History -- US2 - Native Americans

Kamau heads to the Dakotas to shed light on a population over which the United States has too long cast a shadow: the indigenous people we mistakenly call Native Americans.

People dress in Native American clothing during Halloween. Have you wondered how Native Americans feel about it? This movie discusses Native American culture and how it is perceived by Native Americans and non Native American people. Located in Durango, Colorado, the student population of Fort Lewis College consists of around 800 Native American students who come from over 120 different tribes/nations each semester. As a foreign student at FLC who took some Native American indigenous studies courses from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014, I became interested in how Native American and non-Native students communicate with each other hence I interviewed a total of 33 people consisting of Native American students, non-Native American students, international students and faculty members in FLC. Through this series of videos, I hope that Native American and non-Native American students can understand each other better. This is one of the six clips of different topics.

In March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit (actor Marcos Akiaten, Chiricauha Apache), the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of native help. Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit's diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit's son (actor Annowon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag), the Wampanoag and their native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.

Each of the episodes focuses on important historical events and concludes with a short contemporary story that links the past to the present.

The Cherokee would call it Nu-No-Du-Na Tlo-Hi-Lu, "The Trail Where They Cried." On May 26, 1838, federal troops forced thousands of Cherokee from their homes in the Southeastern United States, driving them toward Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way. For years the Cherokee had resisted removal from their land in every way they knew. Convinced that white America rejected Native Americans because they were "savages," Cherokee leaders established a republic with a European-style legislature and legal system. Many Cherokee became Christian and adopted westernized education for their children. Their visionary principal chief, John Ross, would even take the Cherokee case to the Supreme Court, where he won a crucial recognition of tribal sovereignty that still resonates. The Supreme Court ruling proved no deterrent to President Andrew Jackson's demands that the Cherokee leave their ancestral lands. A complex debate divided the Cherokee Nation, with Chief Ross urging the Cherokee to stay, and Major Ridge, a respected tribal leader, urging the tribe to move West and rebuild, going so far as to sign a removal treaty himself without the authority to do so. Though in the end the Cherokee embrace of "civilization" and their landmark legal victory proved no match for white land hunger and military power, the Cherokee people were able, with characteristic ingenuity, to build a new life in Oklahoma, far from the land that had sustained them for generations.

In February of 1909, the indomitable Chiricahua Apache warrior and war shaman Geronimo lay on his deathbed. He summoned his nephew to his side, whispering, "I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive." It was an admission of regret from a man whose insistent pursuit of military resistance in the face of overwhelming odds confounded not only his Mexican and American enemies, but many of his fellow Apaches as well. Born around 1820, Geronimo grew into a leading warrior and healer. But after his tribe was relocated to an Arizona reservation in 1872, he became a focus of the fury of terrified white settlers, and of the growing tensions that divided Apaches struggling to survive under almost unendurable pressures. To angry whites, Geronimo became the archfiend, perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, the upholder of the old Chiricahua ways. To other Apaches, especially those who had come to see the white man's path as the only viable road, Geronimo was a stubborn troublemaker, unbalanced by his unquenchable thirst for vengeance, whose actions needlessly brought the enemy's wrath down on his own people. At a time when surrender to the reservation and acceptance of the white man's civilization seemed to be the Indians' only realistic options, Geronimo and his tiny band of Chiricahuas fought on. The final holdouts, they became the last Native American fighting force to capitulate formally to the government of the United States.

On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars, horns blaring, rolled into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. The protesters were demanding redress for grievances-some going back more than 100 years-and the expulsion of Pine Ridge tribal leader Dick Wilson, who governed the reservation through corruption and intimidation. In Wounded Knee, the gripping and controversial story of the armed standoff between American Indian activists and the federal government that captured the world's attention for 71 suspenseful days is brought to life.

The history of the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood films.

In the twilight of a Native American empire, two Ioway brothers travel to Washington, D. C. in 1824 to meet with Superintendent of Indian Affairs, William Clark. Both sign a treaty ceding a large portion of tribal land for settlement. White Cloud sees cooperation as the only way for his people to survive, while Great Walker regrets the loss of land where his ancestors are buried. More territory is lost, and the Ioway people are divided, with some regarding one brother as a traitor, and the other as a patriot. After the tribe is removed, the 36 million acres they once called home is named "Iowa". Then, they are forgotten. "Lost Nation: The Ioway" tells the dramatic true tale of two brothers' struggle to save their people from inevitable American conquest, and the Ioway's current fight to reclaim and maintain their unique history and culture.

Spring 1634: Unidentified Indians kill John Stone, a scurrilous Englishman and pirate. The English blame the Pequots and for two years Colonial-Pequot tensions remain high. 1636: Block Island Indians kill John Oldham. The English send an expedition to punish the Block Islanders and to demand John Stone's killers from the Pequots. Talks with the Pequots break down and violence erupts. The Pequots attack English settlements, and the English declare war on the Pequots -- the first declared war in America. 1637: English Puritans, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, burn a Pequot village at Missituck (Mystic), massacring 400-700 men, women, and children. The English pursue the remaining Pequots until most are either killed or enslaved. Pequots are forbidden to use their tribal name and are subjugated to other Native Tribes allied with the English. With the help of sympathetic English leaders, they eventually are able to reestablish their own communities, which become the first Indian reservations in America.

Hollywood's depiction of Native Americans in Western films is traced through interviews and archive footage.

America's Stonehenge?

By 1877 only a few groups still resist America's westward push. The Lakota Sioux fight to protect their sacred Black Hills, but their victory over Custer at Little Big Horn does not prevent the end of their traditional way of life.

An exploration of the various Native American nations and their fall to the European conquerors.

A three-part American television documentary miniseries that explores the history of Native American cultures, with each hour of the series devoted to a particular region of the United States.

The clash between Native American and European cultures during the 1800s is chronicled via archival photos, location photography and comments from descendants of Indian leaders.

Documentation of the encroachment of European settlers upon Native American lands and the violent reaction of the Indians in their struggle to survive.

The life of Geronimo, as told by the Chiricahua Apaches.

Images of Indians, directed by Robert Hagopian and Phil Lucas, narrated by Will Sampson. In 1979-80, Robert Hagopian and Phil Lucas produced a groundbreaking, five part series for PBS. Images of Indians examines the Hollywood stereotypes of Native people and the societal effects those portrayals had on the public's understanding of Indian history, experience, culture and participation in contemporary American life.

Stacey Dooley narrates this documentary offering a unique insight into the lives of young Native Americans, and follows the protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

The Native American Warrior has been a focus of Native and Non-Native interest since the time of early petroglyphs. The perception of the Warrior has been communicated through books, lore, television and film as a stoic fighter, and savage aggressor, one who retaliated for lost lands, and the constant enemy of the white rancher or soldier. Rarely has the the Warrior been seen outside the Indian world with the more accurate recognition of the reluctant fighter, seeking to defend and protect a culture and lands, against all odds. Complicated further is the attempt to understand the motives of a Native American military soldier, fighting for America in world wars and conflict, even when citizenship and voting rights have been denied. Impacted from the time of the Indian Scout, and reinforced by cultural differences, experiences Native and Non Native soldiers differ greatly. The answer to "Why Fight" requires a complex look at the truth through decades of stereotypes and misperceptions. Remarkably, the answer has stayed the same, whether during the 1500s Tiguex War, the Indian Wars of the 1800s, the World Wars, modern Warfare, or continued modern fights for sovereignty and environment. To Protect and defend - the cohesive thread that connects generations and tribes. This film allows the viewer to follow the journey of the Warrior as he (and she) continue conflict resolution in order to survive and secure resources and culture. The answers to Why Fight remain true through time; the need for Warriors continues. There will always be warriors. "What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves" and therefore, there will always be warriors. (Chief Joseph)

Biographical documentary shining a spotlight on the leadership role Comanche LaDonna Harris has had in Native and American and international civil rights since the 1960s.

The story of why the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations of Native Americans) are a "Sunka Wakan Oyate" (Horse Nation), demonstrating their philosophy and bringing together traditional and contemporary songs, stories, and teachings.