Native American and Alaska Native History : Multimedia

PBS Video offers a vast collection of films; series episodes; and videos from NOVA, Masterpiece, Nature, PBS Newshour, Frontline, Independent Lens, POV, Local Stories and more. PBS is making new titles available daily.

Once forced to hide their heritage, Native Americans now enjoy both an acceptance and a celebration of their history and culture. By presenting the experiences of Native Americans from a wide array of fields including artisans, performers, and teachers, this program shows how many tribes are returning to the traditions and spirituality of their ancestors. Among those interviewed are Kevin Locke, award-winning Native American vocalist; Wilma Mankiller, the first woman in modern history to lead a tribe; and Richard West, Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. (30 minutes)

The Nolumbeka Project presents a Native American Social Dance and Stomp Dance, Saturday, February 1, 2020. Filmed at Greenfield Community College, Cohn Dining Room, 1 College Drive, Greenfield, MA.

14th Annual Wampanoag Day held September 19, 2015 at the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum.

We hear a speech by longtime indigenous rights activist Winona LaDuke about past Native American activists, health, the environment and much more. LaDuke gained nationwide attention as vice presidential running mate to Ralph Nader on the 1996 and 2000 Green Party tickets. [includes rush transcript]

A provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. The centerpiece of this initiative is a television series that tells five heartbreaking, yet inspiring stories. Together they highlight Native ingenuity and resilience over the course of 300 years. The series upends two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land.

Bill Means describes the US Government reaction to the American Indian Movement in the 1970's. The 1972 takeover of the BIA and negotiations with the White House Watergate criminals.

This is the definitive feature documentary about American Indian activist, Leonard Peltier. His story is told within the context of the American Indian Movement, the US federal government, and the multi national companies interested in mining the land in South Dakota.
Produced and directed by Suzie Baer. 1992

Ben Franklin's World is an early US history podcast. Part of of this program is linked in the text.

Is redskin a racial slur? The U.S. Patent Office says so. So do many Native Americans who have protested the use of the term by that team. Activists say the team’s name and its logo — the image of a generic Indian man in profile, with braids and long feathers — celebrate negative stereotypes about America’s indigenous people.

On this show, we’re taking a long look at how Native peoples have been represented — and misrepresented — in U.S. history. We’ll also ask how American Indians themselves have challenged and reinvented those depictions. We have stories about art in the early days of European conquest, dioramas in America’s museums of “natural history,” and a 19th century football team that was actually made up entirely of American Indian players.