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...A Forum for American Indian Issues...
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American Indians 
Wed May 15, 2013 at 18:17:16 PM PDT
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In 1945 Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, who had emphasized cultural pluralism for American Indians, was forced to resign by congressional opponents who sought a return to the policies of assimilation. The new approach was that of termination. The idea was to force individual Indians to assimilate into mainstream, English-speaking, Christian American society by getting rid of Indian reservations, by terminating all treaty obligations to Indian nations, and by terminating all government programs intended to aid Indians.
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Tue May 07, 2013 at 10:30:30 AM PDT
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The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. There are many who feel that the male grass dancers represented the oldest style of dancing at the modern powwows. Originally, the dancers had braids of grass dangling from their belts and during the dance the dancers would move so that the grass braids swayed like the prairie grass in the wind. Today's dancers use ribbons instead of grass, but the idea maintaining the swaying movement continues. A good grass dancer is balanced: if he makes a series of steps with his right foot, then these steps are mirrored with the left foot. Shown below are some of the grass dancers at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Fri May 03, 2013 at 19:52:56 PM PDT
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The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. The male fancy dancers are usually crowd pleasers with their brightly colored outfits. They also wear two feather bustles: one high between the shoulders and one low, hanging from the waist. Shown below are some of the fancy dancers at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Thu May 02, 2013 at 07:47:32 AM PDT
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It begins with the drums. This is the signal for the dancers to enter into the dance arbor, usually led by dancers carrying the eagle feather staff. This marks the Grand Entry which starts each powwow session. This is a powwow: the most common form of Indian celebration.
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Wed May 01, 2013 at 09:34:59 AM PDT
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In 1871, the United States governmental policies toward American Indians changed from dealing with tribes as nations to focusing on the assimilation of individual Indians. Assimilation was, and still is, based on a viewpoint that sees immigrants coming to the United States and then becoming "good" Americans by learning English and adopting American customs. If others could do this, the assimilationists argued--and still argue--then American Indians should be required to do the same.
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Tue Apr 30, 2013 at 10:06:13 AM PDT
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For Indian people, powwows are about friends, family, and children. The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. Shown below are some of the children at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Sun Apr 28, 2013 at 20:18:32 PM PDT
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The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. One of the mainstays of most powwows is the men's traditional dance which has its heritage is the older Plains Indian warrior dances. The dance regalia for the men's traditional are characterized by a feather bustle. Shown below are some of the women's fancy shawl dancers at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Thu Apr 25, 2013 at 09:02:32 AM PDT
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The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. One of the common dances at many of these powwows is the women's jingle dress dance.
The jingle dress dance regalia is distinctive: the dress is ideally adorned with 365 visible jingles which are metal cones made from chewing tobacco can lids. The dance is Anishinabe in origin and was developed from a dream or vision which appeared to a Midewiwin medicine man. Shown below are some of the jingle dress dancers at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Wed Apr 24, 2013 at 21:16:19 PM PDT
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The powwow is a public celebration and demonstration of community pride in Indian culture and a way of honoring Native American heritage. At the present time, there are powwows held in all fifty states and in most of the Canadian provinces. Some are held on reservations and reserves, while others are held in places such as universities and colleges. One of the most popular dances to watch is the women's fancy shawl dance. This is a colorful, high-stepping dance. Many years ago, when I was still dancing, one fancy shawl dancer explained it this way:
"The idea is to spend as little time touching the ground as possible."
Watching the women's fancy shawl competition is like watching a psychedelic blur of color moving in time to the beat of the drum. Shown below are some of the women's fancy shawl dancers at the 45th annual Kyi-Yo powwow at the University of Montana in Missoula.
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Sat Apr 06, 2013 at 19:36:21 PM PDT
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During the first quarter of the eighteenth century-1700 to 1725-the English colonies in Massachusetts sought to strengthen their dominance of the Indian nations of the regions. They expanded into Indian lands, assumed that English law was superior to Indian law, and resorted to the use of military action when necessary.
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Sun Mar 31, 2013 at 15:28:18 PM PDT
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When the English-speaking Europeans began their invasion of North America, they viewed Indians as "savage," "wild," and "barbaric." These English-speaking Europeans viewed themselves as superior to Indians in all ways and were often astounded to find that most Indians did not want to become like them. During the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, the official education policies regarding Indians called for their assimilation into American culture. Assimilation called for Indians: (1) to speak English (preferable as their only language); (2) to be Christian (preferably Protestant); (3) to wear American style clothes; (4) to wear their hair in American fashion; (5) to live in American-style houses; and (5) to work in a cash-based economy (preferably at the low end of the economic scale).
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Mon Mar 25, 2013 at 11:44:42 AM PDT
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Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 his Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, assumed the Presidency and completed Lincoln's term. Johnson, who is best known as the first American president to survive impeachment, is generally ranked by historians with James Buchanan and George W. Bush as among the country's worst presidents.
With regard to American Indians, the Johnson administration faced massive problems with corruption in the Indian Service (today known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs), what to do with the "southern" Indians, concerns over the pacification of the western Indians, and the acquisition of Alaska.
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Thu Mar 21, 2013 at 21:26:47 PM PDT
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While the popular image of Plains Indians is that of the horse-mounted warrior and buffalo hunter, the horse as we know it today only came to this continent with the Europeans. It reached the Plains Indians and dramatically changed their ways of life several generations before the Americans invaded the area.
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Wed Mar 20, 2013 at 11:23:44 AM PDT
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Since there is going to be a meet up in Glacier Park in June, I thought it might be interesting to do a tour of the park from west to east along today's traditional tourist trail, commenting on some of the Indian names and heritage along the way. As with many national parks, the names of many of the mountains, creeks, and lakes have been changed to reflect the egos of the conquerors and the traditional Indian names are often ignored.
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Thu Mar 14, 2013 at 09:55:45 AM PDT
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There is a common lie, told over and over again by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church-- including the previous Pope--that when the Catholic missionaries landed in South America they were met by people eagerly awaiting the Christian faith. According to this lie, the indigenous people, who had no religion from the Catholic viewpoint, were anxious for the word of God and for conversion to the one true faith.
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Thu Mar 14, 2013 at 08:34:34 AM PDT
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While Washington was named for an American President who was not known for his love of Indians, many of the town names in Washington reflect the many different Indian nations which originally inhabited the state.
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Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 07:19:46 AM PDT
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The etymology of Oregon begins in 1765 with a petition to the British King regarding Ouragon, the mythical River of the West. According to the petition, Ouragon was the name given by the Indians to this great river. By 1778, the spelling had shifted to Oregon. While the 1765 petition seems to imply that Oregon has its origins in a Native American language, there are others who feel that its roots are in French ("ouragan" which means "windstorm" or "hurricane") or in Portuguese ("Aure il agua" meaning "hear the waters.")
When the Europeans first began their invasion of Oregon, it was occupied by many different Indian nations with different languages and histories. Part of Oregon's Indian heritage can be seen in some of the place names in the state.
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Sun Mar 10, 2013 at 14:24:28 PM PDT
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American government policies regarding American Indians, particularly during the nineteenth century, were primarily focused on "civilizing" the Indians. This meant that Indians were to change their language (they were to speak only English), their religion (they were to become Christians, preferably Protestants), their houses, their clothes, their history (they were to embrace European history as their own), and, finally, they were to change their names. Changing Indian names into something which sounded more "American" would show that they had become truly assimilated into the American mainstream.
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Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 16:32:25 PM PST
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Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Pacific Ocean provided the Indian Nations of California with an abundance of shellfish: clam, abalone, mussel, olivella, and dentalium. These provided not only food, but the shells were the raw material for beads, jewelry, currency, and fishhooks.
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Sat Feb 16, 2013 at 20:54:19 PM PST
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In American Indian cultures, art is not separate from daily life. Traditionally, the things people used in their everyday life-clothing, tools, housing, containers-were often decorated to enhance their beauty and their spirituality. Prior to the European invasion, the Indian people of the Plateau area-roughly the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest-decorated their clothing and other items with paintings, with beads made from shell, animal teeth, bone, and other items, and with porcupine quills. With the European invasion, new decorative elements became available to the Indians: glass beads. These beads were quickly adopted into the cultures and began to replace and supplement both painting and quilling. The Plateau Indians soon became well-known for their fine bead work. Shown below are some example of Plateau Indian beadwork which are on display at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum.
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| In Memoriam |
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
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