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Harvard announces return of Native hair samples
Tucked in hundreds of envelopes is the hair cut from Native children as they arrived at boarding schools. Hidden away for nearly 100 years in the recesses of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, the collection of hair samples offers tangible evidence of the trauma of assimilation.
According to the hygiene of the day, cropping hair was the surest way to avoid lice among the crowded populations of children coerced to attend the nation’s Indian boarding schools.
For boarding school survivors, however, the haircuts came to symbolize the harsh introduction to the process of assimilation, a gesture disregarding their culture and families wishes.
Denise Lajimodiere, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, wept as she described her reaction to hearing about the museum’s findings. READ MORE. — Mary Annette Pember, ICT
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U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola has been elected to a full term in the House, months after the Alaska Democrat won a special election to the seat following the death earlier this year of longtime Republican Rep. Don Young.
Peltola defeated Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, as well as Libertarian Chris Bye in the Nov. 8 election. Results of the ranked choice election were announced Wednesday. Palin and Begich also were candidates in the special election.
“It’s a two-year contract,” Peltola told the Anchorage Daily News after her victory — a 55 percent-45 percent margin over Palin in the final tabulation round — was announced. “I will be happy to work for Alaskans again, as long as they’ll have me.”
Peltola, Yup’ik, with her win in August became the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold Alaska’s House seat. The win also buoyed her fundraising, outpacing those of her rivals in the lead-up to this month’s election. READ MORE. — Associated Press
Early on a November evening, after the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and the sun peaked out only to set. Linda Woods stood up with her eagle staff as people sang a song that honored Native women veterans at the dedication for the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Woods, who is an elder, was moved to stand up and hold her eagle staff tall with purpose, then she got emotional.
“I just started sobbing because it’s been a long time coming, a long time,” she said. “We’re not acknowledged. Our people are not acknowledged. We know what we suffered.”
Woods, 70, has become known for the eagle staff that she carries. For her, the staff represents both acknowledgement and honor for female veterans, which was previously ignored. READ MORE. — Pauly Denetclaw, ICT
When Shauna White Bear started working in retail at Carter’s Boots and Repair in Bozeman, Montana, she was fascinated by the happenings in the back of the store. Behind the scenes, men would repair, polish and resole shoes.
“The guys,” as White Bear calls them, ultimately taught her how to repair shoes, but “simple repairs weren’t my thing,” White Bear said.
Instead, White Bear wanted to make things. When her boyfriend at the time wanted a pair of hunting moccasins, White Bear thought, “Why don’t I give it a go?”
White Bear found some bison leather and a pattern and made her first pair. White Bear said her then-boyfriend didn’t seem to appreciate the gift. They broke up soon after, but White Bear’s passion for moccasin making remained. READ MORE. — Nora Mabie, Missoulian
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Animals tell tales in new art exhibit, a hat designer helps create an online marketplace, and a new single honors a musician’s elder mother.
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- Bison’s relocation to Native lands revives a spiritual bond: The Cherokee Nation is part of a nationwide resurgence of Indigenous people seeking to reconnect with the humpbacked, shaggy-haired animals.
- Representing Indigenous peoples in a truthful way: Paulina Alexis talks ‘Reservation Dogs’ and upcoming roles.
- Little Cherokee Seeds aims to create Cherokee speakers: The program’s focus is to meet with parents and their pre-verbal children and immerse them culturally and linguistically, based on how fluent speakers grew up.
- Murder charges against Indigenous land defenders: The alleged murder occurred when Tanzania state security forces tried to evict the Maasai to create a hunting preserve.
- Joye Braun, the firestorm, dies at 53: Braun, who was dedicated to environmental issues, will be remembered as the epitome of a Modern Day Warrior.
- Tribal health care trailblazer Ethel Aanwoogeex’ Lund dies at 91.
- Mi’kmaw artists painting mural to honour Anna Mae Pictou Aquash.
- Native Americans back proposedChesapeake Bay National Recreation Area.
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.