Telling Our Stories: Native American Heritage Month

Telling Our Stories is an initiative that builds on WGBH’s year-round commitment to creating and broadcasting programs that reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of the communities we serve. Join us as we commemorate Native American Heritage Month during the month of November on radio, television, and the Web!

TELEVISION
Summer Sun, Winter Moon
Sunday, Nov. 1, at 7pm | WGBH 2/HD
Sunday, Nov. 1, at 10pm | WGBH 44
Friday, Nov. 6, at 7pm | WGBH World
New! A symphony inspired by the Lewis and Clark expedition brings together two individuals from different worlds: Rob Kapilow, a celebrated composer trying to breathe new life into classical music, and Darrell Robes Kipp, a Blackfeet Indian poet fighting to save his language from extinction. Summer Sun, Winter Moon tells the story of how their unexpected collaboration creates a unique work of art from the perspective of American Indians today.

Words on the Wind
Sunday, Nov. 1, at 11pm | WGBH 44
New! Native Americans have long considered themselves caretakers of the earth. This reverence for, and deep sense of responsibility to, the natural world and all its creatures is clearly evident in the eloquent verses penned by native poets. Words on the Wind combines the wisdom and spirituality found in native poetry with original music, cinematography, and the sounds of the natural world.

Aleut Story
Monday, Nov. 2, at 7pm | WGBH World
This film recounts the rarely told story of indigenous Alaskans' forced internment during World War II and their subsequent fight for civil rights. In 1942, as World War II reached Alaska, Aleut Americans were transferred to government camps 1,500 miles away, where an estimated 10 percent perished. As they prayed for deliverance, "friendly forces" looted their homes and churches in the Aleutian and Pribilof islands. The surviving Aleuts eventually joined Japanese Americans in seeking wartime reparations from the federal government. Filmed on location in Alaska and Washington, D.C., this poignant, richly textured film contains rare archival images and compelling interviews with Aleut internment survivors — many of whom are speaking out for the first time in more than 60 years.

Frontier Visionary: George Catlin and the Plains Indians
Monday, Nov. 2, at 8:30pm | WGBH World
Experience George Catlin’s epic journey up the Missouri River, following parts of the Lewis and Clark trail, hear about his frontier adventures as told by Catlin himself, and learn about this incredible encounter of two cultures through the voices of Native Americans today. In the 1830s, Catlin was the first major artist to travel beyond the Mississippi and live with American Indians, eventually recording the “manners and customs” of 50 Plains tribes in his Indian Gallery. Catlin embodies many characteristics that we think of as quintessentially American — he was a visionary, an explorer, and an entrepreneur who risked everything for his art.

For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska
Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7pm | WGBH World
Sunday, Nov. 15, at 10:30pm | WGBH 44
New! Narrated by Peter Coyote, For The Rights Of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska traces the Native Alaskan civil rights movement. The film profiles the remarkable people behind the victories for citizenship, voting rights and school desegregation, including Alberta Schenck Adams ("Alaska's Rosa Parks") and Elizabeth Peratrovich, an unassuming young woman whose compelling testimony helped sway the Alaska State Senate to pass the first civil rights bill since the Civil War. Blending reenactments, rare and newly discovered historic footage and photographs, and interviews with tribal elders, For The Rights Of All chronicles Alaska Natives' efforts to honor their heritage and leverage their future.

To Brooklyn and Back: A Mohawk Journey
Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6pm and 9pm | WGBH World
Sunday, Nov. 15, at 7pm | WGBH 2/HD
New! Mohawk filmmaker Reaghan Tarbell of Kahnawake, Quebec, explores her roots and traces the connections of her family to the Mohawk community in Brooklyn, New York. For more than 50 years, the Kahnawake Mohawks of Quebec occupied a 10-square-block area in the North Gowanus section of Brooklyn, which became known as Little Caughnawaga. The men, skilled ironworkers, went to New York in search of work and brought their wives, children and, often, extended family with them. The story of the Mohawk ironworkers has been well documented, but the stories of Kahnawake Mohawk women who lived in Brooklyn have remained untold until now.

P.O.V.: Standing Silent Nation
Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7pm | WGBH World
What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself? In April 2000, Alex White Plume and his Lakota family planted industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota after other crops had failed. They put their hopes for a sustainable economy in hemp's hardiness and a booming worldwide demand for its many products, from clothing to food. Although growing hemp, a relative of marijuana, was banned in the U.S., Alex believed that tribal sovereignty, along with hemp's non-psychoactive properties, would protect him. But when federal agents raided the White Plumes' fields, the Lakota Nation was swept into a Byzantine struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights, and common sense.

Independent Lens: Power Paths
Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 8pm | WGBH World
Sunday, Nov. 8, at 9pm | WGBH 44
New! It’s time to cut our dependence on fossil fuel and pursue renewable energy. But how can it be done? Native American tribes turn to solar and wind sources to provide clean sustainable energy for cities across the West. Their traditional values regarding conservation and the Earth offer real solutions to America’s energy crisis.

River of Renewal
Friday, Nov. 6, at 6pm and 9pm | WGBH World
Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 at 7pm | WGBH 2/HD
New! Eight years in the making, River of Renewal chronicles the ongoing battle over the resources of Northern California’s and Oregon’s Klamath Basin. For this American Indian filmmaker, it’s a journey of self-discovery as he uncovers the elemental bond between California native tribes, the river and its legendary denizen, the salmon. The film reveals how different dominant groups over the generations have extracted resources from the Klamath Basin, with disastrous consequences including the collapse of the wild salmon population. River of Renewal shows the collision between sustainability and exploitation of our precious and diminishing resources. The outcome may be the largest dam removal project in history and the restoration of a once vital river.

Independent Lens: March Point
Friday, Nov. 6, at 8pm | WGBH World
Meet Cody, Nick and Travis — three teenagers from the Swinomish Tribe. After hard times on the reservation lead to rehab and drug court, they are offered an alternative: to make a documentary about the impact of two oil refineries on their community. A collaborative coming of age story, March Point follows the ambivalent and once-troubled teens as they come to understand themselves and the threat their people face.

Way of the Warrior
Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 6pm and 9pm | WGBH World
Way Of The Warrior examines the visceral nature of war and the bravery of Native American veterans who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War — and came to grips with difficult post-war personal and societal conditions.

True Whispers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers
Friday, Nov. 13, at 6pm | WGBH World
Exploring the personal and heartfelt story of the Navajo Code Talkers, this program tells the stories of the young Navajo men recruited from harsh government boarding schools into the Marines during World War II. From 1942 to 1945, the Code Talkers devised an unbreakable code in their native language and transmitted vital messages in the midst of combat against the Japanese.

We Shall Remain: American Experience
Friday, Nov. 13, at 7pm | WGBH World (episode 1)
Friday, Nov. 20, at 7pm | WGBH World (episode 2)
Friday, Nov. 20, at 8:30pm | WGBH World (episode 3)
Sunday, Nov. 22, at 11:30am | WGBH 44 (all episodes)
Friday, Nov. 27, at 7pm | WGBH World (episode 4)
Friday, Nov. 27, at 8:30pm | WGBH World (episode 5)
We Shall Remain is a groundbreaking miniseries and provocative multimedia project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. The project includes five, 90-minute documentaries spanning 300 years, telling the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective.

A Blackfeet Encounter
Friday, Nov. 20, at 6pm | WGBH World
In July 1806, Meriwether Lewis and another member of the Corps of Discovery killed two Blackfeet warriors and marked the only deadly clash between American Indians and the otherwise peaceful Lewis and Clark Expedition. This film skillfully pieces together this confrontation through accounts by tribal elders, Lewis' journal and interviews with historians reflecting both sides of the story. The documentary also depicts the tragedies and challenges endured by the Blackfeet people during the 19th and 20th centuries, including intertribal fighting, massacres, starvation, unemployment, poverty and racism.

Playing for the World: 1904 Indian Girls Basketball
Sunday, Nov. 22, at 7pm | WGBH 2/HD
Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 6pm and 9pm | WGBH World
New! In 1902, a unique combination of Native women came together at a boarding school in Montana, using the new sport of basketball to help them adjust to a rapidly changing world. Their travels and experiences led them to places they never imagined. Ultimately, these women played for something much larger than themselves.

Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete
Sunday, Nov. 22, at 10pm | WGBH 44
Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7pm | WGBH World
New! Jim Thorpe: The World's Greatest Athlete chronicles the sports superstar's remarkable life (1887-1953), from his boyhood in Oklahoma and his gold medal wins at the 1912 Summer Olympics to his subsequent fall from grace and his advocacy of American Indian rights and self-sufficiency. The one-hour biography recounts these events and others through in-depth interviews with Thorpe's surviving children, dramatic re-creations, and archival stills and film.

Weaving Worlds
Monday, Nov. 23, at 7pm | WGBH World
An absorbing and intimate portrait of economic and cultural survival through art, this documentary traces the history of Navajo rug weavers and their role within the global economy by highlighting the stories and characters behind the production and trading of Navajo rugs. Told from the weavers' point-of-view, this film turns a keen and compassionate eye toward indigenous artists and their struggle to maintain pride and cultural vitality through their textiles.

Independent Lens: Miss Navajo
Monday, Nov. 23, at 8pm | WGBH World
For more than half a century, the Miss Navajo Nation competition has showcased aspiring women leaders — and their fluency in sheep butchering, fry-bread making, and Navajo history. Told through the journey of past and present contestants, this film examines the Navajo community’s struggle to preserve and maintain its culture.

RADIO
Classical Music With Cathy Fuller
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 9am | WGBH 89.7
*Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate: Tracing Mississippi Thunderbird/Azica
*Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate was born in 1968 in Norman, OK, and is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. After receiving a degree in piano performance from Northwestern University, he went on to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music. But he didn't focus on composition until his mother, choreographer Dr. Patricia Tate, commissioned him to score a ballet, Winter Moons, in 1992. Since then, his music has been performed across the country by ensembles ranging from the National Symphony Orchestra to the Colorado Ballet.

Arts & Ideas
Sunday, Nov. 15, at 8pm | WGBH 89.7
Among the Navajo — A Journey into the In Between
The Native American tribe is caught between their traditions and modern life. The Navajos are the largest Native American tribe in North America. They live in northern Arizona and New Mexico, caught between their traditions and modern life. Within, the people have to reconcile opposing cultures. Although they are faced with dominating Western values on the reservation, a minority of them try to maintain their own culture, language, and religion. During his travels on the reservation, the author meets some politically and culturally engaged Navajos, and has the opportunity to participate in a religious ceremony.