This collection of writings by and about New England's American Indians focuses on the Indians' relation to the land. Articles examine Indian folklore and spiritualism, the importance of the oral tradition, and advice to young Indians about receiving the oral tradition and passing it forward. Articles describe Indian lifeways; native cooking,…

Minerva Allen, Assinibone tribal historian and mediator in dealings with off-reservation entities, talks about her poetry, prose, and songs; and her efforts to secure the continuance of tribal languages and traditions. Her role as an educator and writer of textbooks is also discussed. Selected poetry is included. (JMM)

This collection contains 21 brief stories told by members of the Fort Belknap (Montana) American Indian community. These tales of the Assiniboine, Sioux, and Gros Ventres include legends, ghost stories, and reminiscences of heroic deeds, traditional life, and unusual events. Recollections of the past contain descriptions of the daily life of the…

Although off-reservation economic development programs have been emphasized in the past, the Navajo Tribe also needs to emphasize on-reservation economic development in order to prevent the loss of well-educated Indian youth who leave frustrating on-reservation Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) jobs to aid outside enterprises in the mining of natural…

Ghost stories are universal. They are told and heard in different cultures throughout the world. They generally center around an incident or experience that is true, but that cannot be explained as an everyday occurence. True but unexplained experiences on the Blackfeet Reservation are told and retold in the winter months. In contemporary…

Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman was a product of two worlds--the Indian and the White. A member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, he was respected and admired in both of these worlds for the work he did on behalf of American Indians, first as a young doctor caring for the sick on the Reservation, and later as a writer and speaker, showing the richness of…

Born in 1767, Black Hawk was the last great war leader of the Sauk Indians, who lived in the Rock River valley in Illinois. By age 25, he was a famed warrior and leader of his people who raided neighboring tribes until a period of peace and prosperity began about 1800. Various treaties of which the Sauk knew and understood very little deprived the…

As part of an effort to preserve oral tradition and produce a history about the Blackfeet people, Tom Many Guns relates the story of his life and, in so doing, brings out the rich cultural heritage of the Blackfeet. The recollections were gathered through interviews and translated from Blackfeet to English using every effort to preserve Tom Many…

Pablita Velarde Hardin is a famous Tewa Indian artist, born in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico in 1918. She has helped revive and reinterpret traditional Indian art forms, preserving both for the pleasure of people today and for future generations. From ancient tales told to her by her father she has written and illustrated "Old Father, the Story…

This book documents meetings with Native American elders who shared their tribal stories of origin, sacred traditions, social life and customs, and traditional wisdom. The idea for the book began when a Cherokee medicine man requested that his tribal knowledge be documented for future generations. For the past 10 years, the spiritual elders of…

Annie Dodge Wauneka, daughter of a great Navajo leader, is in her own right a respected leader of her people. The first woman ever to be elected to the Navajo Tribal Council, she has worked tirelessly to improve the health and welfare of the Navajos. Ever since she, as a young schoolgirl, helped nurse her classmates through a disastrous flu…

For as long as anyone can remember the Puyallup Indians have been fishing the Puyallup River. It is the time of the yearly salmon run and Seeyap, a young Puyallup boy, is learning to fish with his grandfather. Salmon will only come up river when the tide goes out, so it is very early in the morning that Seeyap and his grandfather start out in the…

Long ago the traditional way for Yakima Indian children to learn was by listening for long hours to the grandparents or other story tellers. In keeping with this auditory tradition, this book teaches pre-reading skills through use of sequenced pictures and stories that children will retell after learning. It helps the teacher assist Indian…