Thanksgiving brings families and friends together across the country, but for many Native Americans it’s also recognized as the National Day of Mourning.
Native Americans
The Field Museum renovated its Native North America Hall and drastically shifted its focus. The new approach emphasizes story-telling and contemporary art – as well as historical items from the collection. The exhibition space is called “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories.”
Some organizations and governments are changing how they observe the holiday, if at all, while many still gather for the annual parade.
As a pair of wildfires skirt Flagstaff, the flames are crossing land dense with reminders of human existence through centuries — multilevel stone homes, rock carvings and pieces of clay and ceramic pots that have been well-preserved in the arid climate since long before fire suppression became a tactic.
The op-ed also raises the idea of doing away with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and says tribes would be “freed” of treaties with the federal government – an idea some Native Americans oppose.
Articles of colorful clothing and ornaments tell the story of the person who wears them. The whole ensemble is called regalia, and it helps preserve the heritage of an entire community. A local photographer with roots in the Potawatomi Nation documents her people and their legacy.
Wayne Valliere, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe in northern Wisconsin, said he’s one of only six birchbark canoe builders among the Anishinaabe, an Indigenous collective in the Great Lakes region which includes the Ojibwe.
Monday’s federal holiday dedicated to Christopher Columbus is highlighting the ongoing divide between those who view the explorer as a representative of Italian American history and others horrified by an annual tribute that ignores native people whose lives and culture were forever changed by colonialism.
Cleveland’s new name was inspired by the large landmark stone edifices — referred to as traffic guardians — that flank both ends of the Hope Memorial Bridge, which connects downtown to Ohio City.
Are the days numbered for the Blackhawks team name and logo? According to the team’s new CEO the answer is no, but some Native American groups are pushing back. Two community leaders debate the issue.
Indigenous artist Santiago X showcased Serpent Mound, a group of effigy mounds in a Cook County forest preserve, as part of the county’s Racial Equity Week on Tuesday.
While advocates have made strides in getting Native American symbols and names changed in sports, they say there’s still work to do mainly at the high school level, where mascots like Braves, Indians, Warriors, Chiefs and Redskins persist.
The Washington NFL franchise announced Monday it is dropping the “Redskins” name and Indian head logo, bowing to recent pressure from sponsors and decades of criticism that they are offensive to Native Americans.
On March, a day after the mayor canceled St. Patrick’s Day parades, another parade celebrated the opening of twin exhibitions on Native American people. The shows opened ... and then closed one day later.
There’s backlash from Italian American groups following a decision by the Chicago Board of Education to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day at Chicago Public Schools instead of Columbus Day. Is there a future for the holiday?
Members of Chicago’s Native American community were surprised in the best kind of way on Wednesday when the Chicago Board of Education approved the change of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in its school calendar.
