Native Americans

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Chiefs' Success Renews Activists' Efforts

Group takes protest against use of Native American imagery to Las Vegas

(Newser) - Rhonda LeValdo is exhausted, but she refuses to slow down. For the fourth time in five years, her hometown team and the focus of her decades-long activism against the use of Native American imagery and references in sports is in the Super Bowl. As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for...

Giant of Native American Literature Dies
Giant of
Native American
Literature Dies
OBITUARY

Giant of Native American Literature Dies

N. Scott Momaday was a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1969

(Newser) - N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer Prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator, and folklorist whose debut novel House Made of Dawn is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature, died last week at age 89. Momaday died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said publisher HarperCollins. He...

Mad Scramble in US Museums on Native American Displays

New rules handed down by Biden administration prohibit such exhibits without consent from tribes

(Newser) - Museums across America have started closing exhibits highlighting Native American artifacts in an attempt to comply with new Biden administration rules that mandate venues get the OK from Indigenous tribes before displaying those samples. The requirements under the updated Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , originally passed in 1990,...

South Dakota Hotel Apologizes After Ban on Native Americans

Co-owner has stepped down from management after public dispute

(Newser) - A South Dakota hotel is apologizing after one of its owners attempted to ban Native Americans from the premises, reports the South Dakota Standard . The public apology from the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City is part of the settlement of a discrimination lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice,...

Native Americans in Montana Challenge New Gender Law

Members of Two-Spirit community say their religious and cultural rights are being violated

(Newser) - A new law in Montana that went into effect last month rigidly defines sex in ways that Indigenous Two-Spirit Native Americans say violate their religious and cultural rights. CNN breaks down how Senate Bill 458 affects that community, and how they're pushing back against it. A little background: Gov....

ACLU: School Broke the Law by Forcing Boy to Cut His Hair

Native American child requested exemption for faith, cultural reasons but was denied, letter claims

(Newser) - The American Civil Liberties Union says an elementary school in Kansas is enforcing an unlawful policy under which an 8-year-old Native American boy was forced to choose between having long hair and attending school. The member of the Wyandotte Nation chose to cut his long hair after his mother visited...

A New Look at the Killing of the 'Face of Red Power'

Richard Oakes, a Mohawk, was shot to death in 1972, and the shooter went free

(Newser) - In one sense, the events that day were straightforward: "On Sept. 20, 1972, a white man pulled out a pistol, pointed it at an unarmed Indigenous father and fired a single bullet. It struck Richard Oakes in the heart, killing him almost instantly." So write Jason Fagone and...

Ancient Mounds in Ohio Join Ranks of World Gems

UNESCO recognizes earthworks by Native Americans as a World Heritage Site

(Newser) - A network of ancient Native American ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio described as "part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory" was added Tuesday to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Preservationists, led by the Ohio History Connection, and Indigenous tribes, many with ancestral ties to the state,...

Colorado Peak Gets a Meaningful Name Change

Mount Evans is now Mount Blue Sky

(Newser) - Federal officials on Friday renamed a towering mountain southwest of Denver as part of a national effort to address the history of oppression and violence against Native Americans. The US Board on Geographic Names voted overwhelmingly to change Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky at the request of the Cheyenne...

At This River, Officials Try to Turn Back the Clock 100 Years

Klamath River restoration project is a massive, $500M endeavor, involving removal of 4 dams

(Newser) - The largest dam removal project in US history is underway along the California-Oregon border—a process that won't conclude until the end of next year with the help of heavy machinery and explosives. But in some ways, removing the four dams is the easy part, per the AP . The...

Dig Begins to Find Buried Native American Children

Archaeologists are seeking lost cemetery on grounds of ex-boarding school in Nebraska

(Newser) - Bodies of dozens of children who died at a Native American boarding school have been lost for decades, a mystery that archaeologists aim to unravel as they begin digging in a central Nebraska field that a century ago was part of the sprawling campus. Crews toting shovels, trowels, and even...

DOJ: This 'Made What Happened to George Floyd Possible'

After 2-year investigation, agency finds Minneapolis cops engaged in pattern of discrimination

(Newser) - The Justice Department accused Minneapolis police Friday of engaging in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discriminating against Black and Native American people following an investigation prompted by the killing of George Floyd. The sweeping two-year civil rights investigation concluded that systemic problems in the Minneapolis Police Department "...

Supreme Court Hands Big Win to Native American Tribes

Justices uphold law stipulating Native American kids up for adoption go to Native American families

(Newser) - The Supreme Court delivered a big win to American Indians on Thursday, upholding a law that stipulates Native American children up for adoption should go to Native American families. NPR reports that the 7-2 ruling defied predictions, with Amy Coney Barrett writing the majority opinion and only Clarence Thomas and...

Accused of Being a 'Pretendian,' College Prof Comes Clean

Calls emerge for UC Berkeley's Elizabeth Hoover to resign after admitting she's not Native American

(Newser) - A California college instructor accused of falsely claiming Native American ancestry is now admitting she's white and apologizing—and it was one of her closest friends who conducted a good amount of the probing that led to her apology. The hubbub stretches back to February 2021, when Elizabeth Hoover,...

Report Accuses University of Minnesota of Genocide

Researchers say institution needs to atone for ethnic cleansing of Native Americans

(Newser) - Researchers tasked with investigating the University of Minnesota's troubled relationship with Native Americans say they sometimes had to pause because they were overpowered by emotions. Their report concluded that the university's founders "committed genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples for financial gain, using the institution as...

Native Americans Had Horses Long Before Europeans Came
Narrative of Early Horses
in America Just Changed
new study

Narrative of Early Horses in America Just Changed

Study suggests they were here with Native Americans much earlier than thought

(Newser) - Horses evolved then went extinct in the Americas 4 million years ago, but not before they crossed the Bering Land Bridge to Eurasia, were they were domesticated. Then in 1519 the Spanish brought them to Mexico—and from there, a new study suggests horses arrived in North America earlier than...

Famous 'Crying Indian' Ad Is Being Retired

Anti-pollution spot from 1970s has been acquired by Native American group

(Newser) - Since its debut in 1971, an anti-pollution ad showing a man in Native American attire shed a single tear at the sight of smokestacks and litter taking over a once unblemished landscape has become an indelible piece of TV pop culture. It's been referenced over the decades since on...

CBS Announcers Repeatedly Mock Native American Player's Name

They referred to Wichita forward Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler as 'Pooh Bear'

(Newser) - Two CBS Sports Network broadcasters have apologized for mocking a player's Native American name during a Wichita State basketball game against Grand Canyon University. Chris Walker and Chick Hernandez repeatedly referred to Wichita forward Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler as "Pooh Bear," Deadline reports. "Who got that offensive...

'Long Overdue' Name Change Coming to Grand Canyon

Popular Indian Garden campground to become Havasupai Gardens in honor of tribe

(Newser) - A popular camping spot at Grand Canyon National Park is shedding its "offensive" name. Indian Garden, a camping and rest area reached from the South Rim via the Bright Angel Trail, is to be renamed Havasupai Gardens in honor of the Native American tribe that was forcibly removed from...

Name Change Approved for Mountain With Link to Massacre

Colorado's Mount Evans could soon become Mount Blue Sky

(Newser) - A Colorado state panel recommended Thursday that Mount Evans, a prominent peak near Denver, be renamed Mount Blue Sky at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board voted unanimously for the change. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis will weigh in on the recommendation before...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>