LibGuides: Cultural Fluency: American Indian / Native American / Indigenous People

Databases and Reference eBooks

Bibliography of Native North Americans Articles from more than 260 journals, on all aspects of Native North American culture, history, and life from the 16th century to the present, are indexed. Many articles are full text. Subject coverage is wide and there are citations for books, essays, conference papers, and government documents of the United States and Canada.
Voices of the American Indian Experience by James E. Seelye Jr. and Steven A. Littleton, editors This collection provides 224 documents tracing the North American Indian experience from creation stories to 2007. The emphasis is on documents created by American Indians, rather than by Europeans. Documents are arranged chronologically for discovery.
Call Number: E77 .V65 2013 ebk Gale Virtual Reference Library
Encyclopedia of Native American Artists by Deborah Everett and Elayne Zorn " Examines the lives and works of numerous Native American artists, demonstrating the range of media, themes, and experiences of Native artists, and their influences on and by western culture."
Call Number: N6538.A4 E94 2008 ebk Gale Virtual Reference Library
Encyclopedia of Native American Music of North America "Documents the varied musical practices among Native Americans, both historically and in a modern context. The entries showcase how musicians with Native American heritage are influencing modern musical forms including native flute, orchestral string playing, gospel, and hip hop."
Call Number: ML102.N37 K45 2013 ebk Gale Virtual Reference Library

Books and eBooks

Indian Resilience and Rebuilding: indigenous nations in the modern American West by Donald L. Fixico This book provides an indigenous view of the last 100 years of Native history and a century of achievements. It examines the progress that Indians have accomplished in rebuilding their nations in the 20th century, while adapting to the cultural and economic pressures in modern America.
Call Number: E78.8 .F58 2013
Conversations with Remarkable Native Americans by Joëlle Rostkowski Ethnohistorian Joëlle Rostkowski brings to light major developments in the Native American experience.... Overcoming hardships they have experienced as a forgotten minority, often torn between two cultures, these prominent native writers, artists, journalists, activists, lawyers, and museum administrators have each made remarkable contributions toward the transformation of old stereotypes ... and the sharing of their heritage with mainstream society.
Call Number: E89 .C66 2012
Growing up Native American by Patricia Riley (Introduction by); Ines Hernandez (Foreword by) "In the books available to Patricia Riley as a child, Native Americans were almost always depicted as exotic, cultural artifacts from the past, the stereotypical "Vanishing Americans," sometimes noble, but always backward savages on their way out, and soon to be no more. It was only later in life that she discovered that the experience of growing up Native American has produced some of the most moving and powerful works of fiction and nonfiction ever written."
Call Number: E98.C5 G76 1993
Genocide of the Mind: New Native American Writing by Moore, MariJo,ed. "There has been a rising movement to accurately describe Native cultures and histories. In particular, people have begun to explore the experience of urban Indians—individuals who live in two worlds struggling to preserve traditional Native values within the context of an ever-changing modern society."
Call Number: E98.E85 G46 2003
Indian voices : listening to Native Americans by Owings, Alison. This work is a contemporary oral history documenting what Native Americans from 16 different tribal nations say about themselves and the world around them.
Call Number: E98.E85 O85 2011
American Indians and Popular Culture by Elizabeth DeLaney Hoffman (Editor) Americans are still fascinated by the romantic notion of the "noble savage," yet know little about the real Native peoples of North America. This work examines stereotypes and celebrates the true cultures of American Indians today.
Call Number: E98.P99 A465 2012 - Reference book
Conversations with Sherman Alexie by Alexie, Sherman.
Call Number: PS3551.L35774 Z46 2009
An excellent collection of interviews with the author of the National Book Award-winning young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. "Coeur d'Alene through his father and Spokane through his mother, Alexie grew up ... on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington." More books by Sherman Alexie.
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Call Number: PS3555.R42 L6 2009 | PS3555.R42 L6 1993
Love Medicine is a masterful debut novel, one of the most influential, beloved, and distinguished works of contemporary fiction. It is the unforgettable saga of two families and how their destinies intertwine over the course of fifty years on and around a North Dakota reservation. More books by Louise Erdrich.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Call Number: PS3569.I44 C4 2006 | PS3569.I44 C4
The great Native American novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit More than 35 years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing." More books by Leslie Marmon Silko.

Streaming Media | Films | Documentaries

Who Speaks Wukchumni?
This short documentary profiles the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni, a Native American language, and her creation of a comprehensive dictionary.
Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee•August 18, 2014
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Marie Wilcox, Who Saved Her Native Language From Extinction, Dies at 87 (https://tinyurl.com/4eduwrsz) The subject of a Times Op-Doc, she was, for a time, the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni and spent 20 years producing the first complete dictionary of its vocabulary.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. DVD, 2 discs, 132 min. by Yves Simoneau, director; Clara George, producer
Call Number: PN1992.8.H56 B975 2007 - DVD
Based on the book by Dee Alexander Brown. Originally broadcast on HBO on May 27, 2007.
Flags of Our Fathers. DVD, ca 132 min. by Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz, producers
Call Number: PN1997.2.F53 F53 2007 DVD | D743.23 .F53 2007c DVD
"Chronicles one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, focusing on the men (one Native American) who raised the flag at Iwo Jima and were subsequently hailed as heroes and used to raise money for the war effort."
In the White Man's Image. DVD, 60 min. by Christine Lesiak, writer and producer "Tells the story of the attempt to assimilate American Indians into white culture by educating them at special schools such as the Carlisle School for Indians. Founded by Richard Henry Pratt, this school and others like it attempted to wipe out all remnants of Indian culture...."
Call Number: E98.C89 I67 2007
Our Fires Still Burn: The Native American Experience. by Geyer, A. (Director).
Call Number: Kanopy - Streaming Media
Kanopy (and not ACC) requires that you create a free account before accessing.
Also available from Films On Demand
Windtalkers. DVD, ca. 153 min. by John Woo, director.
Call Number: PN1995.9.W3 W56 2006
"A battle-weary Marine Sergeant guards and ultimately befriends a young Navajo trained in the one wartime code never broken by the enemy, the Navajo Code."

See Multicultural History, American Indian/Native American, for additional media titles.

San Francisco Two-Spirit Powwow

Native North American Languages

Statistics and Reports

American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010
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U.S. Census.
Krogstad, Jens Manuel. (2014, June 13). One-in-four Native Americans and Alaska Natives are living in poverty.Fact Tank.Pew Research Center.
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Focus on Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota in 2013.
Belcourt, Annie. (2018, Jan 25). The hidden health inequalities that American Indians and Alaskan Natives face. The Conversation.

Population Growth

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2018/comm/aian.html

Image: U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office (PIO)

A Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 2022

In the News

Supreme Court ruling complicates Navajo Nation’s fight for more water
Already facing some of the most severe water scarcity in the drought-stricken Southwest, the Navajo Nation now has to deal with a Supreme Court ruling this week that will make securing water even harder for the 170,000 enrolled tribal members who live on its reservation.
Michael Phillis and Sam Metzs AP News June 23, 2023
Havasupai Tribe in Arizona marks a spiritual homecoming: ‘We are still the Grand Canyon’
Members of a small tribe in Arizona are marking the renaming of a popular campground in Grand Canyon National Park as Havasupai Gardens. The Havasupai Tribe had lobbied the federal government for years to change the name from Indian Garden.
Felicia Fonseca AP News May 11, 2023
Remains of Nearly 5,000 Native Americans Will Be Returned, U.S. Says
The remains of nearly 5,000 Native Americans that were excavated long ago from earthen burial mounds by the Tennessee Valley Authority could soon be returned to their tribes, now that the agency has announced it is prepared to repatriate them after a decades-long wait.
Eduardo Medina and April Rubin the New York Times April 4, 2023
Clash Over Building Atop Native Burial Sites Angers N.Y. Tribes
After battles with previous governors, New York’s Native American leaders were hopeful for a reset with Kathy Hochul’s administration. Instead, the tensions have increased.
Jay Root The New York times March 27, 2023
Memories of Wounded Knee reflect mixed legacy after 50 years
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the occupation, The Associated Press reached out to people who were at Wounded Knee or involved from a distance to hear their stories.
Steve Karnowski AP News Feb. 27, 2023
Canada Settles $2 Billion Suit Over ‘Cultural Genocide’ at Residential Schools
The class action, brought by 325 First Nations, said that residential schools, sanctioned by the government, eroded Indigenous cultures and languages.
Ian Austen THe New York Times Jan. 21, 2023
U. S. to Pay Millions to Move Tribes Threatened by Climate Change
The Biden administration will give three Native tribes $75 million to move away from coastal areas or rivers, one of the nation’s largest efforts to date to relocate communities that are facing an urgent threat from climate change.
Christopher Flavelle The New York Times Nov. 30, 2022
House Panel Weighs Whether to Seat a Cherokee Delegate in Congress
A House committee on Wednesday weighed a proposal to seat a delegate from the Cherokee Nation in Congress, holding a historic hearing that grappled with how to uphold a promise made in a nearly 200-year-old treaty that has yet to be fulfilled.
Emily Cochrane and Mark Walker The New York Times Nov. 16, 2022
Harvard Museum Will Return Hundreds of Native American Hair Samples
The Peabody Museum apologized for its “complicity in the objectification of Native peoples” by holding hair samples taken from Indigenous children at government boarding schools in the 1930s.
Christine Chung The New York Times Nov. 10, 2022
Race Question in Supreme Court Adoption Case Unnerves Tribes
The issue is whether a federal law that seeks to place Native American foster children in Native American homes is constitutional. The case could turn on whether the justices see tribes as racial groups or sovereign nations.
Jan Hoffman New York Times Nov. 7, 2022
How the Pandemic Shortened Life Expectancy in Indigenous Communities
New federal data outline the scale of suffering among Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
Simon Romero, Roni Caryn Rabin and Mark Walker The New York Times Aug. 31, 2022
On Remote Farms and in City Gardens, a Native American Movement Grows
Through classes, seed banks and plantings, tribes across the United States are reclaiming their agricultural roots, growing healthy foods and aiming for self-sufficiency.
Kevin Noble Maillard The New York Times Aug. 26, 2022
Native groups seek to repair lands damaged by colonization
The Wampanoag Common Lands, as the project is called, seeks to restore a 32-acre (13-hectare) former Catholic summer camp on the banks of the Muddy Pond in Kingston to something closer to what it might have looked like before European colonization transformed it.
PHILIP MARCELO AP News August 24, 2022
Francis Calls Abuse of Indigenous People in Canada a ‘Genocide’
The pope reinforced his denunciation of the abuse committed by Roman Catholic-run schools in the country.
Jason Horowitz The New York Times July 30, 2022
Burial Sites for Native American Kids Found at 53 Boarding Schools
Interior Department investigation represents broadest accounting of how many Native children died while attending the schools.
Dan Frosch The Wall Street Journal May 11, 2022
Where have Austin’s Indigenous people gone?
Austin’s Indigenous history is complex and dates back at least 37,000 years, according to some anthropologists’ estimates. How it takes shape in the public discourse is often focused through a historical context, which Circe Sturm, professor of Anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies at UT Austin, finds problematic.
KUT 90.5 | By Lauren Terrazas March 31, 2022
Supreme Court takes up battle over adoption of Native American children
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether a decades-old law intended to stop the forced removal of Native American children from their families and tribes by placing federal restrictions on their adoption violates the Constitution.
John Fritze, USA TODAY Feb. 28, 2022
After Denying Care to Black Natives, Indian Health Service Reverses Policy
The shift comes as the Biden administration pressures Native tribes in Oklahoma to desegregate their constitutions to comply with treaty obligations.
Mark Walker and Chris Cameron New York Times Oct. 8, 2021
Training the Next Generation of Indigenous Data Scientists
A new workshop explores the right of Indigenous people to govern the collection, ownership and use of their biological and cultural data.
Sabrina Imbler New York Times June 29, 2021
The Promise and Pressures of Deb Haaland, the First Native American Cabinet Secretary New York Times June 2, 2021
As interior secretary, Ms. Haaland runs an agency once responsible for eradicating the homes, the culture and often the lives of Indigenous people.
Tribes to Confront Bias Against Descendants of Enslaved People
The Choctaw Nation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma said they would consider granting citizenship to the Freedmen.
Chris Cameron and Mark Walker New York Times May 28, 2021
Pandemic Highlights Deep-Rooted Problems in Indian Health Service
Few hospital beds, lack of equipment, a shipment of body bags in response to a request for coronavirus tests: The agency providing health care to tribal communities struggled to meet the challenge.
Mark Walker New York Times 09/30/2020
Native American Women Are Facing a Crisis
Three senators are hoping to combat what they see as an overlooked epidemic: missing, murdered and trafficked women.
Maya Salam New York Times April 12, 2019

State of Indian Nations

For more information about the National Congress of American Indians visit https://www.ncai.org/about-ncai/state-of-indian-nations.

Articles from Magazines, Journals, & Newspapers

Use the databases under Research to find articles. Here are some noteworthy online publications.

(1) American Indian Quarterly
Use these databases to access full text articles from this publication:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles, news, and research on topics in most subject areas.
Humanities Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides full text, abstracts and bibliographic indexing of the most noted scholarly sources in the humanities, as well as specialized magazines.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains more than a thousand academic journals and over one million images, letters, and other primary sources.
Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes.
MAS Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles from popular magazines, plus some reference sources. Most articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexile).
MasterFILE Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles on most topics including business, health, education, science, and social issues.
Religion & Philosophy Collection This link opens in a new window
Articles about world religions, major denominations, biblical studies, epistemology, and the history of philosophy.

Other Online Publications:

(2) Indian Country Today
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"Indian Country Today Media Network’s home page is the digital gateway to the world’s most comprehensive and innovative online Native news and entertainment site, serving Native and American Indian tribes nationwide. It features Native American Journalism Association award-winning writers and reporters, and a team of columnists composed of tribal leaders, members of Congress, and the foremost Native thinkers, writers, and artists in Indian Country."
(3) NativeWeb Resources
News Media, Television & Radio / Newspapers - Native & Indigenous
(4) News from Indian Country
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Culture and national pow-wow information recognized for excellence by the Native American Journalists Association. "...NFIC is a newspaper overseen by its readers who contribute news and information from through-out North America."
(5) Tribal Court Clearinghouse - News

Articles:

LaPier, Rosalyn R. (2018, Aug 14). Why Native Americans struggle to protect their sacred places. The Conversation.
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Forty years ago the U.S. Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act so that Native Americans could practice their faith freely and that access to their sacred sites would be protected.
Leza, Christina. (2019, March 19). For Native Americans, US-Mexico border is an ‘imaginary line.’ The Conversation.
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The free passage of Native people who live across both the United States’ northern or southern border is curtailed by strict identification laws, thus making tribal members feel detached from their relatives in Mexico or Canada..

Native American Heritage Month

[Image Source]

November is Native American Heritage Month, also referred to as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.

"The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people... to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges." --National Congress of American Indians

Native American Heritage Month
Information courtesy of United States Courts
Native American Heritage Month - PBS
"Celebrate the history, culture, and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives in a special collection of films, short stories and resources from PBS."
Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2018
US Census Bureau.
National Museum of the American Indian
"The National Museum of the American Indian is the eighteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
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It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. Established by an act of Congress in 1989 (amendment in 1996), the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice.

Proud To Be

Roj Rodriguez, a native Texan, is a commercial and fine art photographer based in New York. Part of his work, "Navajo Nation," is included in this video. Published on YouTube on July 8, 2014, "Proud to Be" (short version) is an ad that aired during halftime at the NBA finals game, San Antonio Spurs VS Miami Heat. See The National Congress of American Indians for more of the "Change the Mascot" discussion.

Organizations

American Indian Movement
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This organization was formed in 1968 and politically active during the 1960s and 1970s. AIM continues to focus on political and social justice issues of American Indians.
Bureau of Indian Affairs
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"The United States has a unique legal and political relationship with Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities as provided by the Constitution of the United States, treaties, court decisions and Federal statutes. Within the government-to-government relationship, Indian Affairs provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to 565 Federally recognized tribes."
National Congress of American Indians
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"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."

25 Largest Tribal Groupings