Native Americans

Revisiting The Changing Way We See Native America: Matika Wilbur On Tuesday's Access Utah

Photographer Matika Wilbur began in 2012 to visit and photograph the 562 Native American sovereign territories in the United States to combat inaccurate views of modern Native life. 

As the World Churns

by Peter Manseau

The story behind 'Mia,' the Native American woman who was the face on Land O'Lakes butter packaging for almost a century.

Indian Removal

by Claudio Saunt

In May 1830, the United States Congress authorized the US federal government to uproot and transport 80,000 people from their homes east of the Mississippi.

Nowhere Is Remote Anymore

Coronavirus in the Navajo Nation exposes underlying vulnerabilities.

A Right-Wing Influencer Claimed Native Americans Are Getting Extra Relief Aid. They Aren’t, But They Probably Should.

The needs of Native communities, which were brutally colonized through overt violence and smallpox, a pandemic, hold a particular place in US jurisprudence—one that has long been overlooked. 

The dark history of land-grant universities

by Margaret A. Nash

Many celebrated colleges and universities were created at the expense of Indigenous communities.  

Cracked Foundations: The Case for Reparations

by Julia Brown

Compensation for historically disadvantaged minorities is nothing new.

November is Native American Heritage Month. Critics say Trump is subverting it with a new celebration of the Founding Fathers.

Last week, President Trump declared November as “National American History and Founders Month,” a celebration of the country’s “dedication to promoting liberty and justice.”

The History Briefing on Indigenous Peoples Day: Why Fewer Places Celebrate Columbus Day

by Elisabeth Pearson

As Trump's statement this past week revealed, despite the increasing deamnds since the 1990s to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s day, the public narrative of the holiday is still contested.

George Washington owned slaves and ordered Indians killed. Will a mural of that history be hidden?

by Gillian Brockell

This is the story of the layers of history that will continue to exist underneath, whether the murals are covered by curtains, panels or paint.

Powhatan and his people: The 15,000 American Indians shoved aside by Jamestown’s settlers

The Native Americans had a mighty culture when the English arrived 400 years ago. Soon after, there was conflict.

Ulysses Grant’s Failed Attempt to Grant Native Americans Citizenship

In a forgotten chapter of history, the president and his Seneca Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely Parker, fought for Native American rights

This Makes Us Susceptible to Demagoguery

by Joseph Kelly

How the “we’re the chosen people” narrative makes us susceptible to demagogues.

Which Presidents – If Any – Did Right by Native Americans?

by Walter G. Moss

And the disheartening truth about the policies and attitudes of some of our greatest presidents.

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name stripped from children’s book award over "Little House on the Prairie" depictions of Native Americans

In one troublesome sentence she had written of the west:  “there were no people. Only Indians lived there.”

At Quaker library, a grim find: Native American remains in display case

A library representative said that she was shocked by the find — and that the Quakers will offer to return the remains, to conduct a burial, or take any action that Indian leaders may desire.

Historian: Native Americans deserve to be remembered as Southerners, too

by Malinda Maynor Lowery

"We Are the Original Southerners."

The discovery of a map made by a Native American is reshaping thinking about the Lewis & Clark expedition

The discovery of the map shows the extent to which Lewis and Clark were helped by Native American geographers. 

First it was Confederate monuments. Now statues offensive to Native Americans are poised to topple across the U.S.

No other city has taken down a monument to a president for his misdeeds, but Arcata is poised to do just that with a statue of William McKinley.

Both Sides Have Been Getting the Gun Debate Wrong

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

We have a gun culture not because of the sanctity of the 2nd Amendment, but because killing, looting, burning, raping, and terrorizing Indians were an American tradition and militias helped carry out these horrors.