Native American Heritage Month

A collection of six plays which uses a melange of voices to invoke the myths and realities of modern Native American life. The author intermixes poetry and prose to address themes of gender, generational relationships, acculturation, myth, and tensions between Christianity and traditional Native American belief systems.

Black Hawk Songs is a 30 poem sequence about the famous chief of the Sauk and Fox tribe. They examine Black Hawk's transformation from boy to warrior to chief to defeated, embittered old man.

Susan Deer Cloud is a Métis Catskill Native of Mohawk/Blackfoot/Seneca lineage. Her poems, stories and essays have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies.

This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo's twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music.

it was never going to be okay is a collection of poetry and prose exploring the intimacies of understanding intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness, while addressing Urban Indigenous Diaspora and breaking down the limitations of sexual understanding as a trans woman. As a way to move from the linear timeline of healing and coming to terms with how trauma does not exist in subsequent happenings, it was never going to be okay tries to breakdown years of silence in their debut collection of poetry.

This collection, representing a rich diversity of Native communities, showcases the exciting range of Native women's theater from the dynamic fusion of storytelling, ceremony, music and dance to the bold experimentation of poetic stream of consciousness and Native agitprop.

Poet, artist, filmmaker, and curator Heid E. Erdrich explores the indigenous experience in multifaceted ways-personal, familial, biological, cultural. These poems, written from the perspective of an Ojibwe woman, reveal what sustained harassment does to people, especially to women, children, and Native and Indigenous people, how it can lead to the oppression of others and even ourselves, and how experiencing misogyny and sexual abuse can make a person vulnerable to future abuse.

William Brandon believes that the songs and poems in this volume will, in time, be accepted as representatives of one of the world’s great literatures. The songs and poems speak for themselves, and it is especially appropriate that they should appear now, at a time when Native Americans are reclaiming their heritage and struggling to regain control of their own destinies.

Natalie Diaz's brilliant second collection demands that every body carried in its pages--bodies of language, land, rivers, suffering brothers, enemies, and lovers--be touched and held as beloveds. Through these poems, the wounds inflicted by America onto an indigenous people are allowed to bloom pleasure and tenderness.

Seventh Generation: An Anthology of Native American Plays is the first major collection of contemporary Native American writing for the theatre.

Set in their cultural context, the selections illustrate the major role, practical as well as aesthetic, that poetry played in the lives of Native American peoples.

In The Thanksgiving Play, a group of well-intentioned white teaching artists scramble to create an ambitious "woke" Thanksgiving pageant that also celebrates Native American Heritage Month. Inspired by historical interest in the KKK's collaborations with Indigenous groups, What Would Crazy Horse Do? examines the lives of Calvin and Journey--twins who are the last two members of Marahotah clan.

Examines the period of migration the Sioux tribe underwent as they tried to claim the bison pastures that were being overtaken by white men.

In When My Brother Was An Aztec, Natalie Diaz examines memory's role in human identity. Each section filters memory through specific individuals and settings. The first concentrates on a diabetic grandmother without legs and the landscape, tangible and intangible, of a Native American reservation. The second engages a brother's strife with drug-use and his unraveling of the family, the home. The third grapples with war as a character and its tattering of individuals, families, and communities.

United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into the first historically comprehensive Native poetry anthology.

Directed by Samantha Farinella, New Day Films
Hunting in Wartime profiles the incredible stories of Tlingit Native Americans from the village of Hoonah, Alaska who served in the Vietnam War.

Directed by Lukas Korver, Vision Maker Media
Two brothers from the Onondaga Nation pursue their dreams of playing lacrosse for national powerhouse Syracuse University.

Directed by Sylvie Vàng Jacquemin, Vision Maker Media
Every weekend, a small group of French citizens dress up in Native regalia and make appearances at various village fairs alongside their countrymen in France. However, in order to fulfill their dream, they must travel to the United States and meet "real Indians." Together, they finally manage a two-week drive across the Midwest and discover that the reality of contemporary Native Americans is quite different from their portrayed envisioning.

Directed by Erica Sharf, PBS
Up Heartbreak Hill chronicles the lives of three Native American teenagers in Navajo, New Mexico-Thomas, an elite runner; Tamara, an academic superstar; and Gabby, an aspiring photographer-as they navigate their senior year at a reservation high school.

Directed by Geoff O'Gara, Vision Maker Media
Home from School follows the difficult journey of Soldierwolf and tribal elders as they delve into the controversial history of Indian boarding schools, patch together the historic record and personal stories of the relatives who were shipped away, and, finally, travel to Carlisle to reunite with, and ultimately retrieve, the lost children of their tribe.

Directed by Marcos Barbery & Sam Russell, Outcast Films
A chronicle of American Indians of African descent battling to regain their tribal citizenship. By Blood explores the impact of this battle, which has manifested into a broader conflict about race, identity, and the sovereign rights of indigenous people.

Directed by Jason Jaacks, EPF Media, Inc.
This documentary journeys with the Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Team as they prepare and present a theater production of their finest poems woven with traditional and contemporary song and dance.

Directed by Briar March, New Day Films
Punk rock and human rights don’t necessarily share a common cause but for the family band Blackfire, their music and their message are integral parts of a solid identity. Including high-energy concert scenes, stunning cinematography, and intelligent conversations on the issues facing Native American youth, this rock documentary tells the personal lives of one family and a band fighting for what they believe in.

Directed by Christine Lesiak, Vision Maker Media
America’s first Native doctor, Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) studied medicine at a time when few women dared. Medicine Woman chronicles the stories of Susan, and modern day medicine women from the Omaha, Lakota and Navajo tribes.

Directed by Lawrence Hott, PBS
The astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely-untold story of Native Americans in the United States military.

Directed by Bo Boudart, Studio Project
Worlds collide in the Tongass National Forest, the largest temperate rainforest on earth, when the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) turns tribes into corporations and sparks a lengthy logging frenzy.

Directed by Brian Truglio, Vision Maker Media
In the rugged canyon lands of Northern Arizona, Navajo and Hopi cross-country runners from two rival high schools put it all on the line for tribal pride, triumph over personal adversity, and state championship glory. Win or lose, what they learn in the course of their seasons, will have a dramatic effect on the rest of their lives.

Directed by Syd Beane, Vision Maker Media
A deeply personal family film that follows Kate Beane, an urban, Dakota scholar, and her family as they trace the remarkable life of their celebrated relative, Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman), an important author, activist, lecturer, and one of the first Native American doctors.

Directed by Lawrence Johnson, Vision Maker Media
This documentary explores the mythic and historic roots of contemporary gambling in the Northwest Native Society through a look at the traditional hand game (also called "stick game" or "bone game"). Travelling from reservation to reservation meeting engaging and colorful players, the filmmakers show how traditional ways of thinking are alive today in Indian country. An inside view of an ancient form of gambling that combines strategy, wit and skill.

Directed by Joseph C. Sousa, Gary Glassman, and Scott Tiffany, PBS
Native America explores the world created by America's First Peoples. The four part series reaches back 15,000 years to reveal massive cities aligned to the stars, unique systems of science and spirituality, and 100 million people connected by social networks spanning two continents.

From Papua New Guinea rainforests to Canada's tar sands, Profit and Loss exposes industrial threats to native peoples' health, livelihood and cultural survival.

Hopi: songs of the fourth world is a compelling study of the hopi that captures their deep spirituality and reveals their integration of art and daily life. Amidst beautiful images of Hopi land and life, a variety of Hopi - a farmer, a religious elder, grandmother, painter, potter and weaver - speak about the preservation of the Hopi way.

Takes a critical look at the long-standing practice of "honoring" American Indians by using their names for mascots and sports teams and delves into the accompanying issues of racism, stereotypes, minority representation, and the powerful effects of media imagery.

Using impressive computer imaging, photos, location film footage and breathtaking cinematography, interviews with present-day Indians, books and manuscripts, museum artifacts, and more, Director Jack Leustig and his crew go back more than a millennium to present an fascinating account of Native Americans.

Explores issues facing Native Americans living in urban environments, illustrating the importance of access to adequate health care, education, and the strong sense of community and cultural identity needed to thrive in big cities.

Examines the historical, cultural, and spiritual aspects of lacrosse among the Native peoples of North America.

Spanning almost four hundred years, this documentary tells the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective, presenting Native history as an integral part of the American story.

Examines the Battle of Little Big Horn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, from the perspective of the Lakota, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow who lived on the Great Plains and from that of the white settlers who pushed west across the continent.

Explores the history and archaeology of the Cahokia Mounds area using natural and cultural landscapes, archaeological excavations, numerous artifacts, and discussions with researchers.