Native American History: Research & Reading

Historians and archaeologists tell the story of the small tribe that once dominated the territory between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, from Pipestone, Minnesota to St. Louis, Missouri. What was once a quest for survival in the past has become a struggle to retain a unique Native American culture and language in the present.

Examines the 1975 incident where armed FBI agents illegally entered the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, resulting in the deaths of a Native American and two FBI agents. Explores the controversy and potential abuse of justice surrounding the case of Leonard Peltier, who was the sole person in the incident convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Story of the journey of two Coeur d'Alene Indian boys from Idaho to Arizona. Along the way the two learn a number of life lessons from each other and those around them. Based on The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven / by Sherman Alexie.

Rewarded for his heroism in the Civil War, Lt. John Dunbar wants to see the American frontier before it is gone. Assigned to an abandoned fort with a Sioux tribe as his only neighbor, he overcomes the language barrier and mutual fear and distrust to become a friend of the tribe.

Kenai, a young Native American boy who wants to be a man, sets out to take revenge after his older brother is killed by a mother bear protecting her cubs. When Kenai finds himself magically transformed into the creature he hates most, a bear, he must literally walk in another's footsteps while learning some life lessons.

Based on the book by Dee Alexander Brown.

In the 17th century, Father Laforgue, a young Jesuit priest, is assigned to go up river into the Canadian wilderness to convert the Huron Indians. His young aide and translator, Daniel, falls in love with Annuka, the daughter of the Algonquin chief. Torn between his own desires and ideals of the priesthood, Laforgue's faith is tested, and his life and the outcome of the mission imperiled, as the expedition faces the elements and hostile Indians.

Filmmaker Lydia Nibley explores the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder. Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. Through telling Fred's story, Nibley reminds us of the values that America's indigenous peoples have long embraced. - Written by Outfest

In 1607, the Virginia Company sends a ship from England to America to stake a claim on the New World and bring back the gold that is rumored to be abundant there. Chief Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas resists taking life seriously, although her father wishes for her to marry and take her place as a leader of her people. As Pocahontas and John Smith fall in love, however, both find that their lives are going in directions they never anticipated.

The love of Hawkeye, rugged frontiersman and adopted son of the Mohicans, and Cora Munro, aristocratic daughter of a British colonel, blazes amidst a brutal conflict between the British, the French and Native American allies in colonial America.

Jack Crabb is 121 years old. And he's done it all. He's been a full-fledged Cheyenne, an Indian fighter, a snake oil merchant, master gunman, drinking buddy of wild Bill Hickok, colleague of Buffalo Bill, and is the only survivor of Custer's Last Stand. Crabb is either the Old West's most neglected hero or the biggest liar ever to cross the Mississippi. Little Big Man is Jack Crabb's story.