Tagged With "American Indians"
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Sick River: Can These California Tribes Beat Heroin and History? [nytimes.com]
WEITCHPEC, Calif. — For thousands of years, the Klamath River has been a source of nourishment for the Northern California tribes that live on its banks. Its fish fed dozens of Indian villages along its winding path, and its waters cleansed their spirits, as promised in their creation stories. But now a crisis of opioid addiction is gripping this remote region. At the same time, the Klamath’s once-abundant salmon runs have declined to historic lows, the culmination of 100 years of...
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Starting on the Nez Perce Reservation, Jo Ann Kauffman built a national consulting firm [Seattle Times]
When Jo Ann Kauffman applied for one of her first business loans, a lender told her, “You have zero net worth.” She was living on trust land on the Nez Perce Reservation, which she couldn’t use for collateral. Her vehicle had 300,000 miles, so she couldn’t pledge it against a loan, either. “I felt about this big,” said the president and founder of Kauffman & Associates in Spokane. Despite early challenges with financing, Kauffman went on to build an American Indian- and woman-owned...
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State Attorney General announces free, prior and informed consent policy with Washington tribes (Indian Country Today)
Once, there was no easy recourse for tribes when governments or corporations engaged in one-sided, or unilateral, actions that negatively affected them. But on May 10, a major milestone in the fight for Native sovereignty was reached when Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a new state policy regarding Washington’s federally-recognized tribes. “Effective immediately,” Ferguson said, “my office is adopting a consultation and consent policy regarding Washington’s 29...
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States Move to Add Native American History to Curriculum (usnews.com)
MINNEAPOLIS—ON THE heels of the National Indian Education Association's conference held in Minneapolis earlier this fall and just in time for Native American Heritage Month , the nearby Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announced a $5 million philanthropic campaign to fund resources, curriculum, and training on Native American heritage for teachers and administrators across Minnesota , according to the Star Tribune . "We're hoping we can move the needle in the narrative in Minnesota and...
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Strengthening our Native Communities: How Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences Can Help (Association of American Indian Physicians)
Native communities face many challenges. Too often the strengths of families are strained by these challenges, and finding effective ways to support our families can be difficult. Our communities often find themselves dealing with the results of family and community disruption, (alcohol or drug abuse, unintended pregnancies, dropping out of school, etc) and are challenged to address the core issues. ACE scores are significantly higher in indigenous American communities than in the broader...
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Supporting Tribal Public Health Capacity in Coronavirus Preparedness and Response (non-competitive grant) CDC’s Office of Tribal Affairs and Strategic Alliances
Description: To support tribal public health emergency response to COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is announcing a new, non-competitive grant CDC-RFA-OT20- 2004 Supporting Tribal Public Health Capacity in Coronavirus Preparedness and Response. To carry out public health emergency response activities in response to COVID-19, CDC is awarding at least $40,000,000 of initial funding to federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations that contract or compact...
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Teen pregnancy prevention program for Native American youth expands to Minnesota [caih.jhu.edu]
By Center for American Indian Health - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 4, 2019. Nationally, teen pregnancy rates have declined by 67% since peaking in 1991. Yet significant disparities remain. Native American teens have the highest teen birth rate of any U.S. group and 4 in 10 Native American women begin childbearing in adolescence. Working closely with tribal partners, the Center for American Indian Health (Center) developed Respecting the Circle of Life, a...
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Thanksgiving Mourning (tolerance.org)
Much of the Thanksgiving story focuses on a peaceful, cross-cultural exchange between the "Pilgrims and Indians." While it's true that the Wampanoag and the planters shared in a harvest celebration, within fifty years, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people. For some Native Americans, Thanksgiving is no cause for celebration, but rather serves as a reminder of colonization's devastating impact on Indigenous peoples. In this activity, students will explore the perspectives of two...
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This Indigenous YouTuber is Spotlighting Her Culture, From Beaded Eyebrows to Regalia-Inspired Tutorials (Inside Edition)
By Johanna Lie, February, 24, 2020, YouTubers are known for creating interesting and fun videos containing tutorials on beauty, ASMR and commentary, all to grow their channels and communities, but for Chelsey Moon of Michigan, the stakes are higher. Moon is Ojibwe, with roots in the Bay Mills Indian Community, and is committed to spotlighting indigenous culture on her channel. “I’m doing this for people who don’t know about us and are interested, but also for indigenous people who want to...
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Tribal Behavioral Health Grant Program (SAMHSA)
Click HERE to learn more. Description The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), are accepting applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2020 Tribal Behavioral Health Grant Program (Short Title: Native Connections). The purpose of this program is to prevent suicide and substance misuse, reduce the impact of trauma, and promote mental health among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN)...
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Trump administration forms presidential task force for protecting Native children in IHS [Indian Country Today]
Presidential Task Force created in response to a predatory pediatrician that had assaulted Native American children for years while employed at Indian Health Service On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the formation of the Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System. A senior administration official hosted a White House conference call, and released statements to the media which outlined that President Trump has “charged the...
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Two New Grant Opportunities for Youth Development and Diversion Services
In 2019, more than $40 million will become available to fund community-based, culturally rooted, trauma-informed services for youth in California as alternatives to arrest and incarceration. Thousands of California youth are arrested every year for low-level offenses. Youth who are arrested or incarcerated for low-level offenses are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to suffer negative health-outcomes, and more likely to have later contact with the justice system.
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U.S. Department of Education begins investigation into discrimination against Native students in Montana’s Wolf Point School District (newsmaven.io)
After years of documented instances of anti-Native racism — including the use of racial slurs and harmful stereotypes by white administrators, faculty, and staff — in a school where 94 percent of Native students are below proficiency in reading, compared to 49 percent of white students, the U.S. Department of Education is starting an investigation into discrimination against Native students in Montana’s Wolf Point School District. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office...
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UCLA Created A New Job Specifically To Recruit More Native American Students [laist.com]
It may not seem like a lot compared with centuries of genocide, displacement from their land and separation of their families, but some Southern California Native Americans say they appreciate how local public universities are moving to recruit more American Indian students and faculty and generally improve relations. UCLA is the most recent campus to reach out to Native Americans. Last fall, Chancellor Gene Block created the position of Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American...
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Re: Uninsured Native Americans Often Lack Needed Prenatal Care [ocregister.com]
From the article: State grants also will help, at least for Native American women in need of prenatal care. Fresno, Humboldt, Placer and Shasta counties each received a grant of $267,250 through fiscal year 2019-20 to provide prenatal care to Native American communities.
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Covering the effect of the coronavirus on Native Americans [healthjournalism.org]
From Association of Health Care Journalists, June 10, 2020 For an in-depth look at how to report on the effect the novel coronavirus is having on Native Americans, AHCJ will host a webcast with Donald Warne, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the Indians Into Medicine program and director of the master of public health program in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. A member of the Oglala Lakota tribe from Pine Ridge, S.D., Warne will explain how the virus...
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COVID-19 Materials Developed for Tribal Use What tribal members need to know about coronavirus [caih.jhu.edu]
From Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins University, June 2020 Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health is producing materials related to COVID-19 for tribes to distribute. [ Please click here to access resources .]
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My adoptive parents tried to erase my Indigenous identity. They failed. [cbc.ca]
By Kim Wheeler,CBC.CA Radio, The Doc Project, June 18, 2020 My name is Kim Wheeler but some know me as Kim Ziervogel. Others will remember me as Kim Bell, and to a small group of people I will always be Ruby Linda Bruyere. But the name game doesn't stop there. Why would someone have so many different names? Are they all aliases? Are they hiding from their past? From the law? In my case, it's none of these. I'm a Sixties Scoop survivor and those names were given to me through birth, adoption...
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A Historical Trauma-Informed Approach to COVID-19
Fact Sheet from the Urban Indian Health Institute shares ways to support communities experiencing multiple trauma during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. How can organizations... Be more transparent about COVID-19? Emotionally support the people they serve through telehealth services? Support staff in caring for themselves and their communities? Support communities in handling their emotions? Work together to heal their communities? To download the fact sheet and/or view other COVID-19...
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My First Loss to COVID-19; Remembering an Indigenous Elder with Love
Alongside two elders and a colleague, we arrived at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Our intention was to facilitate the first Canadian/American collaboration to heal Historical Trauma. I vacillated between feeling immensely excited and powerfully emotional; what an honor to be a black woman surrounded by First Nation relatives on Native land. Our first great work was to enter the sacred ceremonial space for prayer and cleansing. As a tribal African woman, I...
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National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month Blog Series (NIH)
July 22, 2020 American Indian/Alaska Native Mental Health: Our Voices, Traditions and Values to Strengthen our Collective Wellness Victoria M. O’Keefe, Ph.D. (Cherokee/Seminole Nations of Oklahoma) Mathuram Santosham Endowed Chair in Native American Health, Assistant Professor, Licensed Clinical Psychologist Associate Director, Center for American Indian Health Department of International Health, Social & Behavioral Interventions Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health My late...
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Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria receives funding for affordable housing project (Redwood News)
By KIEM TV, July 27, 2020. LOLETA, Calif. (KIEM) — The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria receives over $2 million in funding that will go towards a new affordable housing project. The funding comes from the Housing and Urban Development and Indian Housing Block Competitive Grants and comes out to a total of $2,234,619. The money will pay for the construction of 4 four-plex multifamily low-moderate income housing structures with a total of 16 rental units for tribal family members.
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Food insecurity amid COVID-19 prompts Native Americans to return to their roots [cronkitenews.azpbs.org]
By Katelyn Reinhart, Cronkite News Arizona PBS, August 3, 2020 From a traditional hogan in a remote area on the Utah-Arizona line, Cynthia Wilson spent much of her spring sourcing drought-resistant seeds, packing them in small manila envelopes and labeling them to ship to families across the Four Corners. Seeds for corn – white, blue and yellow. For squash. For melons. For many of the foods that long sustained her Navajo ancestors, before their land was carved into a reservation and the...
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Ann Penn-Charles casts a wide net to reduce generational trauma in Washington State coastal tribes
You could say that Ann Penn-Charles, a native of La Push, Washington, was a natural resilience builder even before there was an ACE Study. La Push is a Native American reservation on the western edge of Olympic National Park, where the Quileute Nation ancestors of “Miss Ann”, as she is known, have lived for generations. Although she faced hardships growing up on the reservation, including having her first child when she was a junior in high school, she was able to graduate with the support...
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NIHB Launches Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) Hub
The National Indian Health Board, in collaboration with CDC, has launched a new resource hub! Many Tribal individuals, families, and communities have been impacted by childhood experiences causing physical and mental health adversities throughout the lifespan. However, with understanding and effort, individuals and communities can confront Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) for positive health outcomes. This information hub, launched by the National Indian Health Board includes a "resource...
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Indigenous Educators Bridge Native and Western Science in the Classroom (yesmagazine.org)
Gregory Cajete stands in front of a classroom full of University of New Mexico students enrolled in a graduate seminar on Indigenous nations and sustainable communities. Cajete is teaching these students about having a relationship with, and responsibility for, the environment. This way of knowing is called Native Science , and it is part of a body of evolving Indigenous knowledge based on generations of learning and direct contact with nature. A Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo and...
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Op-Ed: Thanksgiving is a tradition. It’s also a lie (latimes.com)
There was one meal in 1621. In 1622, the Indian Wars began. Native people were systematically erased through genocidal policy. The Indian Wars ended in 1924. But again, they just went cold because as soon as they ended, the Indian termination era began. Those battles were won by passing legislation that made it harder for us to stay visible, to thrive as a people, to stay alive. This November, most Americans will sit down with their families and eat a Thanksgiving meal. Some still will be...
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Join Us for a Webinar - Addressing Historic Trauma in Indian Country: Funding and Implementing Trauma-Informed Programming in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
How does historic trauma impact contemporary Native American communities and how can Tribal communities, the federal government, and community organizations work together to address and mitigate those impacts? Van Ness Feldman and the Roundtable on Native American Trauma-Informed Initiatives* invite you to a webinar featuring Dr. Tami DeCoteau, a leader in identifying and implementing successful approaches to trauma-informed care and Van Ness Feldman Partner, Dan Press who together with Dr.
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California May Consider 'Historical Injustice' When Allocating Coronavirus Vaccine (npr.org)
California health officials have made clear they want equity and transparency to be among the main priorities in deciding how to allocate the first scarce supplies of a vaccine. For example, in divvying up the first doses for health care workers, the state is prioritizing hospitals located in low-income areas before those in wealthy areas. "We will be very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the...
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'An actual seat at the Cabinet table' (Indian Country Today)
This week has been history in the making with the nomination of the first Native American to lead the Interior department. But there is more history: 50 years ago the Nixon administration signed legislation returning Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo. Joining us today are Red Lake Band of Ojibwe citizen Holly Cook Macarro, a partner at Spirit Rock Consulting and a federal lobbyist since 2001, to talk about the nomination of U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, Pueblos of Laguna and Jemez, to the position of...
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40+ gift ideas that are Indigenous (indiancountrytoday.com)
Looking to shop from Indigenous artists and small businesses this holiday season? Here is a list of sites where you can find these products online. (Side note: Also consider buying something from local artists, your auntie’s food stand or small businesses on social media.) MARKETPLACES Alaska Native Heritage Center's 12 Days of Christmas 一 Skincare, jewelry, chimes, artwork Beyond Buckskin 一 Jewelry, blankets, apparel Chickasaw Southeastern Art Show and Market 一 Beadwork, painting, textiles...
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Ishi's Return (visionmakermedia.org)
The “last wild Indian,” Ishi, spent nearly 45 years in hiding with his mom, uncle, and sister as the rest of the Yahi People were killed in the Three Knolls Massacre. After their camp was ransacked, Ishi was the last survivor. He spent 3 years surviving on his own in the wilderness until he was captured by the local Sheriff. He stayed at the University of California, Berkeley and taught the anthropologists his peoples tradition, culture and language as best as he could remember. His brain...
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Standing Bear's Footsteps (visionmakermedia.org)
In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son’s last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom–choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly...
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Medicine Woman (visionmakermedia.org)
During a time where women were no more than stay-at-home housewives, Susan La Flesche Picotte broke through all barriers and became the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. Graduating from the Hampton Institute as valedictorian, Susan was determined to pursue her medical degree and was accepted at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She wrote an appeal to the Connecticut Indian Association for finances and was the first person to receive financial aid...
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How the Dawes Act Stole 90 Million Acres of Native American Land (history.howstuffworks.com)
The Dawes Act, while not a household name, was perhaps the single most devastating government policy of them all. Also known as the General Allotment Act of 1887, the Dawes Act resulted in the loss of 90 million acres (36 million hectares) of Native lands from 1887 to 1934 — the equivalent of two-thirds of all tribal landholdings at the time. Mark Hirsch is a historian at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. He explains that many...
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Biden Reaffirms Tribal Sovereignty (nativenewsonline.net)
As part of his racial and equality initiative, President Joe Biden on Monday signed a Presidential Memorandum that reaffirms tribal sovereignty through tribal consultation. Speaking in more general terms about the racial divide that exists in the country, Biden said the nation faces deep racial inequities in America. “In my campaign for President, I made it very clear that the moment had arrived as a nation where we face deep racial inequities in America and system — systemic racism that has...
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The Little-Known History of the Forced Sterilization of Native American Women (daily.jstor.org)
For many, America’s history of brutal experimentation on people of color is perhaps best summed up by the Tuskegee Experiment , in which doctors let African-American men suffer from syphilis over a period of 40 years. But another medical outrage is less well-known. Jane Lawrence documents the forced sterilization of thousands of Native American women by the Indian Health Service in the 1960s and 1970s—procedures thought to have been performed on one out of every four Native American women at...
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Keeping San Diego’s Urban Indigenous Community Healthy In Mind, Body And Spirit Amid COVID-19 (kpbs.org)
Body, Mind, and Spirit. An indivisible combination that is the cornerstone for holistic wellness for Native Americans. It is also the slogan that appears beneath the medicine wheel on the sign for the San Diego American Indian Health Center . “Da'anzho,” said Ruben Leyva, standing at the corner in Bankers Hill where the clinic is located. “That means ‘hello’ in the Apache language. I am a Chiricahua Chíhénde Apache. I stand here honored and humbled to speak to you on Kumeyaay land.” In order...
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31 billion coronavirus solutions (indiancountrytoday.com)
The American Rescue Plan was enacted by Congress Wednesday and will be sent today to President Joe Biden to sign into law. The U.S Senate Committee on Indian Affairs pegged the total spending for tribes at $31 billion. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-New Mexico, tweeted that she would be voting for the measure to “get urgent relief to families in New Mexico and across the country.” This may end up being Haaland’s last vote as a member of Congress if she is confirmed soon as Interior Secretary. She is a...
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Madam Secretary Deb Haaland is confirmed as the country’s Secretary of the Interior, blazing a trail as the first Native American to ever lead a Cabinet agency (indiancountrytoday.com)
A fierce Indigenous woman is now the caretaker of the nation’s public lands and waters for the first time in U.S. history. Deb Haaland was confirmed as the nation’s 54th Secretary of the Interior in a 51-40 vote Monday, making her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan broke from party lines to vote to confirm Haaland, a notable choice given other Republican senators publicly saying she was not the...
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HUD invests $450 million in tribal housing (indiancountrytoday.com)
Tribes in Arizona will get another $88 million in housing grants – the most of any state – from the $450 million in tribal housing assistance released Thursday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The national funding, which was included in the American Rescue Plan, will come in addition to the $651 million that tribes across the country were already scheduled to get in fiscal 2021 under the annual Indian Housing Block Grant. Arizona tribes’ share of the grant rose from the...
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Ravilochan: Maslow Got It Wrong
Some months ago, I was catching up with my dear friend and board member, Roberto Rivera . As an entrepreneur and community organizer with a doctorate and Lin-Manuel-Miranda-level freestyle abilities, he is a teacher to me in many ways. I was sharing with him that for a long time, I’ve struggled with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs . The traditional interpretation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is that humans need to fulfill their needs at one level before we can advance to higher levels. As...
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Karan Kolb
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Native Americans face a deadly drug crisis. How tapping into culture is helping them heal [news.yahoo.com]
By Beth Warren, Yahoo! News, September 23, 2021 A bashful Native American who thwarted death twice summoned his inner warrior during a summer powwow, dressed in purple regalia and long feathers. Jasten "Jazz" Bears Tail, 36, immersed himself in the movement, a style called fancy dancing, at the event in the North Dakota town of Parshall on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. He stomped and twirled in sync with the pounding of the drums, symbolizing the heartbeat of his ancestors. On the...
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How indigenous tattoos draw a link to the past
Tribal members in Northern California are reclaiming traditional tattoos, especially facial tattoos as a means to connect with their cultural history, a panel of experts in indigenous tattoos told a diverse group of 45 people in attendance at the community event at the Museum of Sonoma County. Those who attended were surrounded by displays of indigenous art, ceramics, and paintings. A spectacular hand carved canoe, used for traditional voyages, tracing ancestral journeys through the Pacific...
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Updates from the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health [caih.jhu.edu]
Native American Heritage Month Events Please join us this November to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Virtual lectures include an Indigenous food cooking demonstration, Indigenae Podcast screening and discussion, a beading workshop and a keynote address on November 17 featuring Oren Lyons and Thomas Banyacya Jr. Indigenous Food Cooking Demonstration - November 2, 12:00pm EDT REGISTER: https://bit.ly/CAIHxPFG Indigenae screening & discussion - November 8, 12:00pm EDT REGISTER:...
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7 Foods Developed by Native Americans (history.com)
When Christopher Columbus reached the Americas , he hoped the land would be rich with gold, silver and precious spices, but perhaps the New World’s greatest treasure was its bounty of native food crops cultivated for millennia by Indigenous Americans. As much as three-fifths of the world’s agricultural crops originated in the Americas. Without the Columbian Exchange , there would be no tomatoes for Italian food, no hot chili peppers for Indian cuisine, and no dietary staples like potatoes,...
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American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016. Please visit the website by clicking here, https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/best-books.html?m=1 American Indians in Children's Literature is used by Native and non-Native parents, librarians, teachers, editors, professors,...