rich history and are proud of our ancestors … but we are not simply lines in a history book. Native Americans are not caricatures, cartoons, or myths. We are part of your community.
We are Native peoples from across the country. We live in cities and on reservations. We are tribal leaders and community activists. We are parents and students. We are joined by many non-Native people. It isn’t just those of Native descent who find the use of Indian-themed mascots inappropriate or who find the casual use of the R-word slur reprehensible.
Racism is never acceptable. It’s time to change the mascot.
The film is also available via YouTube.
Looking for documentary films? Note there is a separate tab at the top.
Looking for feature films? Note there is a separate tab at the top.
Native Americans by Pamela Watson from the Cinema and Media Studies module of Oxford Bibliographies Online.
Contents covers:
Representations and Stereotyping of Native Americans in Media and Popular Culture
Media by Native Americans: Self-Representations
Approaches to and Issues in Native American Media Studies
Alcatraz Is Not An Island. YouTube clip. 6:43 minutes. In November 1969 a small group of Native American students and urban Indians began the occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Eventually joined by thousands of Native Americans, they re-claimed 'Indian land' for the first time since the 1880s, forever changing the way Native Americans viewed themselves, their culture and their sovereign rights. The full documentary is available in the MSU Libraries; check Documentary Films tab.
Aleut Story (SnagFilms). In the turbulence of war, in a place where survival was just short of miraculous, the Aleuts of Alaska would redefine themselves -- and America. From indentured servitude and isolated internment camps, to Congress and the White House, this is the incredible story of the Aleuts' decades-long struggle for our nation's ideals. Narrated by Martin Sheen and original music score by Grammy winner Mary Youngblood, the program draws compelling parallels to the present, as our country is grapples with challenging questions of balance between civil liberties and national security.
American Experience : We Shall Remain [streaming video]. Narrated by Benjamin Bratt, part of the American Experience series sponsored by PBS. A groundbreaking mini-series and provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. Five 90-minute documentaries spanning three hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective. the heart of the project is a five-part television series that shows how Native peoples valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture -- from the Wampanoags of New England in the 1600s who used their alliance with the English to weaken rival tribes, to the bold new leaders of the 1970s who harnessed the momentum of the civil rights movement to forge a pan-Indian identity.
Film 1, After the Mayflower : In 1621, Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags of New England negotiated a treaty with Pilgrim settlers. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English and a confederation of Indians, this diplomatic gamble seemed to have been a grave miscalculation. Directed by Chris Eyre.
Film 2, Tecumseh's Vision : In the course of his brief and meteoric career, Tecumseh would become one of the greatest Native American leaders of all time, orchestrating the most ambitious pan-Indian resistance movement ever mounted on the North American continent. After his death he would live on as a potent symbol of Native pride and pan Indian identity. Directed by Ric Burns and Chris Eyre.
Film 3, Trail of Tears : Though the Cherokee embraced "civilization" and won recognition of tribal sovereignty in the U.S. Supreme Court, their resistance to removal from their homeland failed. Thousands were forced on a perilous march to Oklahoma. Directed by Chris Eyre.
Film 4, Geronimo : As the leader of the last Native American fighting force to capitulate to the U.S. government, Geronimo was seen by some as the perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties, while to others he was the embodiment of proud resistance. Directed by Dustinn Craig and Sarah Colt.
Film 5, Wounded Knee : In 1973, American Indian Movement activists and residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation occupied the town of Wounded Knee, demanding redress for grievances. As a result of the siege, Indians across the country forged a new path into the future. Directed by Stanley Nelson.
Apache Indian Resistance - Geronimo. A short explanation of the Apache Native American Indian resistance that happened in the Southwestern United States around the 1860s. There was an active slave trade in the south west that most people are unaware of. The western states were very important in the Civil War for the North. Gold from California and Silver from Nevada helped finance the war against the South. The Indians were in the path of the expanding valuable mineral hunt and settlement. One tribe that fought this expansion were the Apaches. First the Mescalero and then the Chiricahua. The Apache bands were led by Cochise, Victorio, the Chiricahua band was led by famous Geronimo. Geronimo led the most famous Native American resistance and it cost the U.S. government over $40 Million dollars to kill 100 Indians. Geronimo was caught and forced to live in the Southeast where many of the Apaches died. Geronimo died as a captive in 1909 in Oklahoma, far from his mountain home. The speakers are Bob Haozous, a Chiricahua artist and Grace McNeley a Navajo cultural leader.
Battle of Skull Island. 16 minutes. Michigan during the days when the Native American Indian ruled was not always the peaceful life that so many presume it to have been. Yes there were times like that, but we also know that there were some very bloody battles. This true account is about one such episode which we have named, "The Battle of Skull Island." This battle took much planning among various Indian nations all in an attempt to exterminate the Sauk who controlled the Saginaw Valley in mid Michigan. This video is read by Dennis M. Morrison Sr., and is based on a booklet of his sold through Time Hopper Productions.
Battles of Chief Pontiac / Lex Barker (1952). During the 1700s, in the Great Lakes region the British troops have driven the French out and with help from the mercenary Hessian troops the British plan to annihilate the native tribes of the Ottawas. American Film Institute summary.
Big Questions: 1855 Treaty and Treaty Rights. Half hour show on the 1855 Treaty and treaty rights generally. Focuses on treaty rights in Minnesota. TurtleTalk, March 20, 2014
Cahokia - City of the Sun (YouTube). 14 minutes.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (YouTube). 14 minutes. Introductory video for the Cahokia Mounds State Historic and World Heritage Site. The site preserves the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico and the largest prehistoric earthen mound in the Americas. The site is located at 30 Ramey Street, Collinsville, Illinois. For more information call 618/346-5160 or visit http://www.cahokiamounds.org .
Defend the Sacred. A Kyle Bell Film. 2017. via Vimeo. A short documentary that attempts to capture the spirit of indigenous people at Standing Rock.
Prairie Fire: Cahokia Mounds (WILL-TV). The Cahokia Mounds were once one of the most prosperous Native American cities in the Americas. These ancient residents of America built long-standing, sedentary communities with complex social structures, sprawling community squares, and ceremonial earthen mounds....While many of the mounds in the area have been leveled because of farming, construction, or landscaping efforts over the decades, the site is now recognized for its cultural importance....The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site has a great Web site ( http://www.cahokiamounds.com ) detailing the history of this ancient city in the middle of Illinois.
The Canary Effect (YouTube) 63 minutes : The grim legacy of America's treatment of its native peoples is explored in detail in this documentary. Filmmakers Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman take the perspective that if one is to define "genocide" as the a deliberate effort by a government to exterminate a people, then the United States is clearly guilty of the crime given their actions against America's indigenous population over the past 300 years. Davey and Thunder Woman back up their argument with footage detailing the economic marginalization of American Indians, the consistent violation of legal agreements reached with native tribes, the mismanagement and consistent neglect of Indian reservations, the brutalization of Native Americans as they were segregated onto flinty soil and forced to live under substandard conditions, and the refusal of the mass media to report stories of suicide and Columbine-style school shootings among reservation youth. The Canary Effect was screened in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
(YouTube) 5:02 minutes. A short condensed true story about Yavapai Native American Activist,
Carlos Montezuma, as told in pictures from the CarolRhoda/Lerner Books children's publication, "A Boy Named Beckoning," written and illustrated by Gina Capaldi. This award-winning book tells the story from his capture by the Pima Indians in 1871, up to his death in the early 20th century.
Cheyenne Warrior (1994) : As war is brewing between the Union and the Confederacy, Matthew and Rebecca are travelling west to start a new life in Oregon. Along the way, they stop at a remote trading post, where they meet up with some Cheyenne Indians. Though the Cheyenne are friendly toward the pioneers, Matthew doesn't like them and warns a group of hunters that hostile Indians are preparing for an attack. In the confrontation that results, only Rebecca and a single wounded Cheyenne warrior named Hawk are left alive. As the winter closes in, and the two are forced to rely on each other for survival, they begin to understand and even feel affection for each other.
Dakota 38. 78 minutes. In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a Native spiritual leader and Vietnam veteran, found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the great plains of South Dakota. Just before he awoke, he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. At the time, Jim knew nothing of the largest mass execution in United States history, ordered by Abraham Lincoln on December 26, 1862. "When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator... As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn't get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it's one of those dreams that bothers you night and day." ... Now, four years later, embracing the message of the dream, Jim and a group of riders retrace the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota to arrive at the hanging site on the anniversary of the execution. "We can't blame the wasichus anymore. We're doing it to ourselves. We're selling drugs. We're killing our own people. That's what this ride is about, is healing." This is the story of their journey- the blizzards they endure, the Native and Non-Native communities that house and feed them along the way, and the dark history they are beginning to wipe away.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Indians But Were Afraid To Ask (book presentation). Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a presentation based on his new book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press. His frank and funny talk builds a foundation for true understanding and positive actions. Afterward, Dr. Treuer signed copies of the book. Anton Treuer is the author of "The Assassination of Hole in the Day" and many other books on Ojibwe history and language.
Forgotten War : Native American warfare was an important part of the French and Indian War. Two colonists, the American born Robert Rogers and his Canadian born French nemesis Langi de Montegron became important backwoods fighters who were skilled at Indian warfare techniques. Rogers' many exploits were made famous in Colonial newspapers and were personified in Last of the Mohicans. But the little know Langi was a powerful adversary who bested Rogers at every meeting. A skilled self promoter, Rogers wrote a manual for wilderness fighting, and is still revered as the father of the Green Beret and American Special Forces. Langi deserves more recognition and this documentary helps tell his story.
Forgotten War : Battle of Lake George. Short film about the Battle of Lake George created as part of the educational documentary project "Forgotten War: The Struggle for North America" www.forgottenwaronline.org. Project created by Mountain Lake PBS (www.mountainlake.org) in partnership with Lakes to Locks Passage ( http://www.lakestolocks.com ) December 18, 2009.
Forgotten War : The Struggle for North America Documentary Clip. Forgotten War: The Struggle for North America is a documentary produced by Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh, NY. Mountain Lake PBS commemorates the French and Indian War by telling these powerful stories through this documentary: * Story of Robert Rogers and his rangers * Abenaki and Iroquois nations * The massacre at Fort William Henry * Battles of Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point * Tragic expulsion of the Acadians * Fall of Quebec and Montreal * Brutal destruction of the Abenakis at Saint Francis by Rogers Rangers * Iroquois diplomacy of Sir William Johnson that helped turn the war October 20, 2009.
Gifts from the Elders. Follows five Anishinaabe youth on a summer research project with their Elders, whose stories guide them on a journey back to proceeding generations that lived a healthy lifestyle off of the land. Their stories chronicle the devastating impact that environmental and cultural dispossession had on the flow of knowledge from Elders to youth, and ultimately on the health of their people. As their summer comes to an end, the youth emerge with “gifts” of knowledge and teachings from their Elders, inspiring a renewed determination to forge a hopeful and healthy future for the next generation.
Girls Right of Passage. Apache girls take part in ancient tests of strength, endurance and character that will make them women and prepare them for the trials of womanhood. National Geographic.
Heated Custody Battle Over Native American Girl Removed from California Foster Family. / ABC News. (YouTube, 12:17 minutes). May 22, 2016 : Child Protective Services is enforcing a controversial law, the Indian Child Welfare Act, to remove a 6-year-old girl from the foster family that raised her.
Hidden America : Children of the Plains. 20/20 from ABC News.
History of Native American Indians, Documentary - Pt. 1/4
History of Native American Indians, Documentary - Pt. 2/4
History of Native American Indians, Documentary - Pt. 3/4
History of Native American Indians, Documentary - Pt. 4/4
How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native Americans.
Ikwe [streaming video] / Norma Bailey. National Film Board of Canada, 1986, 56 minutes. : Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this dramatic film features a young Ojibwa girl from 1770 who marries a Scottish fur trader and leaves home for the shores of the Georgian Bay. Although the union is beneficial for her tribe, it results in hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of a dream Ikwe once had unfold with tragic clarity. Illustrates one down side of contact between cultures : the introduction of small pox and its dire impact on Native Americans.
. : "Indian History of Michigan's Thumb Region" takes you from the Paleo and Woodland Indian periods to the "corn grinding" sites along the Huron shores. Travel in time from treaties and missionaries...To the colorful lives of Indian Dave, Peter Chatfield and others. Visit "White Rock" and see a pow-wow with traditional dance. The woodland flute of Robert Tall Tree adds realism to this historic glance at the past. January 21, 2007.
Indian Pride. A PBS Television Series showcasing topics about Native Americans, including: Historical Overview; Treaties and Sovereignty; Spirituality; Tribal Relations with the U.S. Governmen; Cullture, Traditions, and Celebration; Indian Advocacy; Myths and Real Truths; Economic Development; Health and Healing; Indian Education; Heroes; Tribal Government Structure; Indian Gaming
Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears / A documentary by by Forest and Austin. Based on the writings of Howard S. Rogers
Indians of Cass County. Dennis Morrison.
Ishi the Last Yahi by SnagFilms. 1992. 56 minutes. In the early 1900s, Ishi, the last of the Yahi Indian tribe, is discovered nearly 20 years after the Yahi tribe was thought to be wiped out. The curators of a museum agree to look after him, hoping to learn more about him, his tribe, and their beliefs, and to teach him to survive in the modern world.
Little Dream Catchers. Video by America Reframed, September 30, 2016. The short documentary Little Dream Catchers takes us to White Earth Nation in Minnesota—the state’s largest tribe with over 20,000 members. There, communities have been affected by drug addiction and unemployment, as well as a loss of culture due to forced assimilation for hundreds of years. It’s a moving film that centers around the necessity of early childhood education when it comes to returning to the tribal language and culture. "When you're told for 500 years your ways are evil, that damages your self esteem,” says the writer Gyassi Ross at the start of the film. “Showing the beauty of the language is a small dent in reclaiming that self-esteem.” In the White Earth Nation in Minnesota, preschoolers learn school readiness while engaging in tribal rituals, such as pow-wows, to prepare for kindergarten with a sense of identity.
Lost Civilizations of North America documentary trailer. 4 minutes. : Why don't most Americans, including many historians, know about the highly advanced ancient civilization that existed in the 'Heartland' of North American near the time of Christ? The Lost Civilizations of North America is a powerful new documentary film that explores this question of historical importance to all Americans, but especially those of Native American descent.
Lost Worlds : Georgia | Part 1 : Intro.
Lost Worlds: Georgia | Part 5: Mississippians : Mississippian Indians constructed enormous earthen pyramids throughout Georgia and played an early version of lacrosse.
Lost Worlds: Georgia| Part 6: Ocmulgee Indian Mounds : In America's deep South, in the shadow of the modern metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia lies the remnants of Native American civilizations thousands of years old. From great walled cities that predate the pyramids in Egypt to Georgia's own pyramid-building culture that existed when Europeans first arrived, "Lost Worlds: Georgia" proves that the New World was really an Old World. Forget teepees and dream catchers. Georgia's Indians carved marble statues and housed them in temples built atop multi-story earthen pyramids. "Lost Worlds: Georgia" hopes to dispel many of the outdated stereotypes forged by Hollywood of Native Americans. This groundbreaking documentary takes the viewer back through 4,000 years of Georgia's prehistory on a tour through the state's most important Native American archaeological sites. Part historical documentary and part travelogue, this tour includes never-before-seen footage of several unique sites. This video excerpt features one such site: Ocmulgee Mounds. Located an hour south of Atlanta, this site features an earthen pyramid over eight stories tall! Watch the video to learn more about this impressive site and visit LostWorlds.org to learn about even more amazing Native American archaeological sites.
Lost Worlds: Georgia | Part 8: Etowah Mounds. Learn more about the Etowah Mounds site in Cartersville, Georgia. This site was one of the largest and most spectacular Native American towns in North America. Part of the Mississippian culture, this site featured six story tall earthen pyramids and marble statues were unearthed from its ruins.
Mistress Magdeleine [streaming video] / Aaron Kim Johnston. National Film Board of Canada, 1986, 57 min. : Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this film, set in the 1850s, unfolds against the backdrop of the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly of the fur trade. In protest, some Metis engage in trade with the Americans. Madeleine, the Metis common-law wife of a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, is torn between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her brother, a freetrader. Even more shattering, a change in company policy destroys Madeleine's happy and secure life, forcing her to re-evaluate her identity."
Mohawk (1956), Full Length Western Movie, in color. An artist goes west in the 1700s to paint landscapes and native Americans, but he gets caught up in an Indian uprising. Stars Scott Brady and Neville Brand.
Mound City - Native American Mounds - St. Louis (Part 1) : Documentary about Native American burial Mounds in and around St. Louis, MO and Cahokia, IL. Interview with the man who lives on top of Sugar Loaf Mound, the last standing Indian Mound in St. Louis. World Heritage Site - an article on this area recently appeared in National Geographic Magazine.
Mound City - Sugar Loaf Mound - St. Louis (Part 2) : Documentary about Native American burial Mounds in and around St. Louis, MO and Cahokia, IL Sugar Loaf Mound
National Museum of the American Indian YouTube Playlist.
Native America before European Colonization. Upon the arrival of Columbus in 1492 in the Carabean Islands, unknown to Columbus (and majority of the Eastern Hemisphere), he landed on Islands located in the middle of two huge continents now known has North America and South America that was teaming with huge Civilizations (that rivaled any in the world at that time) and thousands of smaller Nations and Tribes. With recent estimations, the population may have been over 100 million people that spanned from Alaska and Green Land, all the to the tip of southern South America.
Native American Cultures collection from the History Channel. 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.
Native American History collection from the History Channel. Native American cultures in the United States include a wide array of socially and geographically diverse groups, whose nomadic ancestors are believed to have traveled via a long-gone land bridge across the Bering Strait at least 13,000 years ago. Displaced and often persecuted by European explorers and the settlers that followed, Native Americans have struggled to maintain their ancestral practices, while increasing their representation in American political and cultural life. Check out:
Native Americans in Michigan via YouTube. A digital story by Brandon Altadonna to prepare students for a WebQuest about Native Americans in Michigan. The story will be used with a fourth grade class.
Native Voices : Tribute to Women.
Places Not Our Own [streaming video] / Derek Mazur. National Film Board of Canada, 1986, 57 min. : Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this dramatic film set in 1929 depicts how Canada's West, home to generations of Metis, was taken over by the railroads and new settlers. As a result, the Metis became a forgotten people, forced to eke out a living as best they could. At the forefront is Rose, a woman determined to provide her children with a normal life and an education despite the odds. But due to their harsh circumstances, a devastating and traumatic event transpires instead.
Power Paths. The story begins in the 1960s, when two massive coal mines open on Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona. Between them, they produce enough coal to satisfy the unquenchable energy thirsts of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. They also comprise the single largest strip-mining complex in the world. For more than 30 years, the mines—and the Mohave Generating Station they supply—scar sacred native land, drain the natural aquifers and pollute the Southwestern skies....Meanwhile, beneath the high-tension power lines that carry electricity to the neon-saturated Vegas Strip, Native American reservation dwellers have no electricity or running water....Sickened by the economic disparity and the mounting toll on their land and health, some Navajo and Hopi tribe members begin pressuring their tribal governments not to renew the mining leases, but to no avail. As a result, a handful of grassroots organizers from both tribes join forces with The Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust and the National Parks and Conservation Association to fight back. Calling themselves the Just Transition Coalition, they take on wealthy and entrenched adversaries from Peabody to Southern California Edison....They succeed in closing the power plant (and subsequently the mines) in 2005. But the ecological and moral victory comes at a cost: About half of the adults on the reservations had worked for the mines, and are now unemployed....Undeterred, the Just Transition Coalition shifts gears and heads for California, where they win a legal battle to use the shuttered Mohave plant’s cap-and-trade pollution credits to finance investment in solar panels and wind turbines for their reservations....In one scene, a Navajo mother screws a light bulb into a kitchen socket for the first time and sees it light up, enabling her children to stop depending on sunlight or dangerous kerosene lanterns in order to do their homework. She weeps in relief and gratitude....Today, more tribes are seeking investments and partnerships to create green-energy economies on the reservation, with hopes that one day, renewable energy will replace casinos as a primary means for economic development and tribal self-sufficiency....As the nation at large struggles to disengage itself from the chains of a fossil-fuel-based economy, POWER PATHS signals cause for hope that an alternative is not somewhere in the future, but possible right now. And Native Americans are leading the way.
Prehistoric Europeans, First Native Americans (1 of 3). 1:26 minutes. "Ice Age Columbus". More and more evidence from tools, human remains, DNA and even from examining American Indian folk tales, show that Europeans were the first original native people of America and the only ones to exclusively inhabit the "New World" for 1000's of years.
Prehistoric Europeans, First Native Americans (2 of 3) 5:21 minutes
Prehistoric Europeans, First Native Americans (3 of 3) 5:45 minutes
Reel Injun : On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian [streaming video] / Neil Diamond. National Film Board of Canada, 5 minute trailer : Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema. Travelling through the heartland of America, Diamond looks at how the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding – and misunderstanding – of Natives. With clips from hundreds of classic and recent films, and candid interviews with celebrated Native and non-Native directors, writers, actors and activists, including Clint Eastwood, Robbie Robertson, Sacheen Littlefeather, John Trudell and Russell Means, Reel Injun traces the evolution of cinema’s depiction of Native people from the silent film era to present day. Info on the full film. Note: Film available on DVD in Digital and Multimedia Center - see Documentary Film tab.
Residential Schools. Focuses on Canadian schools where Indian children were separated from their families.
Russell Means : Welcome to the Reservation. The United States is one big reservation, and we are all in it. So says Russell Means, legendary actor, political activist and leader for the American Indian Movement. Means led the 1972 seizure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in 1973 led a standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a response to the massacre of at least 150 Lakotah men, women, and children by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at a camp near Wounded Knee Creek....American Indian Russell Means gives an eye-opening 90 minute interview in which he explains how Native Americans and Americans in general are all imprisoned within one huge reservation. Means is a leader for the Republic of Lakotah, a movement that has declared its independence from the United States and refused to recognize the authority of presidents or governments, withdrawing from treaties it made with the federal government and defining its borders which cover thousands of square miles in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana....Means explains how American Indians have been enslaved within de facto prisoner of war camps as a result of the federal government's restriction of their food supply and the application of colonial tactics, a process that has now also been inflicted on the United States as a whole which has turned into, "one huge Indian reservation," according to Means....Means warns that Americans have lost the ability of critical though, and with each successive generation become more irresponsible and as a consequence less free, disregarding a near-perfect document, the Constitution, which was derived from Indian law. Means chronicles the loss of freedom from the 1840's onwards, which marked the birth of the corporation, to Lincoln's declaration of martial law, to the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th when Congress "started giving banks the right to rule," and private banking interests began printing the money.
Serpent Mound, Ohio : Serpent Mound is a massive earthwork depicting an uncoiling serpent and is the largest and finest effigy mound in the United States. Spanning nearly 1,300 feet in length, it is thought to be constructed by the Fort Ancient culture more than 1,000 years ago. Today, it is a National Historic Landmark. From Our Ohio show 308, produced in 2008.
Sitting Bull (feature movie starring Dale Robertson). (106 minutes)
Sitting Bull's Great Grandson Tells Oral History / Ernie LaPointe, Sitting Bull's lineal great grandson, tells his great grandfather's oral history. In this film clip he tells who the family holds most responsible for the death of Sitting Bull. Full two part DVD series available at www.reelcontact.com. This clip is from part two of 'The Authorized Biography of Sitting Bull By His Great Grandson".
Town Creek Indian Mound near Mt. Gilead, N.C. Not very exciting, but I spent the night in the structure in the opening shot while a child in Boy Scouts!
Trail of Tears. . Many thousand died in the stockades and along the trail. The Cherokee Nation was decimated, families torn apart, but the Cherokee spirit prevailed. Upon arrival in Indian Territory, the Cherokee forced west reunited with those Cherokee who had moved prior to the Trail of Tears, and worked to reform their government and cultural bonds. Today, with close to 300,000 tribal citizens, the Cherokee Nation is one of the largest Indian nations in the US. Despite the tragic events of 1838-1839, the Cherokee people have persevered and the Cherokee Nation thrives...This year, the National Park Service, in collaboration with the Cherokee Nation, produced a video which tells the story of the Trail of Tears from the Cherokee perspective. The 30-minute documentary was written by Cherokee Nation citizen Shane Smith, and tells the story of the Cherokee families who experienced the Trail of Tears, often telling the story in the Cherokee language. It is a great video, and well worth watching as we solemnly mark the anniversary of one of the darkest events in American history.
Treaties Between the U.S. Government and Native Nations: A Primer. Josephine Holtzman, Isaac Kestenbaum, Allison Herrera, NPR, January 03, 2018.
United Native Americans Reclaim Mt. Rushmore (1970).
War of 1812 in the Northwest, sponsored by WGTE Public Television, 57 minutes. Douglas Brinkley, David Skaggs and Randall Buchman are among the noted historians and authors featured in the program, along with Eric Hemenway, who works in the Cultural Preservation Department for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Northern Michigan. Support for War of 1812 in the Old Northwest is provided by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by Buckeye CableSystem.
Wellbriety Movement : Journey to Forgiveness. Documentary on the Abuses of the Indian Boarding Schools. Discusses the intergenerational trauma in native communities. The "Wellbriety Movement: Journey of Forgiveness" is now available on Youtube, www.whitebison.org , or free on DVD. Email info@whitebison.org for DVD, include mailing address.
White Feather(1955) The story of the peace mission from the US cavalry to the Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming during the 1870s. The mission is threatened when a civilian surveyor befriends the chief's son and falls for the chief's daughter.
Who Speaks Wukchumni? Film is included in article by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee appearing in New York Times, August 18, 2014.
Who were the Mound Builders? The First American Civilization. 37 minutes.
Wilma Mankiller : Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People Video (October 2, 2008). 50 minutes, 43 seconds. The Library Channel is proud to present the Second installment of the Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community, sponsored by ASU American Indian Studies Program, ASU Department of English, ASU American Indian Policy Institute, ASU Labriola Center, and the Heard Museum...R.ecorded on October 2, 2008 at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and internationally known Native rights activist talks about "Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People."...Mankiller talks of the diversity and uniqueness of the over 300 million Indigenous Peoples of the world. She also talks of indigenous duty and sense of responsibility to conserve and protect the natural world and how cultures with no memories of their origins have little understanding of their place in the world....Wilma Mankiller's work as principal chief, consultant and speaker on Native issues has been acknowledged by numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States. She has also been recognized as American Indian Woman of the Year, received the Indian Health Service Award and entered into the National Women's Hall of Fame....She co-edited A Reader's Companion to the History of Women in the U.S., Houghton-Mifflin, co-authored, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, St. Martin's Press, and her newest book, Every Day is a Good Day was published by Fulcrum Press in the fall of 2004.
Young Lakota (trailer) The first female President of their tribe, defies a South Dakota law criminalizing abortion by threatening to build a women’s clinic on the sovereign territory of the reservation. In the subsequent political storm, Sunny, Serena and Brandon are faced with difficult choices....Young Lakota is a uniquely sensitive portrait of bright young people at a galvanizing stage of their lives whose cultural pride is informed by a continually uneasy relationship with mainstream American political culture. More information from PBS.
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