CUL 207 - Intro to American Indian Literature: Media

They were charismatic and forward thinking, imaginative and courageous, compassionate and resolute, and, at times, arrogant, vengeful and reckless. For hundreds of years, Native American leaders from Massasoit, Tecumseh, and Tenskwatawa, to Major Ridge, Geronimo, and Fools Crow valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture. Sometimes, their strategies were militaristic, but more often they were diplomatic, spiritual, legal and political ... These five documentaries spanning almost four hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective, upending two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land.

By 1876, most of the nation's American Indians had been forcibly relocated to reservation land. In the Dakota Territory, Red Cloud had settled his people on the great Sioux Reservation, becoming wards of the government. Other Sioux leaders saw this as defeat and continued to live in the traditional way, with legendary resistance. Then an economic depression struck, and gold was discovered in the Black Hills--on Sioux land. In this film, the lives of Charles Eastman-a Dartmouth-educated, Sioux doctor; Senator Henry Dawes-member of the Committee on Indian Affairs; and Sitting Bull intersect in a manner that seems fated. The question that faces the government and the Sioux seems to leave two answers: assimilation versus extermination? It is answered by the assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women, and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 29, 1890.

Writers Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris talk about their American Indian heritage.

The love of Hawkeye, rugged frontiersman and adopted son of the Mohicans, and Cora Munro, aristocratic daughter of a British colonel, blazes amidst a brutal conflict between the British, the French and Native American allies in colonial America.

Virgil First Raise wakes in a ditch on the hardscrabble plains of Montana. He stumbles home to his ranch to find his wife Agnes has left him. Worse, she's stolen his beloved rifle.

Story of the journey of two Coeur d'Alene Indian boys from Idaho to Arizona. Victor is the stoic, handsome son of an alcoholic father who has abandoned his family. Thomas is a gregarious, goofy young man orphaned as an infant by a fire which Victor's father accidentally started while drunk. Thomas is a storyteller who makes every effort to connect with the people around him; Victor, in contrast, uses his quiet demeanor to gain strength and confidence. When Victor's estranged father dies in Arizona the two young men embark on a journey to recover his ashes. Along the way the two learn a number of life lessons from each other and those around them.