American Indian History

What Pilgrims Heard When They Arrived in America

They came to America seeking religious freedom, but what did their prayers, and those of the local Native Americans, sound like?

Alfred Jacob Miller's "Buffalo Jump," 1859-1860

1,600-Year-Old Feast Unearthed in Alberta

Archeologists at Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo Jump have excavated a rare roasting pit with the meal still left inside

Sarah Winnemucca, the first Indian woman to write a book highlighting the plight of the Indian people.

Sarah Winnemucca Devoted Her Life to Protecting Native Americans in the Face of an Expanding United States

The 19th-century visionary often found herself stuck between two cultures

Pictographs at Newspaper Rock, Utah

Why Ancestral Puebloans Honored People With Extra Digits

New research shows having extra toes or fingers was a revered trait among people living in the Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

American Exiles: Leaving Home

A series of three photo essays explores how America has treated its own people in times of crisis

Some Native children were sent thousands of miles away. Others, like Oreos Eriacho, were housed closer to home, in now-decaying dorms like this one, in Ramah, N.M.

For More Than 100 Years, the U.S. Forced Navajo Students Into Western Schools. The Damage Is Still Felt Today

Photographer Daniella Zalcman explores how native populations had a new nation foisted upon them

Bison Fossils Offer Clues to Track Human Migration Into the Americas

DNA analysis of bison fossils show that people likely migrated down the Pacific coast and not through the Rocky Mountains

Kurt Riley, governor of the Acoma Pueblo people, spoke on the ever-present specter of theft of cultural objects.

Native Americans Decry the Auctioning-Off of Their Heritage in Paris

Community leaders convene at the National Museum of the American Indian to push for change

The Bison Is Now the Official Mammal of the United States

The big beasts are the first official mammals recognized by the federal government

A bison takes a stroll down the road in Elk Island National Park, Alberta

Genetically Pure Bison Will Return to Montana After 100 Years in Exile

Next week, the Blackfeet Tribe will receive 89 buffalo calves that descended from Montana stock in a Canadian National Park

Independence Day Celebration by Lauren Good Day Giago, (Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/Plains Cree), 2012, antique ledger paper, colored pencil, graphite, ink, felt-tipped marker

For These Native American Artists, the Material Is the Message

A new exhibition traces the evolution of Plains tribes’ narrative art from the 18th century up through today's contemporary works

The First Person of Native American Descent Was Elected to the U.S. Senate 109 Years Ago Today

Charles Curtis, who would go on to become Herbert Hoover's vice president, left behind a problematic legacy

A view of the opening to Danger Cave in 1976, when it was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places

Utah’s Danger Cave Will Soon Open For a Rare Tour

The cave houses evidence of human habitation from over 11,000 years ago

A statue of Junipero Serra, Catholicism's newest saint, stands in front of San Gabriel Arcángel, the California mission he founded in 1771.

Why Are Native Groups Protesting Catholicism's Newest Saint?

Nearly 250 years after Junipero Serra founded California's first missions, questions linger about his legacy

Obama’s move to rename the U.S.'s highest peak was supported by Native and non-Native Alaskans alike.

Denali and America's Long History of Using (or Not Using) Indian Names

In restoring the Athabaskan name to the country’s highest mountain, President Obama is among those who have wrestled with the issue

The cemetery at St. Philomena’s church in Kalaupapa

Should a Colony Where Leprosy Patients Were Once Exiled Become a Tourist Destination?

The discussion gets sticky with concerns over how to respect the largely Native Hawaiian residents past and present

From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

There Are 120 Years of Lakota History on This Calendar

The visual recording of life in the nation sheds light on a vanished culture

"We are limited to one vessel, with nowhere else to go."

A New Way for Stewardship of Mother Earth: Indigeneity

Smithsonian geographer Doug Herman proposes a return to sustainable solutions, based on the path laid by Indigenous peoples for millennia

Redskins' Trademark Cancelled by U.S. Patent Office and This Time, It May Hold up in Court

The agency ruled against the NFL team, saying the name was "disparaging to Native Americans," but an appeal is likely in the offing

Far View House, Mesa Verde

This "Lake" at Mesa Verde Is Actually a Ceremonial Structure

The old theory, that it was a reservoir, didn’t hold water

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