500 Nations
This website offers a complete list of U.S. federally recognized, (and non-recognized), American Indian Nations by State.
America's Great Indian Nations - Full Documentary
This 2013 Questar documentary profiles six of the major Native American tribes that were defeated and subdued as part of the settling of the United States. With reenactments, clarifying maps, artwork, and landscape scenery, this program features the Iroquois, a confederacy comprised of several Indian tribes: the Seminoles in Florida, who welcomed escaped slaves and fought three major wars with the United States before meeting their ultimate defeat; the Shawnee, fierce Ohio Algonquians who allied with the French against the British; the Navajo, a farming people who today are the largest remaining Native American tribe; the Cheyenne, a nomadic Plains Indian tribe that depended on the American bison for sustenance; and the Lakota Sioux, the dominant Sioux tribe comprised of the bands called Oglala, Brule, Hunkpapa, and Minneconjou.
How Clans Came to Be
This story conveys the Creek legend of how clans came to be. It explains the origins of the Creek clans and how they were to be structured.
Intergovernmental Affairs: Tribal Affairs
This website highlights the Census Bureau's relationship with tribal governments and provides important American Indian Alaska Native (AIAN) and tribal resources. The Census Bureau collects data for the AIAN population and publishes specific counts, estimates, and statistics.
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
This National Native American Boarding School Health Coalition website states, "The truth about the United States Indian boarding school policy has largely been written out of the history books. There were nearly 500 government-funded, church-run Indian Boarding schools across the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Indian children were forcibly abducted by government agents, sent to schools hundreds of miles away, and beaten, starved, or otherwise abused when they spoke their native languages. The social, emotional, spiritual, and cultural devastation from boarding school experiences have passed down to Native American individuals, families, communities and Tribal Nations today."
Top 50 Questions About American Indian Tribes
This Californian Indian Education site explores the Top 50 Questions about American Indian tribes.
Understanding the Relational Worldview in Indian Families
This NICWA resource offers an overview of how Indian families view the world. This view encompasses four areas addressing context, mind, spirit and body. Though authored for Indian child welfare workers the article provides a useful perspective for classroom teachers towards appreciating the perspective Indian families possess.
All My Relations - A Traditional Lakota Approach to Health Equity
This 2014 TEDx talk, produced independently of the TED Conferences, features Dr. Donald Warne, MD, MPH who is an Oglala Lakota from Kyle, South Dakota living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Dr. Warne is also the Director of the Master of Public Health Program at North Dakota State University. Dr. Warne's Lakota name is Pejuta Wicasa, which means “Medicine Man”, and he comes from a long line of traditional Lakota healers. Dr. Warne received his MD from Stanford University and his Master of Public Health from Harvard University. This discussion blends modern health issues with traditional Lakota philosophy and promotes cultural humility in human relations. Dr. Warne also serves as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board.
Building Resilient Communities: A Moral Responsibility
In this July 2015 TEDx video, Nick Tilson, Oglala Lakota Nation citizen and the founding Executive Director of the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, states working together creates empowerment. Nick Tilsen has over 15 years of experience in working with non-profits and Tribal Nations on projects that have a social mission. Thunder Valley CDC is a community development organization that is working with the local grassroots people and national organizations in the development of a sustainable regenerative community, that creates jobs, builds homes and creates a National model for alleviating poverty in America’s poorest communities.
Changing the Way We See Native Americans
This 20-minute 2014 TEDx talk produced independently of the TED Conferences, features Matika Wilbur and her 2013 project of massive scope: to photograph members of each Federally recognized tribe in the United States. "My dream," Wilbur says, "is that our children are given images that are more useful, truthful, and beautiful." Matika Wilbur—photographer, activist, writer, and educator—undertook Project 562, an endeavor of unprecedented impact and scope. Project 562 seeks to photograph every Federally recognized tribe in the United States and reveal in a brilliant spectrum of art, media, and curricula, the rich and complex twenty-first century image and reality of contemporary Native Americans. A simple, heartfelt idea forms Wilbur's work: "By exposing the astonishing variety of the Indian presence and reality at this juncture, we will build cultural bridges, abandon stereotypes, and renew and inspire our national legacy."
Educating the Next Generation of Native Leaders (2011)
In his 2011 speech, Education Secretary Arne Duncan shares his visits and continued relationship with the Next Generation of Native Leaders while celebrating Tribal Colleges and Universities as well as Promise Neighborhoods.
Growing Native Oklahoma Video: Red People
Growing Native is a 2018 four-part series focusing on reclaiming traditional knowledge and food as ways to address critical issues of health and wellness, the environment, and human rights. Growing Native focuses on Tribes, stories and events from four geographic regions including: Alaska, Oklahoma, Northwest and Great Lakes. This March 2018 episodes focuses on Oklahoma, which is home to thirty-nine federally recognized tribes. Host Moses Brings Plenty, (Oglala Lakota), guides this episode of Growing Native on a journey through Oklahoma’s past and present. What he discovers among the many faces of Oklahoma culture is the determination, values and respect that tribes have brought to this land, once called Indian Territory.
NOTE: Goals for Growing Native series is to reclaim Native Indian narrative sovereignty and showcase the stories of powerful Tribal leaders who are on the forefront of returning to their traditional healthy diets and activities. Visit people who harvest wild rice, camas and herd bison. Learn how language revitalization is strengthening Tribal ties to their place on the planet. See how arts and culture play a role in the Tribal economy, as well as cultural preservation.
In Whose Honor?
Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Chief Illiniwek are Indian mascots and nicknames which have historically been first draft picks in American collegiate and professional sports. However, for Charlene Teters, a Spokane Indian, transplanting cultural rituals onto the field is a symbol of disrespect. In this documentary, Jay Rosenstein follows Teters' evolution from mother and student into a leading voice against the merchandising of Native American symbol, and shows the lengths fans will go to preserve their mascots.
Surviving Disappearance, Re-Imagining & Humanizing Native Peoples
In this 2013 video, Matika Wilbur, one of the Pacific Northwest's leading photographers, asks her audience to think about how images of Native Americans in mainstream media is false. As a national and international artist whose photos are exhibited extensively in regional, national, and international venues such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, The Tacoma Art Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Nantes Museum of Fine Arts in France, Matika explains how becoming a certified teacher at Tulalip Heritage High School, providing inspiration for the youth of her own indigenous community.
Urban Rez
In 2013, Rocky Mountain PBS presented "Urban Rez," a nationally distributed documentary exploring the lasting legacy and modern-day effects of the Voluntary Relocation Program and policies that encouraged American Indians to leave their homelands and relocate to urban areas across the country from 1952 to 1973. Additional videos include: the BIA, Spirituality, Language Loss, Education, Culture, Community vs Individual, and Boarding Schools.
*NEW video* Native American Teens: Who We Are (2012)
What's it like to be a young Native American today? This 2012 video feature teens from throughout the United States share their stories in this In the Mix special co-hosted by rap star and film actor Litefoot. Shot around the country, the program features a champion lacrosse player from western New York, a Grammy-nominated flute player from rural Idaho, and short films made by teens in Alaska and Washington State. A group of young leaders from cities and reservations also weigh in on the issues that affect them every day—common misconceptions and stereotypes about Native Americans, how they balance traditional culture with contemporary concerns, and their hopes for the future. "There is a definite need for materials that help Native American teens connect with their heritage as a means of gaining focus and motivation in their own lives...Recommended."—Video Librarian
The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band
This Encyclopedia Britannica website focuses on explaining the difference between an American Indian tribe and an American Indian band.
Indian Pride 107 Video: Myths and Real Truths
This 2011 Indian Pride TV series, showcases the unique lifestyles of North America’s 560 Indian Nations. Each episode of Indian Pride includes a mini-documentary, an in-studio discussion, and performances of historical and original presentations. In this episode: the Myths and Truths concerning Native Americans are discussed.