Why the Dakota Only Traded among People with Kinship Bonds
“Trapping was not a ‘business for profit’ among the Dakota but primarily a social exchange,” one scholar writes.
Why White Women Tried to Ban Native American Dances
In the early 1920s, reformers obsessed over the sexual nature of some Pueblo rituals, and attempted to control their performance.
How Sacagawea Became More Than A Footnote
A suffragist searching for a heroine found Sacagawea and lifted her out of historical obscurity.
Yes, Americans Owned Land Before Columbus
What you were taught in elementary school about Native Americans not owning land is a myth. The truth is much more complicated.
The First Native American to Receive a Medical Degree
Susan LaFlesche Picotte was first Native American to be licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. She opened her own hospital, but didn't live to run it.
When Souvenirs Peddle Stereotypes
The things travelers bring home reflect their worldviews. In 19th c. Niagara Falls, souvenirs revealed problematic stereotypes about Native Americans.
What Smoke Signals Means 20 Years Later
This groundbreaking film was the first movie to be written, directed, co-produced, and acted by Native Americans.
The Women Who Tried to Prevent the Trail of Tears
In the 1830s, American women, including Catherine Beecher, worked to fight Andrew Jackson’s genocidal Indian Removal campaign.
Edward S. Curtis: Romance vs. Reality
In a famous 1910 photograph "In a Piegan Lodge," a small clock appears between two seated Native American men. In a later print, the clock is missing.
Alaska’s Unique Civil Rights Struggle
A generation before Rosa Parks, a young Alaska Native woman was arrested for sitting in the "whites only" section of a Nome, Alaska movie theater.