Native American Heritage @ the Library
November 12, 2014
November is Native American Heritage Month, which “recognizes the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the United States.”
Angelo State users have access to streaming videos from Ambrose Digital and Films on Demand that provide more information about Native Americans and their accomplishments in the United States.
The following is from the opening web page(s) of Ambrose Digital’s series “History of American Indian achievement”:
“The journey is one that tells three stories: one of remarkable civilizations creating architecture, technology and art that matched the greatest success of any ancient culture. The second story is one of survival: overcoming attempts at extermination by the dominant culture. The final story is one of accomplishment.”
The series covers the history of Native Americans from the time they populated the North American continent, through their golden age, to the renaissance in the latter half of the 20th century when they could express their creativity fully. Leaders such as Pontiac, Tecumseh, Sequoyah, Black Hawk, and Osceola, as well as Cochise, Red Cloud, Quanah Parker, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce? are covered. Olympian Jim Thorpe, author N. Scott Momaday, NARF founder John Echohawk, Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller, and singer Jana Mashonee are more contemporary Native Americans included in the programs.
The eight programs include
- American Indians populate the North American continent
- The Golden Age of ancient American Indians
- The Great transition
- Resistance and acceptance
- The New Indian leaders
- Plains Indians war
- The Emergence of the American Indian hero
- American Indian renaissance
The offerings from Films on Demand include videos on Native American artists, those who are, in the words from Ambrose Digital, expressing their creativity fully. Some examples include:
- Charles Loloma : Hopi Jeweler
- Helen Hardin : Santa Clara painter
- Grace Medicine Flower and Joseph Lone Wolf, Santa Clara Potters
- R. C. Gorman : Navajo painter
- Allan Houser : Apache Sculptor
- Unconquered : Allan Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family
- Fritz Scholder : California mission painter
To find more videos in RamCat on this topic, search “Indians of North America” as a Keyword (use the quotes) and limit to Streaming Videos. Included among the 94 titles retrieved are:
- Thieves of time : who owns the past?
- Sacred spirit : Lakota Sioux, past and present
- Bridge the Gap to Pine Ridge : A Visit with the Oglala Lakota People
- Native Americans : celebrating traditions
- Liberty for All?
- TEDTalks : Aaron Huey - America’s Native Prisoners of War
- Moyers & Company : Living Outside Tribal Lines
For more information about this month, see “About Native American Heritage Month” on the official website.
Happy viewing!