Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month
NMPBS has a dynamic line-up of programs commemorating Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month throughout November, including new & encore presentations.
Now Streaming
Films about, starring, and made by Indigenous Peoples
However Wide the Sky: Places of Power
The history and spirituality of the Indigenous People of the American Southwest are deeply rooted in the Land. This is their story, of the Land and who they are.
Surviving Columbus
This Peabody Award-winning documentary from New Mexico PBS looks at the European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of the Pueblo Peoples.
River Where We Dream
River Where We Dream, a documentary produced by KNME TV, follows a group of Native American kids on their journey from the sacred mountains of their Pueblo to the stage of the Santa Fe Opera
Canes of Power
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln recognized Pueblo independence by bestowing an ornamental, silver tipped cane to each Pueblo Nation. This documentary tells the story of the Canes in the voice of the Pueblo people and the struggle for sovereignty, upon which cultural survival depends.
Return to Rainy Mountain
N. Scott Momaday, recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for Fiction awarded to a Native American writer, and his daughter, filmmaker Jill Momaday Gray, take viewers on a modern-day road trip loosely based on his Kiowa nation’s ancestral myths and legends, from his bestselling book, "The Way to Rainy Mountain."
Native America
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.
The Peoples Protectors
Native American veterans reflect on their experiences in the military during the Vietnam War. Even as they struggled with their relationship to the United States government from past oppression; the Dakota, Lakota, and Ojibwe warriors still felt compelled to honor their duty to their people as Akichita | Ogichidaag| Warriors, as protectors of the people.
The Warrior Tradition
The Warrior Tradition, tells the astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely-untold story of Native Americans in the United States military. Why would Indian men and women put their lives on the line for the very government that took their homelands? The film relates the stories of Native American warriors from their own points of view – stories of service and pain, of courage and fear.
We Sing
What does it mean to sing at the drum? How does kinship transform losses? How do powwows link families and traditions? Blackfeet and Salish elders and youth integrate past and present through kinship and commemorative performance. Together their voices make a song of innovation and resilience.
The Art of Home: A Wind River Story
Two indigenous artists create new works reflecting on their tribal homelands, the Wind River Indian Reservation. Ken Williams (Arapaho) is a Santa Fe art celebrity and Sarah Ortegon (Shoshone) is an up-and-coming actress in Denver. Both artists travel to Wind River Reservation to reconnect with their ancestors and present their art work to a somewhat isolated community.
Bago Boys
In 2015, the Winnebago Boys basketball team won their first state championship since 1940. NET chronicles the Bago Boys 2014-15 championship season. This 30 minute documentary, follows the team through their challenges both on and off the court as they journey to Lincoln seeking a Nebraska State Championship trophy!
Playing for the World
In 1902, a unique combination of Native women came together at a boarding school in Montana. They used the new sport of basketball to help them adjust to a rapidly changing world. Their travels and experiences led them to places they never imagined. Ultimately, these women played for something much larger than themselves.
Urban Rez
Urban Rez explores the controversial legacy & modern-day effects of the US Government's assimilation policy to dismantle the Indian Reservation system by relocating American Indians from their rural homelands to urban areas. Stories from many tribal nations speak to the challenges of maintaining one's own culture within the dominant society. Narrated by Moses Brings Plenty/ Lakota.
Standing Bear's Footsteps
Standing Bear's Footsteps is the story of an Indian chief who went to court to prove he was a person—and in the process redefined what it means to be an American. The 60-minute high definition documentary weaves together interviews, recreations and present day scenes to tell a story about human rights, one that resonates powerfully in the present.
Indigenous Short Films
Without a Whisper
Explore the untold story of how Indigenous women influenced the early suffragists in their fight for freedom and equality. Mohawk Clan Mother Louise Herne and Professor Sally Roesch Wagner shake the foundation of the established history of the women’s rights movement in the US joining forces to shed light on the hidden history of the influence of Haudenosaunee Women on the women’s rights movement.
This is the Way We Rise
Filmmaker Ciara Lacy documents Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, a Kanaka Maoli wahine poet, activist and academic, and her continued work towards justice for Hawaii’s native population.
Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance
Filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris explores how the reality and resistance of Native Americans inspire the work of Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk, igniting discussions about environmentalism, Native rights, and numerous other current topics.
Sixty-Four Flood "Born Here"
On June 7-8, 1964, a driving rain buckled dams and flooded vehicles on the Blackfeet Reservation, sweeping crying children from mothers’ arms, and ferrying homes and bodies across the prairie. Our mobile, documentary narrative tells the story of the worst natural disaster in Montana history: the 1964 flood on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Sixty-Four Flood "Beneath the Surface"
On June 7-8, 1964, a driving rain buckled dams and flooded vehicles on the Blackfeet Reservation, sweeping crying children from mothers’ arms, and ferrying homes and bodies across the prairie. Our mobile, documentary narrative tells the story of the worst natural disaster in Montana history: the 1964 flood on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Sixty-Four Flood "Kittowashin"
On June 7-8, 1964, a driving rain buckled dams and flooded vehicles on the Blackfeet Reservation, sweeping crying children from mothers’ arms, and ferrying homes and bodies across the prairie. Our mobile, documentary narrative tells the story of the worst natural disaster in Montana history: the 1964 flood on the Blackfeet Reservation.
POV "Water Warriors"
When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and way of life.
What Does Electric Pow Wow Sound Like?
Canadian DJ collective A Tribe Called Red combine Native American drum circle sounds with electronic music to create Electric Pow wow. Nahre Sol travels to Toronto to meet A Tribe Called Red to learn how they blend native sounds and electronic music. LA Buckner meets with Iron Boy drum circle in Minnesota to watch a live performance and learn about their sound.
Native American Hoop Dancing and Hip-Hop in Minneapolis
Micco and his older brother Samsoche are well known on powwow grounds and beyond for their impressive hoop dance routines, which are often performed to the beat of Native hip-hop. Watch them perform traditional hoop dance formations in front of Minneapolis’ American Indian Center, on the Mississippi’s Stone Arch Bridge and underneath the Hennepin Avenue overpass.
Iñupiaq Inside
In Alaska, climate change threatens the natural world, and the cultural history held by rural and Native communities. Cordelia Kellie first truly felt at home when she started learning the Iñupiaq language and visited her mother’s hometown, Wainwright. Now she shares her knowledge and pride in Alaska Native culture with other youth Alaskans.
Indigenous Shows, Specials and Series
History Detectives “Sideshow Babies, Lubin Photos, Navajo Rug”
Why were babies exhibited at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair? How are these photos linked to an early movie mogul? Did the weaver of this Southwestern rug violate a taboo?
History Detectives “Tokyo Rose Recording, Crazy Horse Photo, WWII Diary”
Did this recording play a part in the infamous trial of "Tokyo Rose?" Could this be a photograph of the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse? Could this diary reveal the fate of a missing bomber pilot from World War II?
America ReFramed “On A Knife Edge”
The coming-of-age story of George Dull Knife, a Lakota teen growing up on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. The film traces George’s path to activism, inspired by his family’s history of fighting for justice for Native Americans. His focus: shutting down liquor stores in Whiteclay, a tiny town nearby that exists only to sell beer to the reservation’s vulnerable population.
America ReFramed “Blood Memory”
For Sandy White Hawk, the story of America’s Indian Adoption Era is not one of saving children but of destroying families and tribes. As an adoption survivor, Sandy sets out to reclaim the missing pieces of her stolen past only to discover that hers was not an isolated case. Blood Memory explores the communal healing that is sparked by the return of this stolen generation.
American Veteran: The Return
Hollywood war stories mostly end with the hero’s return. In reality, the road back to civilian life is less certain. For some, there were ticker-tape parades; for others, protests, anger and silence. Some veterans return home full of confidence, while others think, “What am I going to do now?” Hosted by actor Wes Studi, Vietnam War Veteran (National Guard) and Native American (Cherokee) activist.
Independent Lens “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World”
Rumble is the electric story of how Native American influence shaped rock and roll, a missing chapter in music history.
N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear
Delve into the enigmatic life and mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.
Dawnland
Dawnland reveals the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the United States through the first government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission in the nation, tasked with investigating the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities
Kind Hearted Woman (Part 1 & 2)
In a special two-part series, acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland creates an unforgettable portrait of Robin Charboneau, a 32-year-old divorced single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota's Spirit Lake Reservation. Sutherland follows Robin over three years as she struggles to raise her two children, further her education, and heal herself from the the wounds of sexual abuse.
First People - Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay Nation at one time lived throughout this region and is currently comprised of 13 reservations scattered across San Diego County and four in northern Baja California. The Kumeyaay people who live on and off these reservations share a heritage that goes back, in their words, "to the beginning of time." This Emmy-nominated film explores some aspects of this resilient culture.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
The son of a tubercular mother and an alcoholic father, Ben Nighthorse Campbell persevered to become one of America’s most interesting leaders. From high school dropout to Olympic athlete… from artist to the United States Senator from Colorado… Ben has amassed a collection of identities, but none so important as the one he was ceremonially given by his father’s Northern Cheyenne tribe: Nighthorse.
Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools
KUED takes a moving and insightful look into the history, operation, and legacy of the federal Indian Boarding School system, whose goal was total assimilation of Native Americans at the cost of stripping away Native culture, tradition, and language.
State of Sequoyah
For centuries Native Americans had been forced from their lands in the east and were told that eventually they would have a place out west where they could live in peace and call their own. After years of broken promises the tribes in Indian Territory decided the best way to preserve their way of life was to become a state.
The Reign of Terror
Just below the tall grass of the Osage reservation was an ocean of oil, it made every member of the tribe a millionaire and a target. In the 1920’s, hundreds of Osage Indians were dying in mysterious circumstances. Shady characters from all over came to strip it from them any way they could. It took the birth of the FBI to end what was called “The Reign of Terror.”
FRONTLINE: The Silence
FRONTLINE examines a little-known chapter of the Catholic Church sex abuse story - decades of abuse of Native Americans by priests and other church workers in Alaska. All told, they would leave behind a trail of hundreds of claims of abuse, making this one of the hardest hit regions in the country.
Tribal Histories
Tribal Histories features tribal storytellers sharing the culture and oral traditions that have shaped their communities across generations. The series of half-hour programs presents the histories of all eleven federally recognized American Indian tribes and bands located in Wisconsin, plus one tribe that is seeking to regain its federal status.
Saving the Sacred
Discover how rapid urbanization and the looting of artifacts for sale on illegal markets have threatened to erase the long histories of the Koi and Habematolel Pomo tribes.