Holt Library: First Peoples: Videos

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Words of the Elders: Saving Aboriginal Languages Duncan McCue profiles one native community's struggle to preserve their indigenous language, and the hard, often unheralded, work of individuals recognized as language keepers. Arvid Charlie is among the last generation raised speaking Hul'qumi'num, the Coast Salish language spoken by the Cowichan people in British Columbia. Like most of the 88 aboriginal languages in Canada, Hul'qumi'num is teetering on the brink of extinction. For elders like Arvid, sharing and documenting the language is a race against time. Their work embraces new technologies so that the language, culture, and teachings can be reawakened in younger generations.
Our Fires Still Burn: The Native American Experience This compelling one hour documentary invites viewers into the lives of contemporary Native Americans. It dispels the myth that American Indians have disappeared from the American horizon, and reveals how they continue to persist, heal from the past, confront the challenges of today, keep their culture alive, and make significant contributions to society. Their experiences will deeply touch both Natives and non-Natives and help build bridges of understanding, respect, and communication. The tragic history of Native Americans is considered by many to be our “American Holocaust.” This can be seen in the history of the Boarding School Era, during which time Native children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed into boarding schools. Interviewees explain how this past trauma continues to negatively impact their emotional and physical health today and contribute to urgent social problems. To help heal this historical trauma, First Nations people are reclaiming their spiritual and cultural identity. The stories shared in this documentary are powerful, startling, despairing and inspiring. They reflect an American history fraught with the systematic destruction of a people. Yet, amidst the debris of suffering and trauma, there is resilience and a profound remembering and healing taking place today, which will also benefit the next Seven Generations.
Upstream Battle: A Case Study in Native American Fishing Rights The Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa peoples live along northern California’s Klamath River, and each tribe’s ancient culture revolves around the majestic Pacific salmon. Today, four large hydroelectric dams have made salmon extinction a real and frightening possibility. This case study follows tribal members as they confront the owners of the dams—specifically, a global energy giant in Scotland, which is subsequently bought out by Warren Buffett’s corporate empire. Will tribal members manage to persuade the richest man in the world to save their salmon and their societies? Irrigation and commercial fishing also figure into this desperate battle over the life of a river. (53 minutes)
Searching for a Native American Identity: Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris This program features the late Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich, a husband-and-wife team who collaborated as writers before his untimely death. They attribute their beliefs in family, community, and place to their Native American heritage: she is half Chippewa, he is half Modoc. As Native Americans, their writing reflects the difficulties of American Indians today. In this program with Bill Moyers, Erdrich and Dorris discuss faith and the search for a Native American identity in a pluralistic society. (30 minutes)
Trail of Tears: We Shall Remain—America Through Native Eyes (FULL VIDEO) Part of the series We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes.

We're Still Here by Robert Gliner First Nation indigenous hip hop artists in Canada lead efforts to right long-standing social injustices, heal personal traumas, and preserve their cultures through the power of music. The film examines the important role that hip hop plays in transforming the lives of the musicians, their audiences, and communities. Weaving together interviews, live performances, and street demonstrations, it gives voice also to other marginalized populations across North America.
Call Number: Streaming Video
Publication Date: 2020

Videos on DVD (1 week checkout)

First Language: The Race to Save Cherokee by Hutcheson, Neal
Call Number: DVD 970.3411 H
Publication Date: 2014
The fight to save a language – Over fourteen thousand Cherokee remain in their ancestral homelands in the mountains of North Carolina, but few among them still speak their native language. Recognizing its imminent loss, the Eastern Band of Cherokee are now taking extraordinary steps in a fight to revitalize the Cherokee language.
The Cherokee Indians were once the dominant power in what is now the Southeastern United States. This Emmy award winning film follows this Cherokee community as it comes to terms with a heritage that predates the United States by thousands of years.

English and Cherokee with English Subtitles.
RESERVE ITEM: WATCH IN LIBRARY ONLY: We Shall Remain: America through Native Eyes by Grimberg, Sharon
Call Number: DVD 970.00497 W
ISBN: 0793670268
Publication Date: 2009
When Europeans arrived in North America, they encountered the Native people. Contrary to stereotype, American Indians were not simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land. They were, like all people, an amalgam: charismatic and forward thinking, imaginative and courageous, compassionate and resolute, and, at times, arrogant, vengeful, and reckless. Native peoples valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture using all avenues available, including military, legal, and political action, diplomacy, and supplication of the spiritual realm. From the Wampanoags of New England in the 1600s who used their alliance with the English to weaken rival tribes, to the bold new leaders of the 1970s who harnessed the momentum of the civil rights movement to forge a pan-Indian identity. Spanning almost four hundred years, these documentaries tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective, presenting Native history as an integral part of the American story.
Don't Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare by Steven R. Heape/Peter Coyote
Call Number: DVD 973.0497 D
ISBN: 65264568023
Publication Date: 2010
Declared wards of the state, Native Americans negotiated housing, education and healthcare in numerous treaties with the U.S. Government. Like so many other federal promises, these too have not been met. The budget shortfall to the Indian Health Service continues. Add to this the generational trauma of subjugation, reservations, boarding schools and alienation, their health and their healthcare is in a critical state.