Articles on Indigenous Peoples Day

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Native American children ride bikes near the cemetery at Wounded Knee, the site of the Dec. 29, 1890, massacre of Sioux tribal members. Richmatts/iStock via Getty Images

A white poet and a Sioux doctor fell in love after Wounded Knee – racism and sexism would drive them apart

Elaine Goodale and Charles Eastman’s 19th-century interracial marriage made them a media sensation. But tensions over gender, race and identity ultimately proved too hard to overcome.
A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol on June 10, 2020, in St Paul, Minn. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Politics based on grievance has a long and violent history in America

President Trump’s politics of resentment recall the US colonial era, when grievances fueled rage and violence.
The first encounters between European settlers and Native Americans are captured on a wood engraving in this 1888 image. DigitalVision Vectors

Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists

Popular culture often describes scalping − the forceful removing of a person’s scalp − as an indigenous practice. But white settlers accelerated this form of violence against Native Americans.
Language is so important, says prof. Frank Deer. Generational knowledge of culture is passed through stories, language, and symbols. Here two young women wearing ribbon skirts arrive for 2022 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies in Calgary, Alta. (CP/Jeff McIntosh)

Listen: Why preserving Indigenous languages is so critical to culture

The revitalization of Indigenous languages is essential because language reflects philosophies that guide social, political, cultural and ecological relationships.
A makeshift memorial for the Indigenous children who died more than a century ago while attending a boarding school, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File

‘Truth and Healing Commission’ could help Native American communities traumatized by government‑run boarding schools that tried to destroy Indian culture

For Indigenous Peoples Day, a scholar of Native American studies explains why understanding the tragic history of Indian boarding schools is important for healing to take place.
The 2016 Standing Rock protest was only the most recent manifestation of the indigenous American values inherited by European settlers on this land. James MacPherson

Indigenous people invented the so‑called ‘American Dream’

Anti-immigrant policies ignore that American ideals like liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness can be traced back to the indigenous pioneers who once moved freely across North America.

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