The 11th season of Native Voices the Autry, starts Oct. 7 with “The Bird House,” by Diane Glancy, who is Cherokee.

Native Voices also produced Glancy’s play “Salvage” in 2008. Native Voices is the country’s only Equity theater company dedicated exclusively to developing and producing new works by Native American playwrights, according to Broadway World:

Set in the back room of a failing church in the high plains of Texas, The Bird House delves into the lives of a minister and his two sisters as they sort through the snarls of their past and adapt to loss and the uncertain future of their home and family. The cast includes Ellen Dostal as Clovis, and Native Voices Founder/Producing Artistic Director Randy Reinholz (Choctaw*) as Jonathan Logan/ Reverend Hawk, a part written specifically for him.

Read more about the Autry program at its website, and more about Diane Glancy – at DianeGlancy.com.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Cherokee, Choctaw, Diane Glancy, Ellen Dostal, First Look Series, Native American playwrights, Native Voices at the Autry, Randy Reinholz, Salvage, The Bird House

The whole Shirley Sherrod incident brought to mind the unconscionable problems that black farmers had with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But as the Washington Post reminds its readers, Native American farmers were – and continue to be – similarly mistreated:

George Keepseagle is the lead plaintiff in Keepseagle v. Vilsack, the class-action suit by Native American farmers and ranchers against the USDA. (AP photo)

Their frustrations echoed the observations of some black farmers who made similar observations last week that other USDA officials had not faced repercussions.

Porter Holder, a Choctaw rancher and rodeo champion in southeastern Oklahoma, said he is disturbed that a USDA loan officer he complained about in the late 1990s is still on the job. In the Great Plains, Native American farmers say they have complained repeatedly about another veteran loan officer in the USDA’s Sidney, Mont., office who was involved in a recent confrontation that included the police.

Loan officer Patrick Turner was arrested after the Feb. 23 incident, which occurred while he appraised the ranch of Roy “Tony” Anderson, a member of the Sioux tribe who lives on the Fort Peck reservation. In a police statement, Turner acknowledged hitting one of Anderson’s neighbors, who he said blocked the door to his truck. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, the charge was dismissed July 16.

The story makes for tough, but necessary, reading on a pretty summer day. Check it out.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Choctaw, Fort Peck Reservation, Porter Holder, Shirley Sherrod, Sidney Montana, Sioux, Tom Vilsack, Tony Anderson, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA

Cobell, supporters look to next move in wake of Senate rejection of settlement
The latest setback for congressional approval of the $3.4 billion lawsuit settlement on Native American trust accounts will send its supporters back to the House of Representatives to try again, Mary Garrigan of the Rapid City Journal writes here. Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, who is Blackfeet from Browning, Mont., has expressed faith in the backing of House Speker Nancy Pelosi, and South Dakota Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson has vowed to work toward approval.

Oklahoma universities No. 1 in Native college grads
Northeastern State University, Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma led the list of schools graduating Native Americans last year, the Oklahoman reports here. That’s according to a report by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, which also showed that Oklahoma universities made up six of the top 12 schools, and 12 of the top 100.

Author, filmmaker talks on Native military service
The the history of American Indians and the military is the topic of a lecture tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, in Banning, Calif. Gary Robinson, a writer and filmmaker of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, is the co-author of the 2008 book, “From Warriors to Soldiers: A History of American Indian Service in the U.S. Military.” His short film, “I Am the Warrior,” won third place in the 2009 national Veterans Day short film competition hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian, according to the Banning Record Gazette, here.

Vermont panel on tribal recognition seeks new members

The Burlington Free Press writes here that “a new law that sets up a process for state recognition of American Indian tribes in Vermont has revised the makeup of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and has that panel seeking nine new members.” Gov. Jim Douglas is to appoint the new members by Sept. 1.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Cherokee, Choctaw, Cobell v. Salazar, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Elouise Cobell, From Warriors to Soldiers - A History of American Indian Service in the U.S. Military, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I Am the Warrior, Indian trust case, Interior Department, National Museum of the American Indian, Native American veterans, Northeastern State University, Oklahoma State University, Sen. Tim Johnson, Tribal recognition, University of Oklahoma, Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, Veterans Day

We’ve been wondering how the horrendous oil spill is affecting tribes along the Gulf Coast. Now comes this Miami Herald story about the Houma and Chitimacha people to tell us. )Click on the link to watch a video and slideshow.)

As Joseph Goodman writes:

The Indians here have borne the consequences of the work of oil and gas companies for nearly 100 years, but the oil that is now only a short boat ride away has the potential to slam a death nail into this fishing village and the cultural identity of Indians who have populated it for centuries. …

The Houma’s English is saturated with a French-Indian culture all their own. Tiny Pointe-Aux-Chenes and nearby Isle de Jean Charles are home to members of the Chitimacha tribe — whose ancestors moved into the area 2,500 years ago — and the Houma. They work the waters of Bayou Pointe-Aux-Chenes and its nearby bays and lakes for shrimp, fish, crabs, oysters and crawfish.

Their way of life likely will soon change. On Saturday, oil released into the Gulf of Mexico from the spill that began April 20 was three miles inside Bayou Pointe-Aux-Chenes. It has already ruined oyster plots, soiled crab traps and cut off shrimp trawlers from some of this area’s best fishing grounds.

“The oil has locked us in,” said Jamie Dardar, a crabber and Houma Indian. “Everyone is on top of each other now and you can’t even drive a boat through there for all the traps.

“But it’s only a matter of time before they shut it completely down. It’s only a matter of time. This oil is just going to finish us.”

“That’s not fair. The worst part,” says Anesie Verdin, “is the younger generation will not be able to fish or nothing and they won’t be able to see nothing because it will all be gone.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Bayou Pointe-Aux-Chenes, BP oil spill, buffalo post, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Gulf Coast, Gwen Florio, Houma Nation, Native American news

We’ve been running a day late on everything this week and this very important story from yesterday is no exception. To make up for that, here’s the report in full from Murry Evans of the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the leaders of five tribes in attendance, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas read a congressional resolution Wednesday apologizing for “ill-conceived policies” and acts of violence against American Indians by the U.S. government.

Brownback spoke during an event at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where he and Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, Lois Capps of California and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii joined representatives from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Pawnee nations, Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith said.

All those tribes are based in Oklahoma, except for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, which is based in South Dakota.

Smith said that while most tribes had not specifically asked for a formal apology from the U.S. government, the gesture was appreciated.

“It’s difficult to issue an apology and sometimes it’s difficult to accept one,” Smith said by phone from Washington. “Once you put those differences of the past aside, perhaps the next step is, can you do any better in this round? That’s where our greatest challenge is. The history of the U.S. (toward American Indians) is not a bright record. The real question is, what happens from this day forward?”

Brownback, a Republican, had pushed for the resolution since 2004. Both houses of Congress approved it late last year and President Barack Obama signed it in December. Lawmakers have described the resolution as a symbolic gesture that would help promote a renewed commitment by the federal government to the tribes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Apology to tribes, buffalo post, Cherokee, Choctaw, Congressional Cemetery, Congressional Resolution of Apology to Native Peoples, Creek, Faith and Politics Institute, Gwen Florio, Muscogee, Native American news, Pawnee, Pushmataha, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, William Shorey Coodey

We recently blogged here about a Facebook page for people who object to the historic multi-billion-dollar settlement in the Cobell v. Salazar case over federal mismanagement of royalties due Indian people for the use of their lands.

The case took more than a decade to settle, and the $3.1 billion amount is far more than the $455 million originally proposed – but far less than the $50 billion that many say more accurately reflects the actual amount owed tens of thousands of Native Americans.

The Facebook page objecting to the settlement has a couple hundred members, an amount that’s doubled in the last two days.

But Facebook is the least of it, as Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Today writes here:

Tribal leaders are increasingly raising concerns over a proposed Cobell v. Salazar lawsuit settlement. Some want Congress to put the brakes on the matter to better examine how Indian class members would be affected.

Ever since the Obama administration and the lead plaintiff in the case, Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet citizen and longtime Native American advocate, announced an agreement in December, murmurs that the deal might have weaknesses have swept through Indian country.

Congress has yet to approve funding for the settlement; in fact, the deadline for that approval recently was extended again, to April 16. Critics of the settlement renew the contention that the $3.1 billion amount is far too low.

A resolution, ultimately tabled, at this month’s National Congress of American Indians meeting sought more transparency regarding the settlement, and more time to examine its provisions.

Capriccioso’s extensive story details several problems cited by different tribal leaders regarding the settlement. As he writes:

Gavin Clarkson, a Choctaw Nation citizen and leading tribal financial expert with the University of Houston Law Center, said it’s his sense that “most tribal leaders don’t think the settlement is fair in terms of what is really owed, but many of them realize that dealing with the federal government isn’t a place for optimum fairness.

“The truth is, Bill Martin, and those who are making their arguments public, are right. But the bottom line is that most tribal leaders know there is no ‘fair.’ ‘Fair’ doesn’t exist in Congress.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Blackfeet, buffalo post, Choctaw, Cobell v. Salazar, Elouise Cobell, Gavin Clarkson, Gwen Florio, Indian trust case, National Congress of American Indians, Native American news, University of Houston Law Center

Seems like everyone has heard of the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II.

But this story out of Canada about Choctaw code talkers during World War I reminds us the military already had a tradition of turning to its Native soldiers to safely transmit messages.

The Ontario Inland Bulletin tells about Louis Gooding, a Choctaw Indian from Oklahoma – it was still known as Indian Territory when he was born – who wound up living in Ontario. But before that, Gooding was a member of the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps during World War I.

Several dozen Choctaws were put to work transmitting messages and are credited for helping to turn the tide in several battles, the story says.

The messages sent in Choctaw helped the Allies make strategic moves in the battles at St. Etienne and Forest Ferme in the last months of the war, wrote William C. Meadows in a 2002 book on Indians in modern warfare..

“After twenty-four hours after the Choctaw language was essentially pressed into service. . . ., the Germans’ advances were stopped,” wrote Meadows. “In seventy-two hours, the Germans had been forced into a full retreat.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Choctaw, Code Talkers, Native American news, World War I

Nearly two centuries after the fact, the original letter in which President Andrew Jackson told the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes they had to leave Mississippi and Alabama – or else – has been found.

Eventually, five tribes ended up leaving, on a forced march now known as the “Trail of Tears,” during which thousands of Indians died from starvation, exposure, and disease.

Maj. David Haley carried the letter to the tribal leaders more than 180 years ago, according to this Philadelphia Inquirer story. But for years, the only evidence of it was a draft.

Jackson’s tone in the letter alternates between cajoling and bullying:

“Say to them as friends and brothers to listen[to] the voice of their father, & friend,” Jackson wrote. “Where [they] now are, they and my white children are too near each other to live in harmony & peace. Their game is destroyed and many of their people will not work & till the earth. Beyond the great river Mississippi, where a part of their nation has gone, their father has provided a co[untry] large enough for them all, and he ad[vises] them to go to it.”

And, he went on to say, “Tell them to listen. [The proposed plan] is the only one by which [they can be] perpetuated as a nation.”

The letter was found this summer in a private family collection, and sold to the Raab Collection, a Philadelphia-based dealer of autographs, historical documents and manuscripts.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find,” says Nathan Raab, company vice president. “It’s one of the most important documents in American history. To discover it after nearly two centuries is nothing short of breathtaking.”

Images can be viewed at the firm’s Web site, here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Chickasaw, Choctaw, President Andrew Jackson, Raab Collection, Trail of Tears

You knew the museum was a big deal, right? Well, the Rochester Institute of Technology is making it even more official. It’s picked the museum as the subject of this year’s Big Shot Project.

This year is the 25th anniversary of a photo project that uses volunteers to “paint” a subject with light for a spectacular nighttime photo. Past subjects include the Great Pyramid of Khufu (in 1959), the Alamo (2001) and the Royal Palace in Stockholm (2003).

This year’s subject was picked in part because the museum is celebrating its fifth anniversary, Digital City’s Hannah Brehm reports (here) today.

Also, writes Brehm, “the Big Shot Project is intended to draw a community together to celebrate the work the NMAI does to preserve and promote Native American culture, to reflect on the beauty of the building in its attempt to mimic the mesas and canyons of the Southwest.” The building is designed by Douglas Cardinal, who is Blackfeet, and Johnpaul Jones, who is Cherokee/Choctaw.

Big Shot will take place on Sept. 26, when volunteers with hand-held light sources will gather outside the museum at 7:45 p.m The photograph will be taken at 8:45 p.m., and all volunteers will receive a print, courtesy of Nikon.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Big Shot Project, Blackfeet, buffalo post, Cherokee, Choctaw, Douglas Cardinal, Johnpaul Jones, National Museum of the American Indian, Native American news, Rochester Institute of Technology, Smithsonian