The Invisible History of America

Whip Man

2011-03-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

The “whip man” takes to the arbor floor during final ceremonies of the Tamkaliks Pow Wow and Friendship Feast of 2009. This celebration, which takes place in the historic Wallowa Valley of Eastern Oregon, is the annual homecoming pow wow hosted by descendants of Chief Joseph’s family and the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) Band members of the Nez Perce Tribe (Nimiipuu). Tamkaliks and the Nez Perce Interpretive Center and Homeland Project Campgrounds, the Nez Perce Fisheries' instrumental involvement in re-building healthy salmon populations in Wallowa County, local land grants given to the Nez Perce Tribe, and state park developments involving Nez Perce historical sites all represent a long-awaited homecoming and the dying wish of Chief Joseph for his people to return to their homeland. Until the end of his days Joseph worked tirelessly and pleaded with the U.S. government and the citizens of Wallowa County to allow his people to return to their beloved Wallowa (Land of Winding Waters) beneath the mountains. Finally, they have begun to come home. There is yet a long way to go however. Mostly the Nez Perce are still visitors in their own land. But now after 135 years they have a piece of that land to call their own once again. A place they can always return to and embrace the spirits of their ancestors.

(Note: For me personally these Nez Perce photos represent a beautiful homecoming in the making. They are not so much about the pain of the past or the present, but more so about the beauty of the past, the present, and most of all the future for Native cultures of this continent. The homecoming of the Nimiipuu to the Wallowa represents for me a larger homecoming that needs to begin for all Native Peoples, not just in a presence on the land, but the reclamation of lost culture and heritage.)

Click Here For The Nez Perce Tribal History

Honoring The Veterans

2011-03-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

A dancer in his regalia watches the elder veterans take to the arbor floor during the Veteran’s Dance on opening night of Tamkaliks.

Honored Veterans

2011-03-25T23:17:00.000-07:00

As the sun drops veterans take to the arbor floor and the Veteran’s Dance begins on opening night of Tamkaliks, 2009. Veterans are an important and respected part of Native communities. Native Americans have the highest percentage of military enrollment per capita out of any ethnic group in the United States. This may seem ironic. But when you think about it, who better to defend this beautiful land? Native warriors have been fighting for this land longer than anyone. I once read something a Native veteran said in an interview, and he characterized the reason many Natives serve as "a sense of duty to the land, not the government". I'm sure every person who serves has their own reasons for joining the military, but I can see how thousands of years of ancestry connected to the land could motivate one with a deep desire to protect it.

Thanks to recent books, films, and documentaries many people are now aware of the Navajo Code Talkers, who were instrumental in the South Pacific during WWII. There is a long tradition of Native American warriors fighting to defend this nation, beginning with the American Revolution when my own ancestors the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) were the first tribe to sign a treaty with the American government (Continental Congress), supplying scouts, warriors, and food to the Continental Army. King George himself was attributed as saying that the Americans would not have won the war without the allegiance of the Lenape Nation, commenting on his regret at not convincing them to side with the British. In return for assistance in winning the Revolutionary War they and their allies were promised statehood in the new country. The Lenape Nation was supposed to be the 14th state in the union. After the war however, Chief White Eyes who negotiated the treaty with the Americans, was murdered by militia men, and the treaty was considered nullified. This of course began a long string of failed treaties with the U.S. government for the Delaware, which eventually after much hardship left them scattered to the 4 winds of the United States and Canada. The main political body of the tribe ended up exiled in Oklahoma and mixed with my other tribe the Caddo, among others. (Interestingly, a Delaware man named Tom Hill lived among the Nez Perce and gave them war council during the War of 1877, as well as interpreted for Chief Joseph during the Nez Perce surrender.)

Native men and women continue to serve in the United States military with honor to this day, at a percentage that is higher than any other ethnicity living here. This is not purely an economic driven phenomenon, although that certainly plays a role. It can also come from a deep sense of pride in place and homeland, in people, community, and culture. And the desire and duty to bring home safely the men and women who fight beside them. Native warriors fight today with the same honor their ancestors fought, to defend the idea of the same sacred homelands the warriors of their people have defended for millennia. This is why they are honored in flag ceremonies and veteran's dances today, and still dance to the same drums their ancestor warriors did; to show their sense of duty to the land and its people, and for the people to recognize it.

Mens Traditional Dancer

2011-03-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce dancer Alex Broncheau performs on the closing night of Tamkaliks.

Eagle Chief

2011-03-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Nimiipuu Eagle Chief Steve Reubens takes to the arbor floor during the Tamkaliks Pow Wow of 2009.

Veteran's Dance

2011-03-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

A Nez Perce elder participates in the Veteran's Dance. Tamkaliks Pow Wow, 2009.

Prairie Chicken Dancers

2011-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Prairie Chicken Dancers, Tamkaliks Nez Perce Pow Wow and Friendship Feast.

Fancy Dancer

2011-03-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Fancy Dancer, Tamkaliks Pow Wow, Wallowa, OR.

Girls Fancy Dancing

2011-03-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Girls Fancy Dance at Tamkaliks Nez Perce Homecoming Pow Wow.

Nez Perce Girls

2011-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce girls, Tamkaliks Pow Wow and Friendship Feast.

Elders And Honored Guests

2011-03-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

The elders and honored guests make greetings at the Tamkaliks Pow Wow and Friendship Feast.

Grass Dance

2011-03-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

Grass Dancers, Tamkaliks

Eagle Chief

2011-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce Eagle Chief Steve Reuben, Tamkaliks Pow Wow and Friendship Feast, 2001.

The Future of The Nimiipuu

2011-03-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

Even the youngest of the Nimiipuu enjoy their people's homecoming in the lands of their ancestors. What place does the traditional home of the Wallowa Band Nimiipuu hold for their future generations?

Ancient Pathways

2011-03-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Levi Carson, Nez Perce Tribe, fishes the way his ancestors have fished for thousands of years. This is on the Upper Imnaha River, near a long used fishing encampment site. Accessing the underwater highways that spring Chinook Salmon follow can be a dangerous job. The knowledge of how to do so in this very river has been passed down for thousands of years among the Nez Perce people.

The River Brings Life

2011-03-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce Fisheries Technician and traditional net fisherman Levi Carson pulls a Chinook salmon from the Imnaha River, while his trusty sidekick Hootie looks on eagerly waiting to "help". Levi's family have fished this river in this way for a millennia, (well, minus the Blue Heeler, but with many a native mutt I'm sure).

Returning Life To The River

2011-03-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce fisherman Levi Carson cleans a fresh Imnaha Chinook salmon and returns its blood to the river from which it came, fertilizing the riverside trees and grasses that provide shade to these waters, which in turn helps to sustain the life of the Imnaha River salmon.

Riverside Company

2011-03-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

When "traditional methods" take their toll on the arms and shoulders, sometimes a nice fiberglass pole, a loyal riverside companion, and some 50lb. test are the way to go!

Gray Wolf Spirit

2011-03-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nez Perce fisherman Levi Carson stands in the moonlight along the banks of the Imnaha River where he fishes every year as his family and people have done for millennia.

I took these photos while I was working on a magazine story about the return of wolves to Oregon, (via migration from Idaho, where the Nez Perce Tribe has been involved with reintroduction efforts of the endangered Gray Wolf). When I asked Levi about wolves and what he knew of them in the area before their eradication in the early 20th century, he simply replied "They were everywhere." Later on after prodding him again for any stories of wolves he could remember hearing, he was quiet for a moment, and then told me the story of how Gray Wolf Spirit came to be his grandfather's spirit guide (weyakin). He spoke of how his grandfather encountered the Gray Wolf Spirit as a young man hunting and trapping on Gray Wolf Mountain in the far Northern part of Nez Perce country. Levi's grandfather told his grandchildren how Gray Wolf Spirit taught him how to make wise decisions regarding his life and his people and culture and family. He strove to live by the wisdom he received that day from Gray Wolf Spirit his entire life.

Wolves and Salmon

2011-03-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Levi also told me about the role wolves play with salmon. In illustrating the concept that wolves have a rightful place in the natural order and balance of life, he explained how the Nez Perce have long known that predators like wolves help protect the salmon. By hunting at watering holes, wolves teach the grazing ungulate population like bison, moose, elk, and deer not to bed down or lounge around and graze near the river banks. This keeps them from eating all the lush riverbank shade foliage and defecating in the water, which raises water temperatures making those rivers and streams uninhabitable for spawning steelhead and salmon. ODFW builds miles of fence to protect salmon by keeping cattle from doing this, but those fences do not stop deer and elk. Hunting and hazing can help to keep ungulates out of riparian areas, and have taken the place of the wolf in the ecosystem to some extent. Some people believe this new balance should be kept intact. Others believe that the old one should be restored, and that it allows for humans to enjoy nature's resources along with the wolves.

Horace Speaks of Wolves

2011-03-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Venerated 86 year old Nez Perce elder Horace Axtell served in the South Pacific in World War II, and is the spiritual long house leader of the Seven Drum Religion. The Nez Perce feel connected physically and spiritually to the wolf, and it is painful to see them hunted he says.

He tells about stories he heard from his elders, like one of wolves howling near encampments at night and going out to the location of the howls in the morning and finding deer or elk there to kill. In exchange for what they viewed as a gift from the wolf the hunters would leave gut piles and scraps for them in cases like this, an easy and tasty meal for the wolves. Horace tells how wolves would also howl outside their encampments and warn them when cougars or bears were nearby. Wolves helped the Nez Perce find food as well as protected them according to traditional beliefs, and were viewed as good omens for a successful hunt. He explains how wolves were so revered in Nez Perce traditional culture that his people would not kill a wolf for its pelt or decorate themselves with wolf furs and totems unless blessed by the wolf as their "weyekin" (spirit guide).

Horace went to visit the wolves that were reintroduced into the wild in Idaho while they were still in captivity in Montana to give a traditional blessing for them. He did the same thing for the captive-bred wolves that the Nez Perce agreed to take into their land and build a sanctuary for as they had nowhere else to go when their original owner no longer could care for them. The Seven Drum Religion involves the ringing of hand bells during prayers. He told how all the wolves at the sanctuary began to howl in unison as he sang his prayer for them and rang the bell, and how everyone seemed moved by the event as well as he himself. He had to focus and continue his blessing however, joined by the song of an animal the Nez Perce have long considered an ancient brother.

It would appear his blessings for the reintroduced wolves worked, as according to federal, tribal, and state wildlife agencies wolves in Idaho created a population healthy enough to expand their ranges back to other areas where wolves once roamed but were not reintroduced, like Wallowa County, Oregon, the heart of the Nez Perce homeland.

Visiting Chiefs

2011-03-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Visiting chiefs from the Omaha, Ute, and Saletz tribes pose with their friend Nez Perce Eagle Chief Steve Reuben (left).

Nimiipuu

2011-03-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

The Nimiipuu generations of tomorrow spend some quality time in their homeland.

Greetings Among Friends

2011-03-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

A happy homecoming for the Nimiipuu (Wallowa Band Nez Perce).

Faces of The Nimiipu

2011-03-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

The Nimiipuu dance in their homeland once again.

Homecoming

2011-03-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

Nimiipuu traditional dancer Alex Broncheau stands with Paul Howard and friend at the Tamkaliks Homecoming Pow Wow and Friendship Feast. Paul is the great grandson of General O.O. Howard, the general tasked with evicting Chief Joseph's people from their beloved Wallowa. Years ago Paul showed up at the Tamkaliks Homecoming Pow Wow with long hair just like this, and asked to have it cut off as a sign of his remorse for the tragic eviction his ancestor executed. (The cutting of hair is considered a thing of sacrifice and grief in many tribal cultures.) A hair cutting ceremony was performed, and he has been returning to Tamkaliks ever since.

Stolen History

2011-03-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is a site in the Imnaha canyon country of Wallowa County where about 35 years ago or so a pictograph was chiseled off of this cave wall. It was a well used ceremonial site for the Niimipu, even within the last hundred years. Allegedly the pictograph was stolen by an old local rancher who used to live nearby and has since passed away. (The color has been digitally enhanced to make the scar in the rock more visible in this image. The monotone nature of the stone made it difficult to make out the chipped and chiseled area.)

"Visible"

2011-03-09T20:27:00.000-08:00

I found this pictograph while exploring near the Nez Perce cave site that had it's pictograph chiseled off and stolen. This one appears to be a bird or winged spirit of some sort. It does seem to have sustained minor damage, although I am not sure if it is natural or intentional.

"A-Ka-Lat", (or James Island), at Sunrise, Quileute Reservation

2011-03-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

"Thousands of winters before the arrival of the White Drifting-House people (ho-kwats), the Quileute Indians and the ghosts of their ancestors lived and hunted here. For as long as the ageless memory of legend recalls, the Quileutes flourished in the territory which originally stretched from their isle-strewn Pacific beaches along the rain forest rivers to the glaciers of Mt. Olympus. Today, Quileutes need only lift their eyes to see the burial place of chiefs atop James Island, or A-Ka-Lat -- translated as "Top of the Rock". This sense of cultural continuity is their birthright and heritage. Though much has changed, Quileute elders remember "back in the days" when the "old people" dared challenge kwalla, the mighty whale, and who recounted the exploits of wily raven or bayak, who placed the sun in the sky.

According to their ancient creation story, the Quileutes were changed from wolves by a wandering Transformer. By legend, their only kindred, the Chimakum Tribe, were washed away by flood and deposited near present-day Port Townsend (where they lived until Chief Seattle's Suquamish Tribe wiped them out in the 1860s), leaving the Quileutes with no known relatives on earth. Quileutes were thus surrounded by unrelated tribes, the Makah -- Nuh-Chul-Nuth who migrated down from the west coast of Vancouver Island; S'Klallam to the northeast along the Strait of Juan de Fuca; and Quinault, south at Taholah, both descended from the Salishan. Relations with these groups allowed trade, intermarriage of nobility, and the ostentatious ceremony -- the potlatch -- an honoring giveaway celebration and redistribution of wealth."

"The Shape Shifter"

2011-03-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

Wolves Return To Quileute Land

2011-03-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

The Quileute people tell stories of Orcas, the "wolves of the sea", who came from the sea and transformed into wolves to visit their brother wolves on the land, then returned to the sea as Orcas again. The Quileute creation story tells how their people were transformed from wolves into men by their creator. To this day the Quileute still hold wolves as being their sacred ancestor. It is said in Quileute tradition that some Quileute still practice the art of shape shifting, and are able to turn into wolves. (This inspired the author of the famous Twilight books and movie series to include wolf shape shifting Natives in her story, which was set in this area of the Olympic Peninsula. The Quileute do not believe in vampires however. That part is pure fiction. But who knows if howls still echo through the Olympic rain forests at night? Some elders say they do...)

Kwoli (Wolf) Walks Quileute Shores Once Again

2011-03-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

The Quileute Tribe view the Orca as the "wolf of the sea". Their traditions tell of Orcas that could change form into a wolf and come upon the land to visit with their wolf brothers on land. Those wolf brothers were the ancestors of the Quileute people according to their traditions. Some say occasionally wolf shape shifters still roam the forests of Quileute tribal land on the Olympic Peninsula...

This photo was taken near the main village site of the Quileute at La Push, WA. The island in the background is called James Island. This wolf is an "ambassador wolf" from a wolf refuge in Colorado called Mission: Wolf, and part of a traveling educational outreach program they operate that was brought to the Quiluete Reservation at the request of the tribe and facilitated with the assistance of the wildlife advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife. The purpose was to let the Quileute people see and touch wolves once again to help them retain the behavior and the movements and forms inspired by the wolf for their ancient and sacred wolf dances, which use elaborately carved wolf masks and mimic the songs and movements of the wolf. Wolves have been extirpated from these areas of the Olympic Peninsula for generations. This event is one way the Quileute are fighting to retain their culture and history, a small part of which has disappeared with the disappearance of the wolf from these lands.

(This photo was edited for effect in Photoshop. In this and the following photos depicting wolves, the animals were actually temporarily leashed for their own safety while outside in public areas. They were under the care of wolf advocates and Mission: Wolf operators Kent Webber and Tracy Brooks at all times).

Kwoli On The Sands of The Quileute Nation

2011-03-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

Wolves make a long awaited return to the Quileute Tribe on the Olympic Peninsula.

This tree was featured in the Twilight movies, and is known as "Bella's Tree" by tourists since the wild popularity of the series began to bring floods of tourism to the area. Some Quileute elders and tribal cultural leaders view the movie and its enthusiasts as an opportunity to share and educate about their real history and culture. While being sure to differentiate between their true traditions and Hollywood fiction, many Quileute think the added tourism has been good for their economy, and a voice on the international stage has done some good in helping people become aware and educated about Quileute people and their traditions. One Quileute tradition says some people still have the ability to shape shift into wolves, which inspired the author of the Twilight books to create her sort of "good werewolf" youthful "Quileute" warriors. However while it may look like this wolf is sniffing around for vampires, the Quileute have no legends of such creatures.

(This photo has been edited for illustrative effect.)

"Wolves Of The Sea"

2011-03-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

The Quileute tell stories of shape shifters that came from the sea as Orcas (the "wolves of the sea") and transformed into wolves to walk upon land with their relations the Quileute wolf people.

(This photo has been edited for illustrative effect.)

Wolves Like To Smell Things

2011-03-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

Quileute Reservation, La Push, WA.

Mission; Wolf On The Quileute Reservation

2011-03-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Taking the Mission Wolf ambassadors out to explore the Pacific Coastline and the lands of the Quileute.

Mission: Wolf Meets Quileute Country

2011-03-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Zeab, Mission Wolf Ambassador, stepping onto Quileute tribal land in La Push, WA, Olympic Peninsula. Zeab is the nephew of one of the black wolves that starred in the Twilight movies.

(Seconds after this my lens was covered in wolf slobber.)

Quileute Comunity Center

2011-03-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

The outside of the Quileute Community Center shows how important wolves are to Quileute culture. The name Quileuete was even derived from their name for wolf, "kwali".

Wolf Song

2011-03-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

Hats come off in respect for the ancient wolf songs being sung to welcome the Mission: Wolf Ambassadors to the Quileute community.

Wolf Song II

2011-03-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Quileute community happily welcomes the Mission: Wolf ambassador wolves to their land with the sacred wolf songs of their people. It is an exciting cultural event for the Quileute to have wolves among their people again, a sacred animal with roots in the very origins of their people according to their ancient traditions.

Prayers of The "Wolf People"

2011-03-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

Quileute wolf songs welcome wolves to Quileute lands once again.

Quileute Children Greet The Ancestors of Legend

2011-03-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

One year old Zeab, a "wolf ambassador" for Mission: Wolf Sanctuary, meets the Quileute Tribe in their reservation community center. The Quileute creation story says that wolves are their ancestors, and the community came out in great numbers to welcome the wolf ambassadors to their home and study their movements and behavior once again. Their "wolf dancers" practice sacred wolf dances and songs which uncannily imitate the howls and movements of the wolf. Tradition tells there are those who still possess the power to shape shift into wolves.

Maggie Makes Friends With The Quileute

2011-03-08T04:34:00.000-08:00

Mission: Wolf ambassador "Maggie" makes new friends on the Quileute Reservation. Wolves prefer to be touched underneath as opposed to over the top of their head, as that is a dominating posture.

I found that the children were the least intimidated and the most eager and comfortable when it came to contact with the wolves. It reminded me that many cultures around the world both past and present have stories of lost young children being cared for by wolves, which has proven to be accurate in multiple cases.

Abe Makes Friends Among The Quileute

2011-03-08T03:16:00.000-08:00

Wolf dog "Abraham", the alpha of the Mission: Wolf ambassadors on this trip, takes a non-threatening posture while meeting several Quileute children at once. He responds with as much enthusiasm in making new friends as the children show in meeting him. He is handled here by Suzanne Stone of Defenders of Wildlife, who helped coordinate this function.

Zeab Greets The Children Of The Quileute Tribe

2011-03-08T02:21:00.001-08:00

Wolf Greetings

2011-03-08T02:21:00.000-08:00

Licking faces is how wolves say hello and introduce themselves. It is a gesture of trust and friendliness. I enjoyed being greeted by them that way myself, it was quite a feeling to look a powerful wolf in the eye and have them greet you with friendliness, intelligence, and respect! The Quileute were overjoyed to interact with these animals held so sacred to them.

This was at the Mission: Wolf presentation for the schools of the Quileute Reservation.

Wolf Greetings II

2011-03-08T01:31:00.000-08:00

Wolf Dancers Meet Wolf

2011-03-08T01:21:00.000-08:00

When the wolf dancers entered the gymnasium and the drums and rattles started it frightened the wolves at first. Zeab and Magpie immediately wanted to exit the building. They had never heard noise like those drums and rattles, and certainly had never seen large "wolves" like the two entering the gym in this photo. They didn't know what to think and weren't too keen to hang around and find out. Abe was coaxed closer to the wolf dancers to check them out though. As the alpha, it is his job to protect the others from any potential threats, including those that could possibly come from these large, strange, new "wolves" and the sounds that come with them. Witnessing this was certainly a completely different experience than one would find watching the depiction of the Quileute wolf men of "Twilight Saga" fictional lore, and an altogether vastly more powerful and moving one on my account.

(Each wolf dancer is accompanied by a drum or rattle. These masks and instruments are the work of tribal elder Roger Johnson, as are the songs that go with them).

Eyes Of The Ancestors

2011-03-08T00:56:00.000-08:00

The eyes of Quileute wolf dancers meet those of one their people have always considered to be an ancestor, and still honor in ceremony to this day.

Song of The Ancestors

2011-03-08T00:42:00.001-08:00

Ancient meets modern, the wolf masks and wolf dances and songs of the Quileute people are joined by the howls of one they consider to be their ancestor. After generations of long absence from Quileute lands, the movements and sounds of the wolf that inspired these traditions are seen and heard among the Quileute people once again.

Welcome Back

2011-03-08T00:41:00.000-08:00

The Quileute people welcome wolves back to their homeland.

Howls Among The Quileute

2011-03-08T00:35:00.000-08:00

Zeab and Abe howl with Suzanne, to the joy of the Quileute children, who joined in themselves.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE QUILEUTE NATION TRIBAL WEBSITE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM

Wukoki Ruins

2011-03-08T00:28:00.000-08:00

Celestial alignment, Wukoki Pueblo Ruins in Northern Arizona.

This was built by the Anasazi, (the most common name used today for the ancient Pueblan people who built these any many other incredible ruins throughout the Southwest, some as unbelievable cliff dwellings, and others with intricate celestial alignments and geometric architecture). Popular translation of the Navajo word Anasazi is "ancient enemies who are not us". However I once had a Navajo medicine man who was also a Navajo language professor at Northern Arizona University tell me it actually means "ancestor who became our enemy". The Hopi, who are most commonly ascribed as being the descendants of that people, call them "Hisatsinom", roughly meaning "ancestors" or "ancient ones".

Wupatki Ruins

2011-03-08T00:14:00.000-08:00

Celestial alignment, Wupatki Pueblo Ruins in Northern Arizona.

Welcome To Navajo Country

2011-03-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

A sign stating "No Photos Taken Without Authorization" as well as blast warnings near the Peabody Coal Mine on Black Mesa, AZ, welcomes me to Navajo country.

The Black Mesa Coal Mine, Navajo Reservation, Northern Arizona

2011-03-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

The Black Mesa Peabody Coal Mine, Navajo Reservation. Coal dust hangs in the air above the massive coal mounds. Black Lung disease is prevalent on the Navajo reservation, not just amongst mine workers but those who live near it as well.

(This photo was taken from inside my car. There are signs everywhere prohibiting photography of the mine, and the mine has armed security guards that patrol this road that are known to detain people taking photographs, and in some cases had confiscated their film.)

Grandma Glenna

2011-03-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Dine' (Navajo) grandmother Glenna Begay neither speaks or writes English. She lives on Black Mesa with her family, surviving without electricity or running water, living off her sheep, and the corn, squash and beans that she grows. The black coal seen on the ground behind her, which her people have used in their fires for centuries as it is so prevalent it washes out of the ground on Black Mesa when it rains, now belongs to the Peabody Coal Company, a subsidiary of Bechtel. It is illegal for the Navajo to gather coal anywhere on the mesa for their fires. They must obtain it via voucher at the mine or they can be cited.

Glenna And Her Sheep

2011-03-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

Navajo Grandmother Glenna Begay lives on Black Mesa, AZ, where the Peabody Coal Mine sucks over 9 billion gallons of water a year from the only aquifer in that desert region. The springs where her family have found water for themselves and their sheep for hundreds of years are now gone. Since the late 1970's over 14,000 Navajo have been forcibly removed from land their families have occupied for generations. Much of that land is now underneath the Peobody strip mine. Glenna Begay and her family refuse to leave their land, and live there illegally, resisting federal relocation.

Owl Creek

2011-03-04T04:15:00.000-08:00

Navajo medicine man in training, Carlos Begay, stands atop boulders that have crumbled into Owl Creek due to blasting at the Peabody Strip Mine on Black Mesa. Since the 1980's the mine has drawn 9 billion gallons of water a year from the sole desert aquifer underneath Black Mesa to run coal in a slurry line 200 miles to the firing station north of the Grand Canyon. Many of Black Mesa's springs and streams are now dry. Carlos, 24 when this picture was taken in January of 2000, remembers swimming his horse in this "stream" as a boy.

Owl Springs

2011-03-03T04:26:00.000-08:00

Medicine man Carlos Begay stands above what used to be Owl Springs, the watering place of his family for generations upon generations. Since Peabody Coal began tapping 9 billion gallons of water a year from the only desert aquifer in this region to run their slurry line, these and many other springs have disappeared. Most Navajo families in the region now drive miles across the desert in flatbed trucks to the Peobody mine and fill 200 gallon tanks to take home for themselves and their livestock. Peabody representatives state that natural drought conditions have caused the water shortages on the mesa, not the slurry line. Grandma Glenna Begay can remember backing her family's wagon up to this spring as a child and filling wooden barrels with water.

Prayers Of The Past

2011-03-02T04:32:00.000-08:00

These are the remnants of a traditional sweat lodge built by Glenna Begay’s grandparents. Glenna is around 80 years old now. That puts the creation of this lodge well into the 1800′s.

Carlos tells how some members of his family hid out in these Black Mesa hills when Kit Carson made his way through Navajo country, escaping his "scorched Earth" campaign against the Navajo which rounded up and drove over 8,000 Navajos on a 300 mile forced march called the "Long Walk" that killed many women, elderly and children in the harsh conditions. Those who could not keep up had their skulls crushed with rifle butts, to conserve bullets. The Navajo were then interred for 2 years at Fort Sumner in an "Indian interment camp" which many more died in, (rumor has it that Hitler modeled his concentration camps after U.S. Indian interment camps). Two years into the interment they were suddenly released, and each family given 2 sheep and some coffee beans and told to walk home. Glenna tells how her family ate the beans thinking they were food and became very ill. Now, almost 150 years later, they are told that the land they "chose" to live on does not belong to them. The same land they returned to after leaving it for the Long Walk, but now conveniently with a reservation (land owned by the federal government but "reserved" for Native habitation) border around it and a survey in place discovering the largest deposit of coal on the North American continent underneath it, which the USGS discovered after removing the Navajo to Fort Sumner. This coal deposit is now entirely encompassed by the Navajo Reservation and the Hopi Reservation within that. And now as the coal mine approaches the border of Glenna Begay's ancestral lands, the U.S. government steps in to enforce "traditional tribal land rights" and evict people from land such as that pictured here, land that has been occupied continuously for centuries in the case of the Begay family.

Forage

2011-03-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Two of Glenna Begay's grandsons head out into the desert with the flock to find the day's forage.

Sheep, History, Coal

2011-02-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

Glenna Begay's grandson examines a shard of Anasazi pottery found laying on the ground while herding the family's sheep. This is very common. The Peabody Coal Mine and it's mountain of processed coal can be seen in the distance. A faint haze hangs in the air around the mine, as it often does.

It has been estimated by some that over 900 Anasazi sites have been destroyed by the mine, and many local residents can point out locations where sites used to be that are now buried, blasted, or scraped away.

Black and White

2011-02-27T04:51:00.000-08:00

Some of Glenna Begay's sheep reach the end of the trail in front of a large deposit of raw coal.

Navajo Herd Goat

2011-02-27T04:50:00.000-08:00

The "herd goat" grazes among the sage on millennium New Year's morning, January 1, 2000. As this goat keeps a watchful eye on his sheep herd, one wonders what kind of history will be written for the Dine' and other indigenous people in this new millennium?

Gone

2011-02-26T04:54:00.000-08:00

Headlines on a newspaper from 1983 reflect an issue that is still a problem almost 30 years after it began. That being the forced relocation and resettlement of over 14,000 Navajos from lands their ancestors have occupied for generations, and in some cases, centuries. The government has described the cause as an intertribal land dispute between the Hopi and the Navajo, even though the traditional leaders and elders of both tribes claim there is no dispute over land between their peoples, and call for an end to the forced relocations. Interestingly enough much of the vacated land ends up underneath the Peabody strip mine.

Suicide and death rates, especially among the elders, are at an astonishing number among those who have accepted relocation. They have uprooted from the lands that sustained their sheep and crops for centuries and had it replaced with small tract homes in the city which do not possess enough land for them to raise sheep and crops on. For the elders, many of whom have never had electricity or running water (and are content that way), the drastic change in lifestyle has been extremely difficult and taken a harsh toll. Many do not know what it's like to have to pay a utility bill, and purchase the bulk of your food from a store as opposed to growing and raising it.

Many families simply took their relocation money and abandoned everything and left the reservation, as was the case in this home. This building sits on Glenna Begay's land, and belonged to some of her family members. Glenna is resisting federal relocation and refuses to leave her ancestral home and land, which her family has occupied since long before Kit Carson showed up and executed his scorched earth campaign against the Dine'.

Going To The Sundance

2011-02-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

A serious tone pervades in the back of the pickup truck as Timmy and Sevena Begay ride across the desert to attend a Sun Dance ceremony that is being held on Black Mesa by visiting Lakota medicine men and singers. The Lakota (Sioux) were there to support and pray for Dine' families like the Begays that are resisting federal relocation from their ancestral lands by illegally refusing to vacate their homes.

Larry Price

2011-02-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

Navajo elder Larry Price stands in front of the hogan he was born in, deep within the heart of Canyon De Chelly, AZ. Larry knows little of what goes on nearly 100 miles across the reservation on Black Mesa, and lives a world apart from it. He lives in much the same way that his ancestors did 500 years ago, disturbed only by the occasional tour jeep that drives up the canyon on Navajo guided tours of Canyon De Chelly.

My Invisible Family

2011-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

My great grandfather Harris Conner on the left after serving in WWI. (Approximately 1918. I also have a copy of Harris' WWI draft papers that the Caddo Historical Society found for me, along with this photo.)

This begins the section which tells of my own personal "Invisible History", and my quest to make myself and my family "visible" again. (My grandma died when my father was young and he was adopted by a white family, and moved away from his tribe to grow up in California with his adopted family the Whittles. When he was older he returned to "Indian Country" and reconnected with what was left of his family. But for various reasons that connection to his tribe and culture has always been very tenuous.)

My Family

2011-02-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

My Native family back in about 1926, (Caddo/Delaware). My grandma is the little girl in the front. My great grandparents Harris and Nora Conner are on the left. My great uncle Sammie Conner is the little boy in front, and my great aunt Florence (Halfmoon) Conner and her daughter Irene (pictured later at 83) are in the front right, and one of the fellows in the back is my great uncle Wilbur Conner, but I'm not sure which one he is. Both my great grandpa Harris and my great grandma Nora died shortly after this. Harris died on my daughter Mia's birthday, April 18, (1929).

The Lenni Lenape (Delaware) were originally from the central coastal and inland wooded areas of the East Coast, and in fact were related to the local tribes that assisted the famous (or infamous depending how you see it), Capt. John Smith and his people.

The Caddo were once the largest tribe in the Texas and Louisiana region. In fact the name Texas comes from the Spanish mis-pronunciation of the Caddo word "teysha", which means friend, (and wolf). The Spanish named the region Tejas, for "friendly natives", which the Caddo were. The Americans changed it to Texas. They were a mound building culture, and you can see their monuments still standing in East Texas and the southern plains areas. Five hundred years ago they numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Now there are about 3,000 enrolled members of the Caddo Tribe, and very few left who speak the language. Various dialects of the Caddoan languages have long been lost already.

In the Spring of 2010 I went to visit the ruins of this house and our family burial grounds in Oklahoma on our family allotment property near Anadarko, OK, with my dad, my two sisters, and my brother. My father was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. However he is responding well to treatment, and we are praying and hoping for the best. For obvious reasons though he wanted to finally take us to our family's land and people, in "Indian Country". I had never been there, or met any other Native members of my family except my immediate relatives. We have an elderly cousin living in a nursing home there whom we went to visit on our trip. Aside from that I only know of three living members of my extended Native family.

Grandma Lavera

2011-02-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

My grandma Lavera Conner was half Caddo, half Delaware. My father never knew his father. He was adopted by the Whittle family as a young boy after my grandmother died. (They were a white family that ran a boarding house that she lived in). Later they moved to California with my dad, where he was raised and met my mother. He grew up apart from his traditional culture, often feeling not really a part of or accepted by any race or culture. It wasn’t until later in his life that he returned to Oklahoma and found his living half-brothers, and aunt and cousin. However I don’t think he has ever really felt compelled to fully embrace his Native heritage because his past is too painful to think about, and he has been afraid that he didn't fit in, or would be rejected by his own people. Luckily now in his later years he has finally begun to embrace it more, and dig into his family history and remember where he comes from. He did make sure that all of us kids were enrolled in the Caddo Tribe when we were young and I am so grateful for that.

(On a footnote it is now illegal for a Native child to be adopted outside his or her tribe without an effort to place the child in a Native home first. I agree with this policy, yet also in a way have to be thankful it didn’t exist back then, or I wouldn’t exist now! Oh the irony of being an American…)

Irene

2011-01-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

Irene, 83- Eldest living daughter of my family. (The youngest baby pictured in the photo of my family on the porch in the 20s).

Cousin Irene

2011-01-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

My cousin Irene, 83, eldest daughter of our family.

Family History

2011-01-01T14:07:00.000-08:00

I wonder how many moments of my family's history she has already forgotten? By the time I met her she was unable to communicate very well due to health issues. Too late to pry any "history" from her other than to just spend time with her and appreciate the moments I had being with the 'living history' of my family.

The Redskin Theater

2010-12-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

The Redskin Theater, Anadarko, OK, Indian Country. My father remembers going here as a child in the 50s.

Indian Country

2010-11-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

Another oil tanker rolls into Caddo land coated in the red earth of Indian Country. Likely headed to pick up another load from the countless oil wells that dot the Oklahoma countryside. The fossil fuels and resource development industry has a long, long relationship with Native people and their land...

The reservation and allotment system allowed the federal government via the BIA to maintain final say on vast amounts of oil, coal, and natural gas (including the largest deposit of coal in North America entirely encompassed by the [federally owned] Navajo Reservation). There are countless mines and refineries located on reservation land, in many cases providing the only source of income to the entire community. For instance; in the state of Washington there are 5 oil refineries. Every single one of them is located on a reservation. In much of Oklahoma however they gave the land to the Indians via the allotment system, which allowed them to retain actual "ownership" of the lands. However all land and mineral leasing is still handled through the B.I.A. My father's family land has active mineral and farm leases on it, although the mineral leases have never been tapped. The BIA sets all rates for leasing of Native land, and they have historically been well below market standards, particularly in the case of individuals as opposed to tribal entities. The recent settlement by the Federal Government in the Cobell lawsuit for 3.4 billion dollars of a claimed 40 billion dollars that have been missing from BIA trust accounts dating back over a century, reflects that fact. My family stands to recoup an as of yet unspecified amount.

The Past Ahead

2010-10-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

My dad and step mom Lillian look ahead through the Oklahoma countryside as we all return to our family land together. It was my sisters' and my own first time, but my dad and brother and Lillian visited together back in the early 90's.

Dad Comes Home

2010-10-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

My father looks over the gate to his past. (Both literally and figuratively.) Beyond this gate is our family property. In some ways this metaphorical gate has blocked my dad's view of his past his whole life. He has been here seldom since his childhood, the last time being 17 years ago, and then briefly. We own this land via the Dawes Act and Indian Land Allotment. Land Allotment is different than reservation land, in that it is truly owned by the family it has been assigned to. However it has been considered to have been devastating to Native culture and families. Not just in that it was an underhanded way to take back most of the land that had been given to Natives in Indian Territory (pre-Oklahoma), but in that it segmented families (as it did mine), as well as forced a shift in culture to depend on farming subsistence, which often didn't prove for various reasons, which then forced the leaving of home by many family members to find work or other subsistence. For more detailed information about the Dawes Act, Indian Land Allotment and it's affects on Native culture check out this link.

http://www.jimthorpefilm.com/guide/guide03.pdf

Connecting

2010-09-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

A father and son connect with the land, and each other.

We all enjoyed a nice walk and exploration of the family property together, my dad, brother Larry, two sisters Maggie and Cathie, and my stepmother Lillian. A farmer named B.W. Hammert leases the property via the B.I.A. from my dad and the children of our two deceased uncles (who we don't know, but who's names I procured from the B.I.A. so that I can hopefully find them and introduce them to their cousins). All the leasing for property usage or mineral rights is done through the B.I.A. offices and proceeds are then channeled to my father and our cousins.

I met Mr. Hammert out here one evening and he showed me around and explained how he was going to go back to growing wheat instead of soybeans as they were just too fragile. Drought and of late wild pigs have been hard on crops like soy. He was out there checking for pigs the night I met him. He was very kind and pointed me in the right direction of my family burial grounds far on the other side of the property when I mentioned I would be looking for them. He and a nearby farmer were long aware of the site and fenced it off to protect it from cows. This was one of the ways I was able to locate it. My dad hadn't been there since 1972, and much had changed. I will be ever grateful to Mr. Hammert for respecting and helping to preserve and honor that site, as well as for helping me to find it and honor it as well.

Coyote Visits Our Land

2010-09-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

When I was 12 and 13 years old I spent a couple summers out in Chesnimus Country in Northern Wallowa County building fence and working on a family friend's ranch. The first summer when I was 12 I went out camping alone for the first time. Just myself, my dog, my horse, and some food, water, and my old .22 rifle. I spent 3 days out there in the prairie and canyons alone, except for one daily visitor. Every evening in my camp next to a large beaver pond on what is called Salmon Creek, a very large coyote, (like this one), would appear on top of a rock bluff about 200 feet away from me and just stare at us. For close to 20 minutes or so he would just sit there looking at me, and then would finally get up and saunter away. My dog who normally was frightened around coyotes and would even hide or whine and whimper, looked up at him eagerly every time he appeared and even thumped his tail. He was the evening sentinel over my camp those three days.

Redtail Circles The Family

2010-09-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

A Red-Tail Hawk that appeared over my family as we all stood on our property surveying our land and listening to my dad remember.

My brother saw a bobcat when we first arrived as well. There are also lots of deer and even wild pigs (which can be a problem) there.

Life From The Past

2010-09-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Corn, grown by my people for thousands upon thousands of years, still manages to sprout up in the last vestiges of the garden behind an abandoned house on our property once occupied by my great aunts and cousins and uncles. The seeds of a lost culture still sprout, but they certainly need some tending to bring them fully back to life!

Abandoned

2010-09-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

My cousin Karen (Conner?) Keniatobe and her husband lived in this house back in the early Nineties. I have never met them and don't know where they are now. I think she is the daughter of my great uncle Sammie. They left this house on the Eastern tract of our family land abandoned with half their belongings still in it. Tornado perhaps? I don't know.

Relics

2010-09-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Where did they go?

Dad Comes Home II

2010-08-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

What a blessing that out of dad's battle with Cancer comes our family all together on our family homeland for the first time. Blessings can come even out of life's struggles.

Winds Of The Past

2010-08-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Exploring the family property on a windy Oklahoma afternoon.

Caddo Veterans

2010-08-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Larry Whittle, combat veteran Second Marine Division-Operation Desert Storm, USMC 1989-1993, Caddo Veteran. (The Caddo Nation is proud of its warriors. The names on these monuments cover both sides and they are planning to add a new one soon. These are living memorials, so Larry's name will be added to the next one.)

T.C. Cannon

2010-08-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

T.C. Cannon, Kiowa/Caddo, 1946-1978,
American Indian Hall of Fame, Anadarko, OK

T.C. Cannon was an internationally recognized proponent and artist of the "New Wave" movement in Contemporary American Indian Art. He was awarded the Bronze Star twice as well as many other awards and citations for his service with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Following his tour he was formally initiated into the elite Kiowa Black Leggins Warrior Society. He was also widely known for his musical abilities, and his poetry and prose has appeared in numerous international publications.

"I have a strong bond with Heaven and it's angels that grows more and more available. Nothing can deter my many routes to the heart of God....Let's shine on the world for a long time even if we are beyond the voice and ear of those that proclaim us the dreamers of some dismissed religion....I refuse to shed tears for my shortcomings any more. I am comfortable and sane and smiling, running towards the arms of God this evening."

Cannon was laid to his final rest with full traditional Kiowa and military honors following his tragic and untimely death in an auto accident in 1978.

http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=tc+cannon&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=gQ35S8nAJKKSMrDbmIQI&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CEIQsAQwAw

Pocohantas

2010-08-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Pocahontas (Matoaka), 1596-1617, Powhatan Confederacy,
American Indian Hall of Fame, Anadarko, OK

"Pocahontas" was a nickname, meaning "the naughty one" or "spoiled child". Her real name was Matoaka. The legend is that she saved a heroic John Smith from being clubbed to death by her father in 1607 - she would have been about 10 or 11 at the time. The truth is that Smith's fellow colonists described him as an abrasive, ambitious, self-promoting mercenary soldier.

Of all of Powhatan's children, only "Pocahontas" is known, primarily because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian", one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" inevitably given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of "entertainment".

The truth of the matter is that the first time John Smith told the story about this rescue was 17 years after it happened, and it was but one of three reported by the pretentious Smith that he was saved from death by a prominent woman.

Yet in an account Smith wrote after his winter stay with Powhatan's people, he never mentioned such an incident. In fact, the starving adventurer reported he had been kept comfortable and treated in a friendly fashion as an honored guest of Powhatan and Powhatan's brothers. Most scholars think the "Pocahontas incident" would have been highly unlikely, especially since it was part of a longer account used as justification to wage war on Powhatan's Nation.

The true Pocahontas story has a sad ending. In 1612, at the age of 17, Pocahontas was treacherously taken prisoner by the English while she was on a social visit, and was held hostage at Jamestown for over a year.

During her captivity, a 28-year-old widower named John Rolfe took a "special interest" in the attractive young prisoner. As a condition of her release, she agreed to marry Rolfe, who the world can thank for commercializing tobacco. Thus, in April 1614, Matoaka, also known as "Pocahontas", daughter of Chief Powhatan, became "Rebecca Rolfe". Shortly after, they had a son, whom they named Thomas Rolfe. The descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe were known as the "Red Rolfes."

Two years later on the spring of 1616, Rolfe took her to England where the Virginia Company of London used her in their propaganda campaign to support the colony. She was wined and dined and taken to theaters. It was recorded that on one occasion when she encountered John Smith (who was also in London at the time), she was so furious with him that she turned her back to him, hid her face, and went off by herself for several hours. Later, in a second encounter, she called him a liar and showed him the door.

Rolfe, his young wife, and their son set off for Virginia in March of 1617, but "Rebecca" had to be taken off the ship at Gravesend. She died there on March 21, 1617, at the age of 21. She was buried at Gravesend, but the grave was destroyed in a reconstruction of the church. It was only after her death and her fame in London society that Smith found it convenient to invent the yarn that she had rescued him.

(Taken from the Powhatan-Renape Tribe's website.)

The Powhatan people were Algonquian speaking people and related at least in similar language, trade, and some inter-marriage with the Lenape (now known as Delaware) people, my own tribe along with the Caddo. Chief Powhatan was leader of a large confederacy of Lenape related regional bands and tribes.

Riverside School

2010-08-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

A faded and graffiti covered sign marks The Riverside School behind it. It is the oldest operating boarding school in the United States Indian Service. It was built in 1872, and burned to the ground in 1878. A new one was quickly built along the Washita River just across from my family land. Many generations of Native children have passed through the halls of these type of schools, learning to assimilate and give up their traditional culture and beliefs. In the earlier years children were often beaten and severely punished at Indian boarding schools for speaking their native language or practicing their traditions. This was considered in their best interest, to "civilize the poor savages". I don't know if that was the case at this school or not. Some were worse that others. But the original assimilation goal of Indian education was devastating to Native culture, and responsible for the loss and even self-rejection of generations of Native culture and identity.

My dad said both his brothers, my uncles Bud and Mike, went to this school.

Red Earth Dance Arbor

2010-08-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Caddo Dance Arbor. I can't wait to go back someday and see the dancer's feet touch the sacred red earth!

Grandmother's Grove

2010-08-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

This grove of trees is the burial ground of my family and the resting place of my grandmother and my great grandparents on our tribal land.

Grandmother's Grove II

2010-08-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

My ancestors have nourished the earth that provides life to these trees.

Moonrise Over Ancestors

2010-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Moon rising over my ancestors.

Ancestor Moonlight

2010-08-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Moonlight pours through the trees onto the final resting place of my ancestors.

Ghosts Of My Ancestors

2010-08-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

I shot this of an old lightning struck oak tree walking back across my property in Oklahoma after finding the burial grounds of my family and ancestors. I am 99% sure that is wheat pollen or some other pollen in the sky. I had just walked across about 60 acres of wheat before this. 99% sure...

Self-Portrait?

2010-08-13T20:31:00.001-07:00

Growing up a mixed-blood Caddo/Delaware and white person, with no real connection to the Native side of my immediate family, I didn’t have a strong identification with that part of my ethnicity (the rest being mostly Irish, Scottish, and some Welsh). I longed for it. I felt like I identified with it in my heart. But I didn’t feel that I “deserved” it. So I have never been fully comfortable claiming it or completely owning it. I am enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and so are my father, my siblings, and now my daughter. So I do have the knowledge that the tribe itself considers me to be a “Caddo.” And I know that our grandparents are a huge part of who we are…but if you don’t know them personally, they might as well be great, great, great, grandparents. (That is unless you believe in a sort of immediate “genetic memory”, which perhaps I do.) However, as I grew older I began to search out and learn about different Native traditions, and study my tribes the Caddo, and the Delaware. I also began to learn firsthand about the tribe I grew up around, the Nez Perce, and later other tribes I was able to come in contact with. I began to find my own Native heritage by reaching out to it in that way, but I still lacked the confidence and ownership (as I think my father did), not to mention the understanding and knowledge of having those generations of culture and tradition passed down to you from your elders firsthand. That close family connection to Native American culture has been lost and even systematically erased for thousands of Native people throughout this nation's history. But it's not too late to grasp and reclaim it for the descendants of the first peoples of the Americas.

In college I decided to do a self-portrait that addressed my desire to embrace my Native heritage while at the same time feeling like perhaps I was being a fraud or a phony if I did. I went to a costume store and rented moccasins, a fake head dress, and a plastic Buffalo horn rattle. Originally I intending on highlighting the fake and generic stereotypical elements in the photograph. Once I began to set up the photo however, it just kind of organically turned into this dream-like silhouette of who I longed to be. I realized that regardless of wether friends, or society, or full-blooded Natives, or even I myself, believed that I that I had no “right” to claim my Native heritage and culture, that my grandmother’s blood still flows in my veins and beats in my heart when I hear the sound of the drums, and that in our longing to know where we come from and who we are, we become that person we seek to know.

I refuse to let my history be invisible any more!

Mia Nataneh River

2010-08-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

My daughter Mia Nataneh River playing in the Wallowa River with her friends and just being her beautiful self. Her name means “My Daughter River”. I wanted her name to have a Native element to it, but not knowing my own Caddo or Delaware languages, or knowing anyone who did (this was before Google), I was not able to find a name for her in our own Native family languages. What I was able to find in a name book was the word Nataneh, which means daughter in Lakota (Sioux). When we decided we wanted her name to mean “River”, we knew it would be “Mia Nataneh River”.

In retrospect I realize this is the perfect illustration of the longing and desire to re-connect with our severed traditional cultures that so many of us have. Wanting to, and being able to own our unique and specific family traditions and heritage does not separate us from the rest of American society, but instead makes us uniquely American! Truly America is the “Great Melting Pot”, but what makes it all so beautiful and wonderful is our desire and ability to have all the ingredients maintain their own unique and special flavors! If we continue to cherish these aspects of who we are as individuals, and as a nation, then perhaps when Mia is ready to name her own child she will know what the Caddo word is, the Delaware word, the Irish word, the Welsh word, the German word, and all the other words that come from the unique cultures that have passed down their combined “genetic memories” to her!