Who Was Squanto, and What Was His Role in the First Thanksgiving?For generations, the dominant cultural narrative of America’s Thanksgiving holiday has told how a Native American man named Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to get food after they arrived on the Mayflower in Massachusetts in 1620. Having fled their native England, the new émigrés endured hardship and privation in both their journey and their adjustment to the […]Read more
How Native Americans Protected Alaska During WWIIIn early June of 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor formally jolted the U.S. into World War II, the Japanese mounted another surprise bombing attack—this time, on Dutch Harbor in the remote Aleutian Islands of Alaska. In the brief ensuing invasion, Japanese naval forces occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, the first occupation by […]Read more
Teddy Roosevelt Championed Conservation Efforts—That Also Displaced Native AmericansTheodore Roosevelt is known as the “conservation president” for his undaunted efforts, at the dawn of the 20th century, to shield wildlife and public lands from development. His efforts helped establish America’s national park and forestry services, putting more than 200 million acres of land under public protection. But transferring all that territory to government […]Read more
Abraham Lincoln’s Uneasy Relationship With Native AmericansAs America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln left a towering legacy. His deep belief in the founding principles of American democracy—that every human deserved liberty and the opportunity for self‑determination—compelled him to free enslaved African Americans. But when it came to the nation’s Indigenous peoples, who were collectively struggling for their lives, lands and cultural survival, […]Read more
How the Iroquois Confederacy Was FormedIn the story of the Great Law of Peace, Hiawatha and the Peacemaker convince leaders of the Five Nations to literally bury the hatchet.Read more
Po’Pay: The Little‑Known Pueblo Hero Who Led the First American RevolutionThe Pueblo Revolt of 1680 drove out the Spanish for 12 years—and saved many Indigenous cultures from being wiped out.Read more
The Apache Woman Warrior Who Helped Lead Resistance to European InvadersLozen fought against Mexican and American forces for 30 years, earning the nickname ‘Apache Joan of Arc.’Read more
How Returning WWII Vets Helped Establish America’s Biker ClubsMotorcycle groups offered brotherhood and adventure for returning GIs, many of whom were still processing the horrors of war.Read more
How Mohawk ‘Skywalkers’ Helped Build New York City’s Tallest SkyscrapersNative Americans aren’t often associated with New York City and its dense, vertical landscape. With so many Indian nations pushed to America’s frontier in the 19th century, they usually appear in popular culture as denizens of the rural West, occupying wide open spaces replete with tipis, buffalo and pow wows. Yet the Mohawk Nation has […]Read more
