Native American History

A history of six great Indian nations, dramatically filmed on location at their native tribal lands across America, using reenactments, archival footage, maps and original music. It tells the story of the Iroquois, Seminole, Shawnee, Navajo, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux nation.

YouTube video with a quick precis of Texas native peoples

How the American Indians of Texas changed and adapted to the arrival of Europeans.

An independent, nonprofit news provider that serves Indigenous communities with news, entertainment, and opinion.

This unique and engaging documentary explores the extraordinary diversity and profound contemporary relevance of Native American storytelling.

This film showcases the lives of 14 nurses who live and work in the Upper Great Plains. While their lives and stories are different, they all share a common theme--their past life experiences and American Indian heritage have made them extraordinary healers.

Proposing to “kill the Indian and save the man,” U.S. Army captain Richard H. Pratt envisioned an educational system that would erase Native American culture and “civilize” the continent’s indigenous people. His chosen method? Removing children from Pennsylvania’s tribal communities and confining them in barracks-style schools.

When N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, it marked one of the first major acknowledgments of Native American literature and culture. Now, Momaday’s words come to life in this biography of a celebrated Native American storyteller.

From Caves to Cosmos traces ancient knowledge and cutting-edge science to uncover the roots of Native America.

Native Americans from Maine to Washington state convened for a conference at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Their mission: to discuss the effects of climate change on tribal communities. NewsHour correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reports. Original broadcast date: July 19, 2012

Topics of discussion include the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978; some common aspects of the approximately 300 remaining Native American religions being practiced in the U.S. today; the concepts of a supreme being and associated sacred beings as they exist in Native American culture; the prophecies of the Cheyenne prophet Sweet Medicine and the historical impact of North America’s settlers on the land’s indigenous peoples; and more.

By presenting the experiences of Native Americans from a wide array of fields including artisans, performers, and teachers, this program shows how many tribes are returning to the traditions and spirituality of their ancestors.

Native Americans had established a rich and highly developed tradition of oral literature long before the writings of the European colonists. This program explores that richness by introducing Native American oral traditions through the work of three contemporary authors: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), and Luci Tapahonso (Navajo).

The film reveals how Navajo Code Talkers' strong Navajo cultural identity and spiritual references correlated with traditional Marine Corps values and a passionate patriotism.

Part two of the three part video series "We Shall Remain", all available through the ASU Library. Though the dream of an independent Indian state may have died when Tecumseh was killed, the great Shawnee warrior has lived on as a symbol of Native pride.

Thomas and Tamara are track stars at their rural New Mexico high school. Like many teenagers, they are torn between the lure of brighter futures elsewhere and the ties that bind them to home. For these teens, however, home is an impoverished town on the Navajo reservation, and leaving means separating from family, tradition and the land that has been theirs for generations.