Native American perspectives on "Indian" identities

by Richard Wagamese

What It Comes To Mean There are mornings here when the quiet comes to fill you. You walk the line of lake cautiously not wanting to break the spell of it. There's mist on the water and it drifts upwards off the rock env...read more

by Lois Coriell-Rayburn

INDIAN Brown skin, red skin, bone chokers, feathers, beads, moccasins, turquoise jewelry, dream catcher on your dash. Pictures on your walls, crystal on your shelf, deerskin by the fire, wolf dog at your feet. I'm ...read more

by Martin Bay Horse

Being Indian I thought about what it feels like to be Native for some time. Not just today, but many days. I've been asked by non Natives in the past and by Native groups collectively. I, at the time, did my best to ...read more

by Theresa Fletcher

From the native american stanpoint I personally am only partial native american I am Cherokee Indian,but I am very proud of the part of me that is native american.I feel society is still today very unfair to the nativ...read more

by Jason Lusk

Before there was any notion of a "united states," there were many established cultures, languages, and governments here. Early thinking of the Native Americans as wild savages was the epitome of ignorance, and thinking of ...read more

by Jade Hawk

Mending the Sacred Hoop Black Elk said the sacred hoop was broken, and now many leaders of the tribes across Indian country are trying to mend the core of our beliefs. Being born to mixed race parents my mother is Lakot...read more

by will sprout

For all who do not know, when Columbus discovered America he thought that he had actually discovered the East Indies. When the resident natives approached him he mistakenly referred to them as Indians.' And so, The Red ...read more

by David Arthur Walters

Some Native Americans and American Indians do not like to be referred to by those terms, nor would they like the title I have proposed, Original Americans; they would rather be identified as members of their respective tri...read more

by Syllvermyst

This could be an ugly subject if you, like I, was raised WITHOUT an identity. Too white for most to even consider you to be anything else. To consider your feelings of isolation. To want to belong. To need to. Yet, attemp...read more

by Jenn DZ

What if I told you there was a place where indigenous people were being exploited? That their historic rights were being taken away? That their religious freedom was completely violated? What if I told you it had been goin...read more

by wihoiske

Being Native American Indian is not to be hidden, it is to be celebrated. The Indians are the ones that taught the white man all different ways of hunting, fishing, finding food for themselves, they taught them how to make...read more

by Thea Rasins

My first memories of who I am involved my Native American heritage - I am Cherokee and Blackfoot. I prized that part of me that is noble, tough and smart. I spent years learning about and visiting the homes of Native Ame...read more

by Ed Hooper

MANITO AHBEE (place of beginning) This home and all of its people are under the protection of The Great Creator. The four winds are the guardians of the four corners. The North Wind brings its strength and power. T...read more

by Deborah Shaw

I grew up with my part-Chahta father and half-Chahta stepmother. We lived with the earth, we learned about and used herbs, we valued the sunshine and the water and the dirt upon which we trod. Our home was built of wood,...read more

by Rex Coker

The native American , was the most misunderstood culture in American history . From the very beginning , the white man was Leary of the Indians . The Native Americans did not go looking for the white man , but he knew he ...read more

by Samantha Little Flower

First off, I'm not from India, so I can't be an Indian. When I look around at all the people groups in America, it seems that Native Americans are the only group without their own name. I am Native. Anyone born in America ...read more

by Skidegate

All Indian identities are seen from outside or compared to an outside model. That could be said of every kind of social idol, that we write ourself into the tribal script according to our own messianic version of the futur...read more

by James McNulty

The making of a Savage Native Americans were labeled "Savage" by people moving in, determined on stealing everything for themselves. As long as the outsiders could consider the Native American Indians as something less ...read more

by Rivendell Farm

The Beginning In the beginning there was harmony of spirit. All was as one and one was as all. Eons passed as seconds while beautiful works were created. This spirit filled the universe with its glory and light. Th...read more

by Ashlee Richards

AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION There are 52,000 American Indian women in higher education. They have returned to further their education for several reasons. Many women feel confined by their homes and fam...read more