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.
Solving a Medical Mystery With Oral Traditions
In 1993, Navajo elders provided a key piece of information to CDC scientists and climatologists to help combat a deadly mystery disease.
When Native Americans Were Slaves
Initially, Indian slavery was considered different from African slavery in the early Anglo-American colonial world, but this split didn't last for long.
How Native Americans Taught Both Assimilation and Resistance at Indian Schools
In the nineteenth century, many Native American children attended “Indian schools” designed to blot out Native cultures in favor of Anglo assimilation.
What Can Tiffany’s Mosaics Teach us about Stereotypes?
Tiffany’s glass mosaics can teach us a lot about stereotypes and nineteenth-century ideologies, particularly in the Marquette Buildings mosaic friezes.