WASHINGTON – Note: This report contains language or content that some may find disturbing or offensive. “I was very young when I was introduced to a pedophile,” said Lisa, 41, a survivor of sex trafficking who asked that her real name not be used. Raised on an Indian reservation in South Dakota, she cites a family history of sexual abuse. “My mother was sent […]
WASHINGTON – Sometime before dawn on May 27, 1637, English militia from Massachusetts and Connecticut, backed by several hundred Narragansett and Mohegan allies, launched a surprise attack on the fortified Pequot village of Mystic, one of about 20 Pequot tribal villages in southeastern Connecticut. By now, Plymouth Colony, established by the Pilgrims in 1620, was a […]
WASHINGTON – In the fall of 1621, English settlers at Plymouth marked their first harvest and began stockpiling food for the winter: cod, bass and other fish, venison, wild turkey and duck that could dried or salted to supplement plentiful Indian corn. Tisquantum, commonly known as Squanto, was a member of the Patuxet band of the […]
WASHINGTON – Today, the small Native Inupiaq community of Shishmaref is best known for its struggle against coastal erosion: Set on a tiny barrier island in Alaska, just south of the Arctic Circle, it is slowly being eaten up by the rising Chukchi Sea. But Shishmaref is also known as the only village […]
WASHINGTON – Fred Willie doesn’t like to call himself a healer or a medicine man — “I’m just Fred Willie. Most people just call me ‘Uncle Fred.’” A member of the Navajo Nation, he frequently travels to other reservations to perform healing ceremonies and hold sweat lodges. He was visiting the Chiricauhua Apache when […]
WASHINGTON – Four hundred years ago, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts allied with English settlers in Plymouth and helped them through their first year in America. Friday, the U.S. Interior Department (DOI) informed the Mashpee it will disestablish the tribe and remove its 129-hectare Cape Cod reservation from federal trust. Tribal chairman Cedric […]
WASHINGTON – Native Americans in tribes across the United States are coming together to help safeguard their families and communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. They say they face worrying shortages of medical supplies, though, particularly coronavirus test kits. The Indian Health Service, an arm of the U.S. Health and Human Services […]
WASHINGTON – A group of Native American women from several tribes in Oklahoma have launched a nonprofit organization they’re calling the “Auntie Project: Native Women of Service.” Their goal is to help indigenous kids in need, beginning with child migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The idea came to them in June, after hearing that the […]
Native American representation in Congress made great strides with the 2018 election of two American women to Congress. Now, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma says it will send its own delegate to Congress, a move that will test both the tribe’s sovereignty and the willingness of the U.S. to meet its treaty promises. Newly-elected […]