2019 Summer SUNY First Peoples of North America

     For writing Module 2, besides the textbook, Atlas of Indian Nations by Anton Treuer, I also reviewed the archived article from PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. It is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor which was created by Hartford N. Gunn Jr.      The site itself is a Nonprofit Organization (NPO). It is the distribution channel for public radio and television programs in the United States. As an educational medium, they are delivering educational messages to the public. My chosen article telling about the Nez Percé Chief, Chief Joseph is a good example.      By reviewing the article “Chief Joseph Speaks Selected Statements and Speeches by the Nez Percé Chief”, I have understood that why Chief Joseph surrendered. He desired for the peace. He hoped that there would not be any wars between their tribe and the white man. He had no choice. His inner struggle in this speech and statement reflected the ...

I chose the Jake Thomas Learning Centre as my source to review. It was created by Jake Thomas, his wife, and friends as a way to preserve and promote Haudenosaunee culture. This preservation includes digitizing the Jake Thomas collection, which includes over 90,000 documents, as well as teaching beading workshops. According to the website, “so far our team has scanned and edited approximately 2,500 documents of the 90,000 document Collection” (Jake Thomas Learning Centre), which is entirely scanned by volunteers.The Jake Thomas Learning Centre’s goal is to “make all of the material from the Jake Thomas Collection accessible on the internet” (Jake Thomas Learning Centre). Overall, I think the perspective that it is meant to convey is that the Haudenosaunee, especially through the late Jake Thomas have a long and rich history that can be shared and provide more context to who these people are and what they do. Thomas himself worked incredibly hard to share Haudenosaunee culture. Here i...

            An available resource that was provided to us students in module two was The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, in Oklahoma City. The museum is dedicated to educating people on the cultures of the Indian peoples.             Reviewing the website, a person will clearly see how in touch the Native Americans have been for thousands of years. The website provides information about the significance of earth, wind, fire and water.             The tour of the center promises to teach how the wind brings the spirit of the environment to the people. Wind is the sound and breathing of nature and helped develop language. Fire represents the life cycle of Indians. Tribes had their own “Fire Keepers,” this part of the tour represents how the Indians struggled and survived the different obstacles they have ...

For Module 2, I reviewed the web resource Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve.   The Hibulb Cultural Center was created to preserve the history and culture of the Tualip Tribes and other tribes from the area.   The main gallery of the cultural center is home to interactive displays that provide a look into the lives of the smaller bands that make up the Tulalip Tribe. Some of the past exhibits from the cultural exhibit include an exhibit about the Tulalip Indian Fair which was held on the reservation from 1915-1927 and was an attempt of the United States Government to assimilate the Natives into the culture of American people wanting to teach them to be farmers rather than hunters and gatherers.   Another exhibit was Project 562 that displayed 562 portraits of Natives that were meant to protect the sacred beliefs. The purpose of this exhibit was to diminish stereotypes and to build bridges between the Natives and others by showing people from all diffe...

            The online source that I reviewed is called The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and was created by the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority (NACEA) upon establishment through the Oklahoma Legislature. According to the mission statement, the center was constructed for the purpose of generating awareness and understanding of the history of tribes and their relationship to Oklahoma today. The founding state agency also seeks to promote this awareness to all people of the Oklahoma American Indian cultures and heritage. The perspective or message that this online reference is meant to convey to its readers is to place emphasis that a legitimate organization founded by the Oklahoma Legislation created a center with the sole purpose to preserve the culture and heritage of the American Indian tribes of Oklahoma and serve to educate and clear any misconceptions or presumptions to anyone expressing an...

     In the last two weeks, I've read many stories in Nabokov's Native American Testimony. I have tried to find some heroes in the history which the Native Indians had fought against the invaders. And I've found a good example.      Since the discovery of the land in North America by Whites, European countries have been very unfriendly to local indigenous tribes in North America because of colonial policies. They have been trying to conquer these tribes and plundering their resources. Even after the independence of the United States, the war between Americans and local indigenous people never really stopped. Only until the death of the last chief, the Indians’ struggle against Whites gradually subsided.      Sitting Bull was born in March 1831. He was a brave warrior who led the tribe in a series of conquests against the Crow Indians. While still a child, he had acquired great popularity. When he was 14, he became the shaman of his...

For this post, I decided to focus on the Haudenosaunee (named the Iroquois by the French, pronounced hoo-dee-no-sho-nee). The Haudenosaunee consisted of the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and later the Tuscarora. Together these peoples comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth. Their story, and governance truly based on the consent of the governed, contains a great deal of life-promoting intelligence for those of us not familiar with this area of American history” ( The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth ). “The Six Nations: Oldest Living Participatory Democracy on Earth” resource walks you through how the people of Six Nations contributed to the formation of democracy as we know it in the United States of America. The perspective shared reveals that we have been told a story about the formation of this country and its politics, but key groups that had a hand in its formation were left out. The pers...