Research Guides: Indigenous Peoples' Heritage: Guide

Say We Are Nations : Documents of Politics and Protest in Indigenous America Since 1887

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Born in the Blood: On Native American Translation

Petroglyphs, Pictographs, and Projections

Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club

Daughters of Mother Earth: the wisdom of Native American women

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake

Native Students at Work : American Indian Labor and Sherman Institute's Outing Program, 1900-1945

Changed Forever, Volume I : American Indian Boarding-School Literature

Inside Dazzling Mountains: Southwest Native Verbal Arts

'That the People Might Live' : Loss and Renewal in Native American Elegy

Deep Waters: The Textual Continuum in American Indian Literature

The Newspaper Warrior : Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins's Campaign for American Indian Rights

The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States Since 1945

The Turtle's Beating Heart : One Family's Story of Lenape Survival

Horace Poolaw, Photographer of American Indian Modernity

Life of the Indigenous Mind : Vine Deloria Jr. And the Birth of the Red Power Movement

Murder State : California's Native American Genocide, 1846-1873

Viola Martinez, California Paiute : Living in Two Worlds

Great Short Stories by Contemporary Native American Writers

100 + Native American Women Who Changed the World

Red Cloud: Photographs of a Lakota Chief

Intellectual Property, Indigenous People and Their Knowledge

Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature : Indigenous People and Protected Spaces of Nature

Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast

The Indigenous Paradox: Rights, Sovereignty, and Culture in the Americas

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

Shapes of Native Nonfiction : Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers

The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists

Indigenous Tribes Club
Join and learn more about different cultures of Indigenous Tribes.

Sherman Alexie	Jim Thorpe	Geronimo
Maria Tallchief	Wilma Mankiller	Billy Mills
Sacagawea	John Herrington	Louise Erdrich

Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Painting: Muscogee Creek artist Maddie Lamb painted a large MMIW wall mural entitled ‘No More Stolen Sisters’ located at 301 S. Main Street in Muskogee, Oklahoma, to bring attention to the ever growing cause of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. (Submission)

From Films On Demand database:

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology The remains of more than 10,000 Native Americans unearthed at archaeological sites across the U.S. are in the possession of museums such as the Smithsonian. Is the analysis of the bones valid scientific research, or is it a desecration of Native American culture? This program focuses on the tensions between scientists, historians, and museum curators and Native American groups, as the bones take on a central role in a war of alternate perspectives. In examining this debate, the program provides an excellent survey of Native American archaeology in the U.S. A BBC Production. (49 minutes)
Dancing in Moccasins: Keeping Native American Traditions Alive For the nearly two million Native Americans, representing 500 Indian nations, life in the U.S. today is a frustrating struggle to retain their ancient ways while functioning in the modern world, to carve out an identity in an overwhelmingly non-Indian culture. This program examines the needs and problems of today’s Native Americans, both those who live on the reservation and those who have chosen the mainstream. The conclusion focuses on celebration and survival as reflected in the continuing tradition of the Powwow. (49 minutes)
First Face of America Discover the extraordinary remains of a 13,000 year-old teenager in an underwater cave in Mexico. Distributed by PBS Distribution.
Indian School: Stories of Survival Proposing to “kill the Indian and save the man,” U.S. Army captain Richard H. Pratt envisioned an educational system that would erase Native American culture and “civilize” the continent’s indigenous people. His chosen method? Removing children from Pennsylvania’s tribal communities and confining them in barracks-style schools—initially the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which Pratt founded in 1879. In myopic terms it was a remarkably effective strategy, and Carlisle became a cruel model for institutions all over the U.S. and Canada, including Michigan’s Mount Pleasant Indian School. Subjected to emotional, physical, and spiritual abuse, Mount Pleasant students were inevitably alienated from their families, native languages, and tribal religions. This film combines archival materials with present-day interviews to make clear just how inhumane the system was. Survivors from Tlingit, Chippewa, Choctaw, and Lakota communities describe in raw, unflinching terms the impact on First Nations across North America. Contains occasional profanity. (41 minutes)
Leslie M. Silko The works of Leslie Marmon Silko are strongly rooted in her own matrilineal tribal background. Like all writing of lasting value, they use particular experiences and places to reveal universal truths. Here, Silko discusses her own background and the interrelationship between her smaller, immediate Native American world and the larger, brutal surrounding world. (45 minutes)
N. Scott Momaday N. Scott Momaday is the most widely published and read of the Native American writers, and the recipient of the most valued awards and prizes for both his poetry and his prose. A Ph.D. in English literature, he has combined his study of Western literature with the themes as well as the structures of his Kiowa Indian heritage. Here, Momaday discusses what it means to a Native American to be an American citizen and reveals the artist, thinker, and imaginative creator behind (or perhaps at the core of) his impressive and important body of work. (45 minutes)
Native America Native America challenges everything we thought we knew about the Americas before and since contact with Europe. It travels through 15,000-years to showcase massive cities, unique systems of science, art, and writing, and 100 million people connected by social networks and spiritual beliefs spanning two continents. The series reveals some of the most advanced cultures in human history and the Native American people who created it and whose legacy continues, unbroken, to this day.
Native American Artists This classic six-part series, which aired on PBS during the nation’s bicentennial, examines the careers of some of the most talented Native American artists of the Southwest as they were unfolding at that time. The many examples of their work, combined with intimate glimpses of Indian cultures, make each program a valuable time capsule of an era when Native American art first began to attract the attention of the mainstream modern art community both in the U.S. and around the world. Rod McKuen narrates. 6-part series, 29 minutes each.
Native American Boomtown The Bakken oil boom is bringing billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to North Dakota. A substantial part of the oil production is concentrated on an Indian reservation. Fort Berthold Reservation’s 1,000-plus oil wells have brought in money and jobs for some, but oil has also brought danger—organized crime, hard drugs, traffic fatalities—and other problems. Tribal members speak about the benefits and consequences of the boom.
Native American Communities and Climate Change Native Americans from Maine to Washington state convened for a conference at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Their mission: to discuss the effects of climate change on tribal communities. NewsHour correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reports. Original broadcast date: July 19, 2012. (8 minutes)
Native American Novelists In 1969, N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa Indian writer, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel House Made of Dawn. This catalyzed the flowering of Native American literature in the United States. In this series of intimate portraits of four outstanding Native American novelists, N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Leslie M. Silko, and Gerald Vizenor seek to define themselves and their culture and to explain both the past and the present of their people. Each has experienced the tragedies of the Native American people—forced resettlement, loss of identity, loneliness, alcoholism, and despair—and has written about them with courage, understanding, and great literary sensitivity. 4 part series, 45–50 minutes each.
Native American Religions In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Native American religions with Suzan Shown Harjo, executive director of The Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C. Topics of discussion include the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978; some common aspects of the approximately 300 remaining Native American religions being practiced in the U.S. today; the concepts of a supreme being and associated sacred beings as they exist in Native American culture; the prophecies of the Cheyenne prophet Sweet Medicine and the historical impact of North America’s settlers on the land’s indigenous peoples; and the pressing need for all Americans, non-native and native alike, to create a better future together. (27 minutes)
Native Voices - American Passages: A Literary Survey Native Americans had established a rich and highly developed tradition of oral literature long before the writings of the European colonists. This program explores that richness by introducing Native American oral traditions through the work of three contemporary authors: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), and Luci Tapahonso (Navajo).
Our Fires Still Burn: The Native American Experience This compelling one hour documentary invites viewers into the lives of contemporary Native Americans. It dispels the myth that American Indians have disappeared from the American horizon, and reveals how they continue to persist, heal from the past, confront the challenges of today, keep their culture alive, and make significant contributions to society. Their experiences will deeply touch both Natives and non-Natives and help build bridges of understanding, respect, and communication. The tragic history of Native Americans is considered by many to be our “American Holocaust.” This can be seen in the history of the Boarding School Era, during which time Native children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed into boarding schools. Interviewees explain how this past trauma continues to negatively impact their emotional and physical health today and contribute to urgent social problems. To help heal this historical trauma, First Nations people are reclaiming their spiritual and cultural identity. The stories shared in this documentary are powerful, startling, despairing and inspiring. They reflect an American history fraught with the systematic destruction of a people. Yet, amidst the debris of suffering and trauma, there is resilience and a profound remembering and healing taking place today, which will also benefit the next Seven Generations.
Spirits for Sale: The Commercialization of American Indian Rituals Western spiritualists often seek enlightenment through indigenous religions once practiced in different regions around the world. Native American rituals are especially popular, and Europeans stage ceremonies based on American Indian beliefs for which they charge admission. America’s original people are not pleased with this development, for they regard this practice as the exploitation of their heritage. They see these performances as “pay to pray” ceremonies with imposters playing the roles of American natives. Beautifully crafted and filmed, Spirits for Sale explores both sides of an unlikely dispute between native peoples and present-day interpreters of their rituals. (58 minutes)
Trail of Tears This emotional documentary dramatically re-tells the story of the Trail of Tears, the brutal relocation of Native Americans from their homelands in the East to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Men, women, and children were forced to march more than 1,000 grueling miles to territories west of the Mississippi. Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation on the march, and many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee. Trail of Tears was produced in conjunction with the Cherokee Nation, giving the filmmakers unprecedented access and support to make every aspect of the film culturally and historically accurate. Filmed in stunning high-definition and utilizing feature-quality historical reenactments, this theatrical documentary captures the devastating hardship, suffering, and—ultimately—the triumph of Native Americans driven from their homelands.
We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes Produced for PBS’s American Experience, the miniseries We Shall Remain tells five heartbreaking yet inspiring stories. Together they highlight Native American ingenuity and resilience over the course of 300 years. This five-part series shows how Native peoples valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture. It covers Native American history 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. This documentary represents an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers. Distributed by PBS Distribution. 5-part series, 60 minutes each.
The World of American Indian Dance For centuries, dancing was part of virtually every aspect of Native American life. Although outlawed at times by the U.S. government and performed out of context for Wild West shows, dancing now unifies tribal nations and preserves Indian heritage. This documentary explores the dynamics of competition dancing—its artistry, origins, and meanings, as well as the clash between progress and tradition that marks the contest powwow. Filmed at Crow Fair in Montana, the program was produced by the Oneida Indian Nation and aired on broadcast television. A general history of Native American issues is included. (46 minutes)

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) The National Congress of American Indians, founded in 1944, is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.
NCAI: Tribal Directory Find information on Associate Organizations, Tribal Organizations, and Alaska Native Corporations.
NDN Collective Mission: Build the collective power of Indigenous Peoples, communities, and Nations to exercise our inherent right to self-determination, while fostering a world that is built on a foundation of justice and equity for all people and the planet.
National Archives - American Heritage Month The Library of Congress celebrates and recognizes the contributions Native Americans have made to American society.
Native American Heritage Month November is National American Indian Heritage Month The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.
Indian Land Tenure Foundation ILTF is a national, community-based organization focused on American Indian land recovery and management.
UCLA - Native American and Indigenous Peoples FAQs To learn more about Native American and Indigenous Affairs.

What is the proper terminology: Indigenous, Indigenous Peoples, Native American, or American Indian?

Generally, Indigenous refers to those peoples with pre-existing sovereignty who were living together as a community prior to contact with settler populations, most often – though not exclusively – Europeans. Indigenous is the most inclusive term, as there are Indigenous peoples on every continent throughout the world – such as the Sami in Sweden, the First Nations in Canada, Mayas in Mexico and Guatemala, and the Ainu in Japan – fighting to remain culturally intact on their land bases. Indigenous Peoples refers to a group of Indigenous peoples with a shared national identity, such as “Navajo” or “Sami,” and is the equivalent of saying “the American people.” Native American and American Indian are terms used to refer to peoples living within what is now the United States prior to European contact. American Indian has a specific legal context because the branch of law, Federal Indian Law, uses this terminology. American Indian is also used by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget through the U.S. Census Bureau. Whenever possible, it is best to use the name of an individual’s particular Indigenous community or nation of people; for example, “Tongva,” “Tataviam” and “Chumash” are the Indigenous Peoples of the Los Angeles area, and they are also “American Indian,” “Native American,” and “Indigenous.”

- UCLA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Native American Ledger Art Museum educator Ramsey Weeks (Assiniboine, Lenape, and Hidatsa) discusses Native American ledger art, and shares ideas for family and classroom “winter count” activities.
Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science: Dr. Gregory Cajete Talk Dr. Gregory Cajete, Director of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico, explains how Indigenous physicists not only observe the world, but participate in it with all his or her sensual being because everything in native thought is “alive” with energy. Cajete was speaking to an attentive audience at The Banff Centre as part of the Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science: Contrasts and Similarities event. Dr. Gregory Cajete is a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. He is a Native American educator whose work is dedicated to honoring the foundations of indigenous knowledge in education. Dr. Cajete has served as a New Mexico Humanities scholar in ethno botany of Northern New Mexico and as a member of the New Mexico Arts Commission. In addition, he has lectured at colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, England, Italy, Japan and Russia. Dr. Cajete has authored five books and received several fellowships and academic distinctions. Currently, he is Director of Native American Studies and an Associate Professor in the Division of Language, Literacy and Socio cultural Studies in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. He worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 21 years. While at the Institute, he served as Dean of the Center for Research and Cultural Exchange, Chair of Native American Studies and Professor of ethno science. Dr. Cajete also designs culturally-responsive curricula geared to the special needs and learning styles of Native American students.
History of Native California Place-Based Learning Communities in the College of Natural Resources & Sciences at Humboldt State University
Indigenous Americans This channel is dedicated to supporting, reporting and promoting the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island also known as the Western Hemisphere; indigenous voices, indigenous nations, indigenous sovereignty, indigenous rights, indigenous resistance.

Google Noodles Archive

Behind the Doodle: Celebrating the late We:wa

Celebrating Indigenous North American Stickball

Past Events

For the most current event, visit the Center for Culture and Social Justice. For past recordings of the events, visit Chaffey College Facebook Past Live Videos.

On November 16, 2023, Chaffey College will present a dance and lecture on the current state of the American Indian by Red Boy Productions. Stop by the CAA-218 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to catch this enriching event.

Native American Event November 2023

Chaffey College Statement

We'd like to acknowledge that Chaffey College is on the ancestral lands of The Kizh and Tongva (Gabrieleño) who remain in the area today.

With respect and honor for the lands we gather on and the leaders before us, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the Gabrieleño-Tongva (GABRIEL-EN-YO TONG–VAH) Peoples, the original stewards of these sacred and unceded homelands. The Tongva people’s history, language(s), cultural traditions, and legacy continue to shape this region and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands.

In the spirit of truth and equity, Chaffey College commits to uplifting the voices of indigenous peoples, and building an inclusive and equitable educational environment, and decolonizing the institution. We also encourage members of the Chaffey College community to learn about the land they reside on and the original caretakers and advocate for culturally responsive action.

For more resources, please visit the "Land and Territorial Acknowledgement" guide.