WASHINGTON, D.C. – By a voice vote, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation (H.R. 1294), authored by Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), to grant the Virginia tribes recognition from the U.S. federal government.
This is the first time the Virginia tribes’ recognition bill (H.R. 1294) has passed either the House or Senate. It is also the 1st time in over two decades the House has voted on granting a Native American tribe sovereign status.
GLADWIN -- A blanket trade spear throwing and archery are just a few activities available at a Tribute to Native Americans May 19 and 20.
The Gladwin County Historical Society opens its 2007 season with the tribute, which features the Saginaw Chippewa Indians.
The tribute is from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the historical society.
Free programs for adults and children are part of the festivities, including native stories for children, the history of the fur trade and a blanket trade.
The blanket trade offers children a chance to barter with their treasures. A blanket is placed on the ground, and children sit around it.
The time when it was alright to ridicule and mock Native American culture is long gone, said Calgary-area Natives offended by an act at this year’s edition of the Shrine Circus.
Vital’s Crossbows, an act consisting of a precision archer and his assistant dressed in ceremonial feather headdress, tapping their mouths and clowning about in front of the crowd to spaghetti western-style Indian music hurt the youths Jason EagleSpeaker had taken to the show and left elders fighting back tears, the Crowfoot Nation member told the Sun.
Coyote, turtle, crane. Stories of these animals, found in nearly all American Indian/Native Alaskan cultures, are passed down through the generations. Programs based on native legends and culture are guiding about 1,000 Indian students in Northwest Oregon schools to academic success and graduation, said Ruth Jensen, manager of the Indian Education Program at Northwest Regional Education Service District, 5825 NE Ray Circle.
"Our challenges include dropout prevention via credit recovery," said Jensen, a member of the Tlingit tribe, of Ketchikan, Alaska. "Our goal is to provide culturally-related support so American Indian and Alaska native students can succeed academically. We focus on the strength of the family."
LOS ANGELES, May 8 — When the historian Dee Brown published “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” in 1971, it became an instant sensation. In an age of rebellion, this nonfiction book told the epic tale of the displacement and decline of the American Indian not from the perspective of the winners, but from that of the Indians.
But the fact that Mr. Brown’s work has been translated into 17 languages and has sold five million copies around the world was not enough to convince HBO that a film version would draw a sizable mainstream audience. When the channel broadcasts its two-hour adaptation of the book, beginning Memorial Day weekend, at its center will be a new character: a man who was part Sioux, was educated at an Ivy League college and married a white woman.
American Indian groups accused Gov. Bill Ritter and Democratic legislative leaders Tuesday of political cowardice for denying their request to eliminate the Columbus Day holiday in Colorado in the just-ended session.
Representatives of the American Indian Movement of Colorado gathered on the state Capitol steps to express their disappointment with Democrats, who took control of the legislature and governor's office this year for the first time in nearly half a century.
With that leadership change, they said, they hoped to finally get the controversial holiday knocked off Colorado's books.
"We believed it was the perfect opportunity to break from the past," Kim Cameron said.
