Past Shows Archives » Native America Calling

The new poetry collection " Cloud Runner " from Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) is the culmination and curated expression of her own personal grief. The poems spring from the aftermath of her daughter’s death in 2023 and range from devastating to hopeful. Harjo, musician, artist, and the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, explores a mother’s anguish and the time and work it takes to reconcile it. Harjo...

The rape allegations by a former Cornell University student that administrators and law enforcement officials failed to follow up on shine a new light on college campus safety. Sexual assault prevention advocates have long faulted colleges and universities with poor protocols and inconsistent reporting. The organization End Rape on Campus finds that Native college students and students of color ex...

The number of books dropped from school reading lists and public library shelves is the highest since the organization, PEN America, started keeping track . Fueled mainly by conservative pressure groups and elected leaders at the school board and state legislative levels , the challenges to books target what opponents consider obscenity and themes that are too mature for younger readers. But books...

Composer, singer, and ethnomusicologist Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik) is taking his music on an international tour that includes performing in Taiwan and Japan with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Dutcher’s music continues to draws fans around the world following the release of two acclaimed albums in his Native language, featuring his distinctive tenor voice. His latest album, " Motewolonuwok ", won t...

The Trump administration’s proposal to remove questions about a person’s race for the U.S. Census is sparking alarm among tribal leaders, voting rights advocates, and social service providers . They say it will significantly impede tribes’ political representation at the state and federal levels and reduce access to federal resources, adding up to a serious erosion of tribal sovereignty. Counting...

At a time when tribes across the country are working to shut down prediction market companies, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana is embracing them by launching its own mobile app with the help of industry giant, Kalshi. The Tunica-Biloxi chairman says his tribe is " creating a new source of economic opportunity and doing it on its own terms ." That is decidedly counter to the other tribes that...

From the original Cherokee syllabary to banners waved by Native American demonstrators, graphic works by Native people carry a thread through the centuries that operate within their own design framework. A new book and accompanying gallery exhibition, " Designed to be Red" , documents and celebrates that thread of visual works by Native designers that exert agency and authority over their own stor...

At a time when Canada is reflecting on the painful history of residential schools, Indigenous leaders are having to speak out against organized efforts to minimize the harms inflicted on generations of Indigenous children. Just days before Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation , white nationalists gathered near the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Colum...

"The Blue Corn Kitchen " by Alana Yazzie (Diné) gives young reader’s a glimpse of the traditional corn-based Navajo foods many Navajo grandmothers have stocked in their kitchens. It's the latest project from the self-made, Navajo lifestyle and food blogger who also goes by The Fancy Navajo. Howdy Cakes is a new pastry and cake business by Diné culinarian, Liz McKenzie. It's in partnership with a s...

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though h...

Aliet Paul learns traditional sacred birthing practices of her Mi’kmaq through her grandmother. But the outside world is changing and drives a wedge between her and her community. " The Birthing Tree " is the second novel from Amanda Peters (Mi’kmaq). It is a story of identity, overcoming tragedy, and redemption through one’s connections to family and culture. " How Settlers Get Away with Murder "...

Some experts are warning about the risks of artificial intelligence advancing beyond human control in the foreseeable future. The major AI developers themselves are calling on government intervention to slow down the pace of AI progress. In the meantime, tribes are developing policies to head off potential AI misuse of cultural and private data. Much of the tribal policies revolve around intellect...

After centuries of having their stories told by outsiders, Indigenous people made considerable progress in having their voices represented in the media in recent decades. The 2012 book, “ American Indians and the Mass Media ,” co-edited by Meta Carstarphen, documented that growth in authentic Native voices. Now, a new book edited by Carstarphen and Cristina L. Azocar picks up where the original bo...

Modern traditional practitioners are the culmination of generations of people who acquired and passed on their skills, knowledge, and technology. That knowledge includes innovative ways to find water in arid places, stay warm in cold climates, navigate surroundings without a compass or a map, and to use the land in a way that doesn’t deplete it. A new documentary on the PBS science series "NOVA" t...

Alaska tribes just took over ownership from the federal government of the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, making way for growth that officials have been advocating for years. The new owners, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium , were among the first Native organizations to assume health care sovereignty in 1998, but officials say underinvestment in the facility by the federal Ind...

Musician Kole Galbraith (Peoria Tribe) has spent nearly a decade perfecting his unique blend of electronic and acoustic instrumentation and field recordings to create his signature drone-doom sound. Galbraith’s musical roots are grounded in metal, noise, free jazz, and musique concrète . He is earning praises from audiences from the Pacific Northwest to Eastern Europe for his honed sound that find...

Julian Lang is an elder, artist, and dedicated language teacher. He has spent decades talking with elders and poring over documents — including deciphering cryptic field notes from an anthropological linguist a century ago — to help rebuild the structure of his Karuk language. Now, a master-apprenticeship program he helped found is being recognized by linguists as a successful example of language...

A new report by the Native American Rights Fund finds rejections increased for both ballots and voter registration forms sent by mail from places with high Native populations from 2020 to 2024. NARF’s analysis also documents generations of efforts to suppress or hinder Native voters. The report comes as both Congress and the courts are turning back several President Donald Trump’s most significant...

Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is...

A new 162-page report just released by the White House flags a museum exhibition for what it says is “radical, activist ideology” that “seeks to teach disdain and inspire disgust of our great country.” The report faults Native land acknowledgements, mentions of stolen land, and the use of the term “genocide” connected to an ongoing exhibition by the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). T...

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though h...

A piece by artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee) titled “Yet With a Steady Beat” is part of an exhibit in the brand new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which opened to the public in June. The large, colorful canvas is dotted with political buttons that would’ve been seen in movements for Native rights, farmers’ rights, and civil rights. Being handpicked by the Obam...

As the country commemorates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, several galleries are exploring the enduring strengths of Native Americans through both traditional and contemporary works. “Paper Trails: Unfolding Indigenous Narratives” at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, N.M. aims to stretch the boundaries of the paper medium while also examining Native cultural surv...

Carol Juneau (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) helped build and shape the foundation of what is now the Blackfeet Community College in the late 1970s. Her educational work led her to advocacy and elected office as she served 12 years in the Montana legislature. Juneau is one of six Native leaders in this year’s class of National Native American Hall of Fame inductees. In this program, we’ll le...

Fifteen days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the new nation signed its first international treaty with the Wolastoqey and Mi'kmaq Nations of present-day Maine. It’s a history that historian and Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians ambassador Osihkiyol Crofton-Macdonald wishes more Americans knew. Brown University assistant professor and Narragansett Nation citizen Dr. Mack Scott...