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150 Years Ago, 1869

In 1869, the United States was still dealing with the aftermath of the Civil War. While the military turns its attention to pacifying Indian nations, the lawmakers look at ways to assimilate Indians by destroying Indian cultures, and former soldiers and others seek their fortunes by settling on Indian lands. Briefly described below are some … Continued

civil war

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The Northern California Jumping Dance

Throughout the world it is common to find ceremonies in which the participants seek to renew the world, its resources, and thus continue their prosperity and good fortune. Among the Indians of Northern California—Karuk, Yurok, Hupa, Tolowa, Wiyot –the World Renewal or Big Time ceremony seeks to renew the world through a series of complex … Continued

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Cahuilla Hunting

In general, California Indians have been classified as hunters and gatherers, meaning that they tended to obtain food from hunting and from gathering wild plants. Subsistence patterns—how people obtained the calories which are needed to sustain life—are determined, in part, by the environment and the resources within that environment. The Cahuilla homeland in California was … Continued

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Skolaskin, A Sanpoil Prophet

The Columbia Plateau refers to the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. The Sanpoil are an Interior Salish-speaking tribe whose homeland was on the north bank of the Columbia River from its confluence with the Spokane River to the Sanpoil Valley. Vision Quest … Continued

Skolaskin

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Cultural Genocide Committed by Dakota Access Pipeline Militarized Officers (11/2017 Update)

Militarized officers forcing Water Protectors out of their Inipi Ceremony (sweat lodge) and confiscating “Sacred and cultural items, such as eagle-feather staffs and prayer drums” is Cultural Genocide. www.newyorkupstate.com/… “Richmond said the authorities told everyone to disperse. The water protectors asked officers for time and started praying in ceremonial and sacred sweat lodges. Richmond said … Continued

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The Siouan Language Family

In the nineteenth century, European philologists (the nineteenth century term for historical linguists) began systematically comparing languages to create language family trees. Applying the comparative methods used to discover the Indo-European language family, linguists in North America began to group American Indian languages into language families. One of these is the Siouan language family. The … Continued

Raymond J. DeMallie