In honor of Indigenous People’s Day, we explore Beringia, Two Spirits, Code Talkers, Little Bighorn, and modern indigenous America.
America was discovered so long ago, it’s hard to imagine what it must have looked like. We don’t exactly have an oral history, passed down by the first people, who inhabited the “land bridge” between present-day Siberia and present-day Alaska, before the Ice Age ended and it was overtaken by water. The people who had to migrate east of that water became the earliest inhabitants of our land, around 13,000 years ago. Although it’s also theorized that other indigenous people arrived on the continent by boat, it would be another dozen milennia or so before anyone made a documented trip by boat from another land, that is to say, from Europe. In that time, what would only later be called America mothered two entire continents of indigenous people.
In celebration of those people today, particularly the people who first populated our country, I’ve compiled some articles and online exhibits that will really only give a small peek at indigenous and Native cultures existing today, in the hopes that you will seek out more of that 13,000-year history.
To introduce, here is the National Museum of the American Indian’s breathtaking online exhibit, Americans, featuring the true stories of Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears, and the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Indivisible is a collaborative exhibit between the Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, illustrating the shared history created between Native Americans and African Americans. Hide is an exhibit focusing on “Skin as Material and Metaphor”.
Patriot Nations tells the compelling stories of Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces, serving proportionately higher than any other ethnic group in the country.
Here is an article from Smithsonian Magazine published for Pride Month 2020, on LGBTQ Native Americans in traditional culture.
And finally, U.S. News and World Report gives a 2020 look at the struggles and victories of indigenous people in America today.
If you’ve ever been curious about the first Americans and wanted to learn more than what you were taught in school, today’s a good day to start.
-Maude
October 12, 2020
What do you think? I would like to hear from you, but you won’t find the typical Comments section here. If you have given the issue some thought or have an experience to share, please enter it here, or send your response to Maude@mauvereport.com. I would like to share viewpoints from all sides.