This Week in Native American News: Pocahontas' Tribe, Oregon's Agreement, and San Antonio's Celebration

March 24, 2017


Great People Doing Great Things: Celebrating 8 Native Women during Women's History Month

Native women have always served as leaders, healers, artists, and anything else they wanted to be — but you wouldn’t know it from reading most history textbooks. Pocahontas and Sacajawea are usually there, though their lives are generally boiled down to the part they played in saving white men. 

While it would be impossible to list all the Native women who have made history, we want to provide a sampling — to make up for what history classes lack.

See the list here

Speaking of historical women... 

Pocahontas' tribe isn't impressed with her place in history.

Read it here


A little more history: Native Carvings in French WWI Quarries

Why is there a Native American canoe carved in an abandoned quarry inhabited by U.S. soldiers during WWI? The answer leads back to Point Pleasant, Maine--home of the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

See the video here


Arctic RISING SUN organizations working together to prevent suicide

A group of international Arctic organizations is coming together to talk about the difficult subject of suicide within northern indigenous communities.

The initiative is called RISING SUN, which stands for Reducing the Incidence of Suicide in Indigenous Groups — Strengths United through Networks.

"I was encouraged by the participation, particularly from those individuals who live in circumpolar communities," said Inuit Circumpolar Council Chair Okalik Eegeesiak in a statement. "It is clear that mental wellness and suicide prevention is an urgent priority across the north. The network that has been created must be sustained and the work that remains must always be centered on community needs."

Read more here


Mascots and Tribal Agreements

At least seven Oregon school districts are working to keep their Native American mascots by getting the support of local tribes.

The Roseburg School Board is the latest to approve an agreement with a local tribe. Board members voted Wednesday to keep “Indians” as the Roseburg High School mascot and a feather as the main image. The agreement with the Cow Creek band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians would add curriculum on Native American history and include a tribal representative on the school board’s instruction committee.

Read more here


Native History will be part of tricentennial

Plans are taking shape to make San Antonio’s approaching Tricentennial a year of nonstop cultural celebrations. Drawing from 300 years of history, organizers are overseeing a busy, event-filled calendar. Outside the official preparations, others are working to make sure the city’s story is told in all its nuanced historical dimensions.

AITSCM Executive Director Ramon Vasquez joined the efforts to highlight the original diversity of the area. The history of the native people in the area has been painted with a broad brush throughout history, he said, and the Tricentennial runs the risk of over-simplifying their role in the city’s history.

“I feared that the Mission Indian families that contributed to the beginning of San Antonio would be left out of the celebration,” Vasquez said.

Read more here


It's hard to fit so much news in such a small space.
To read all of this week's news, visit the LIM Magazine.

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