On TV: Native American Heritage Month - November 2023

KQED is proud to celebrate Native American Heritage Month starting in November with a special TV programming lineup. Premiere dates are listed below.

KQED 9

Molly of Denali
Mondays-Saturdays 7am
Join Molly, an Alaska Native girl, her dog Suki, and friends Tooey and Trini on their adventures in epically beautiful Alaska. Along the way, Molly’s life is enhanced, kept on track, and flat-out saved by maps, guide books, websites, weather reports, and more.

Thurs 11/2
9pm Little Bird: Burning Down the House (NEW)
Esther finds members of her family who help her put together the pieces of the past. She returns to Montreal to confront her adoptive mother about the revelations that shine a light on their life and change the way they look at the past.

Sun 11/5
7pm Indigenize the Plate (NEW)
Extraction, water displacement, and climate change have impacted food sustainability in Indigenous communities, and the combination of these challenges has also affected cultural sustainability. In Indigenize the Plate, a Dine woman travels from the Navajo Nation to a Quechuan community in Peru to see how they address these issues in their region. The program tells the stories of Indigenous people across the world and shows viewers how their communities are working together to address some of these many challenges.

Tue 11/7
9pm Native America: Women Rule (NEW)
Native women are leading, innovating, and inspiring in the arts, politics, and protecting the planet. “Women Rule” explores the diverse ways they carry forward deep traditions to better their communities, their lands, and the world.

11pm The Reciprocity Project (NEW)
The Reciprocity Project is a collection of stories highlighting communities living in reciprocity with the Earth. Featuring short films created with Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, the filmmakers and community partners responded to the question, “What does reciprocity mean to you and your community?” Each film shines a light on the challenges and triumphs of those who fight for their communities, heritage, and land in the modern age. It invites learning from Indigenous ways of life and teaches us how to conserve our relationship with the Earth.

Thurs 11/9
9pm Little Bird: I Want My Mom (NEW)
Esther returns to the prairies and continues her pursuit of uncovering her past. Reconnecting the severed ties of a broken family is not easy. When tragedy strikes, Esther realizes that she needs her mother, Golda, more than anything.

Sun, 11/12
11pm Awakening In Taos: The Mabel Dodge Luhan Story
Mabel Dodge was an independently wealthy writer, early feminist, social activist, and champion for women’s and Native American rights. In 1917, she moved from Greenwich Village to Taos, New Mexico where she met and eventually married Tony Lujan, a full-blooded Tiwa Indian from Taos Pueblo. She was responsible for bringing major modern artists to New Mexico including Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams, and D.H. Lawrence.

Tue 11/14
9pm Native America: Language Is Life (NEW)
Celebrate the power of Native languages and the inspirational people who are saving them. From secret recordings to Star Wars films dubbed in Navajo, follow the revolutionary steps transforming Native America.

Thurs 11/16
9pm Little Bird: Bineshi Kwe (NEW)
The Little Bird family comes together to mourn death and celebrate life. Esther and Golda are both changed from this journey of self-discovery, but it has strengthened their bond. Esther has finally found what she’s been looking for.

Fri 11/17
8pm America Reframed: Town Destroyer (NEW)
“Town Destroyer” probes a passionate dispute over historic murals at a public high school depicting the life of George Washington: slave owner, General, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called “town destroyer.” The controversy became a touchstone for a national debate over public art and historic memory in a time of racial reckoning.

Sat 11/18
7:30pm Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer (NEW)
A Native American girl from a Blackfeet reservation uses her basketball skills as a ticket to college and the opportunity to give back to her people. Her chief described her as “a warrior.”

Sun 11/19
11pm Groundworks
Groundworks profiles four California Native co-creators of the Groundworks project – an immersive, year-long media collaboration that culminated with a performance on Alcatraz Island on San Francisco’s first official Indigenous Peoples Day in October 2018. While weaving together these artists’ stories and traditional knowledge, Groundworks also explores land management issues, water rights, and food security – concerns for all Americans.

Tue 11/21
11:30pm Skindigenous: Kahnawake
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a matrilineal society consisting of six Nations. Kanentokon Hemlock is a Bear clan representative from the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake, whose territory has been divided between Quebec, Ontario, and New York State. Kanentokon has always been fascinated by his culture, and he began the art of tattooing to revitalize the lost tradition. In this episode, he invites us to witness the first tattooing in a longhouse in roughly 300 years.

KQED PLUS

Thurs 11/2
4pm Life in the Heart Land: Monacan Nation (NEW)
The Monacan Indian Nation received federal recognition in 2018, but they have lived in Virginia for thousands of years. In the 1920s they were the target of eugenics movements, and today, there are around 2,500 members. Together with tribal governments in eastern Virginia, they are working to reclaim land and identity that has always been theirs.

Sun 11/5
11pm The Warrior Tradition
Learn the heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely untold story of Native Americans in the United States military. This film relates the stories of Native American warriors from their own points of view — stories of service, pain, courage, and fear.

Mon 11/6
10:45pm Independent Lens: Home from School: The Children of Carlisle
Northern Arapaho tribal members traveled to Pennsylvania to retrieve the stories and the remains of children who died at Carlisle Indian boarding school in the 1880s. More than a century later, the members help the boys finally come home.

Tue 11/7
12am Native Report: Modern Day Living (NEW)
In “Modern Day Living,” we hear from those with ties to the land of Montana sharing stories of Blackfeet Nation history. We hear from a rancher, a mother and artist, an elder, and a Native physician, all who keep their culture alive.

2:30pm Skindigenous: Pablo Zafirekudo
Pablo is part of the Huitoto tribe in the Amazon forest in Southern Colombia. He is trying to preserve his rapidly disappearing cultural traditions. One of these traditions is body painting for special celebrations with a temporary paint that is made with the juice of the huito fruit. 

Sun 11/12
1:30pm Cara Romero: Following The Light (NEW)
Contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero’s work captures Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.

2pm Native America: From Caves to Cosmos
Combine ancient wisdom and modern science to answer a 15,000-year-old question: who were America’s First Peoples? The answer hides in Amazonian cave paintings, Mexican burial chambers, New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, and waves off California’s coast.

3pm Native America: Nature to Nations
Explore the rise of great American nations. Investigate lost cities in Mexico, a temple in Peru, a potlatch ceremony in the Pacific Northwest, and a tapestry of shell beads in upstate New York whose story inspired our own democracy.

4pm Native America: Cities of the Sky
Discover the cosmological secrets behind America’s ancient cities. Scientists explore some of the world’s largest pyramids and 3D-scan a lost city of monumental mounds on the Mississippi River. Native elders reveal ancient powers of the sky. 

5pm Native America: New World Rising
Discover how resistance, survival and revival are revealed through an empire of horse-mounted Comanche warriors, secret messages encoded in Aztec manuscript, and a grass bridge in the Andes that spans mountains and centuries of time.

Mon 11/13
5:30pm Seeing Canada: Nimmo Bay & Manitoulin Island
Canadian journalist Brandy Yanchyk explores Nimmo Bay in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, followed by an authentic indigenous experience with the Great Spirit Circle Trail on Manitoulin Island, Ontario.

10:45pm Chasing Voices
For over 50 years, ethnologist John Peabody Harrington traveled the U.S., chasing the voices of the last speakers of Native America’s dying languages. Moving from one tribal community to the next, he collaborated to document every detail before the languages were lost forever. Chasing Voices chronicles and traces the impact of his work to restore these languages.

Tue 11/14
12am Native Report: Native Philanthropy and Reclaiming Land (NEW)
We hear from a City Council member from Wisconsin, who has been leading the Wisconsin Point land transfer proposal with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Then we see how in Seattle, a group is helping their urban Native community combat homelessness. We also listen to words of wisdom from an elder and valuable health advice from a Native physician.

2:30pm Skindigenous: Rosa Lopez
Rosa is a 50-year-old Wayuu elder who lives in Northeastern Colombia with her family. The Wayuu culture is matriarchal, and Rosa is responsible for transmitting traditional knowledge like weaving, knitting, dancing, and face-painting to her daughters and grand-daughters.

Thurs 11/16
9pm The Pilgrims: American Experience
Discover the harrowing and brutal truths behind the Pilgrims’ arrival in the New World and the myths of Thanksgiving. Director Ric Burns explores the history of our nation’s beginnings in this epic tale of converging forces.

Sat 11/18
7:30am Breath of Life: Revitalizing California’s Languages
What if Grandmother composed a song for you, but no one could understand the words? The short film Breath of Life explores the painstaking efforts of dedicated indigenous Californians who have committed themselves to revitalizing the rich culture their ancestors have left to them. For decades, a group of Native activists and language experts have convened a conference at UC Berkeley, to make sure that the 100+ individual tongues of this region remain alive. For most it is a challenging and emotional–even spiritual–experience to rediscover these treasures.

10pm Fighting Indians (NEW)
Local Native American tribes push for change as a predominantly white community fights to keep its “Indian” mascot in a battle that exposes centuries of abuse while asking if reconciliation is possible. 

Sun 11/19
12pm American Masters: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On
Experience the story of the Oscar-winning Indigenous artist from her rise to prominence in New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene through her six-decade groundbreaking career as a singer-songwriter, social activist, educator, and artist.

2pm Native America: New Worlds
Native innovators lead a revolution in music, building, and space exploration. From the surface of Mars to the New York City hip hop scene to the Pine Ridge Reservation, Native traditions are transforming life on Earth and other worlds.

3pm Native America: Warrior Spirit
Across Native America, warrior traditions support incredible athletes and connect people to combat, games, and glory. Celebrate and honor the men and women who live and breathe this legacy today.

6pm We’re Still Here
Through music and work in communities, First Nation indigenous hip-hop artists in Canada lead an effort to right long standing injustices, heal personal traumas, and preserve their cultures.

Mon 11/20
4:30pm A Watershed Moment
On December 3rd 2007, the Chehalis river valley in Washington experienced a catastrophic flood like never before, marking the 4th major flood in 30 years. As the region prepares for possible solutions with infrastructure and restorative design, this wild salmon stronghold faces a 100-year legacy of habitat degradation. The dam efforts have also caused diverse stakeholders to undertake massive scientific investigations to learn more about this basin. If no action is taken, the spring Chinook population will stay on trajectory toward extinction.

11pm Next at the Kennedy Center: Embracing Duality: Modern Indigenous Culture
In bridging traditions from past to present, this episode explores the subtle and complex representation of the contemporary Indigenous experience. 

Tue 11/21
12am Native Report: Art Through Traditions (NEW)
We hear from Sihasin, a band whose blend of punk folk and traditional Navajo creates space for others to learn about Dine culture. We also learn how artist Louis Still Smoking brings history to life through his portraits and murals. Then we learn from Thomas Crawford as he shares the importance of the sweat lodge in traditional teachings. We also listen to words of wisdom from an elder as well as valuable health advice from a Native physician.

2:30pm Skindigenous: Elle Festin
Elle Festin specializes in Filipino tribal designs. More than twenty years ago, he started to research their tattoo culture as nothing was available in the US. More and more Filipinos around the world were interested in the designs, and this started the Mark of the Four Waves Tribe.

11pm Stories I Didn’t Know
In the documentary Stories I Didn’t Know, Rita Davern examines an ugly reality at the heart of a Minnesotan family legend. While her family has always been proud that their ancestors once owned Pike Island, the story of its acquisition is far less glorious. Rita’s attempts to understand what happened leads her to face the history of westward expansion in the United States.

Wed 11/22
5:30pm First Peoples: Americas
As humans spread out across the world, their toughest challenge was to colonize the Americas. It has long been thought that pioneers arrived about 13,000 years ago. But an underwater discovery is forcing the story to be re-written. How closely related were the First Americans and today’s Native Americans? It’s a matter of huge controversy, focused on Kennewick Man. 

Thurs 11/23
4pm Return: Native American Women Reclaim Foodways For Health & Spirit
At its heart, Return explores the food sovereignty movement occurring across the country through the women championing traditional food sources. The documentary features Roxanne Swentzell, whose Pueblo Food Experience project is transforming lives. Her efforts to reclaim ancient foodways are echoed across the continent by Native women who share Roxanne’s passion. Return offers alternative pathways to health and wellness and demonstrates how returning to ancestral food sources can strengthen ties to each other and to one’s heritage.

4:30pm The Horse Relative
The Horse Relative explores the historic art of horse regalia and how the tradition is being revived and reinterpreted by Dakota communities for a new generation. The film also looks at the efforts of artists, educators, and community leaders to preserve and restore the Dakota language, cultural traditions, and lifeways. Beyond chronicling how the Dakota people are keeping their cultural identity thriving, The Horse Relative also details a story of migration, following the difficult path Native people and their horse relatives traversed as foreigners settled.

Tue 11/28
12am Native Report: Sharing Culture (NEW)
We hear from Mariah Gladstone who shares recipes, and we talk with Angelika who runs the Lodgepole Gallery. “Sharing Culture” teaches about the Blackfeet Nations culture camp and the importance of the gallery supporting Native artists. Then, we’ll watch as Tribal Nation leaders come together with government representatives to return Wisconsin Point’s sacred burial ground to the Fond Du lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. 

2:30pm Skindigenous: Turumakina Duley
Based in Australia, Turumakina has been part of the Maori Ta moko for 26 years now and is known for doing face tattoos. The tattoo couple has adopted a holistic approach of tattooing and Tu uses these sacred skin markings as a tool for healing the body, mind, and spirit.

Thurs 11/30
5pm Immune
A team of doctors in San Francisco, a 9-year-old Navajo girl in Arizona, and an Amish father in Indiana all pursue a cure for a genetic illness that causes babies to be born without an immune system.

KQED WORLD

Wed 11/1
11am The Art of Home: A Wind River Story
From modern art to beading and leather work to drumming and music, we’ll follow Native American artists with a connection to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. These artists explain how their art connects them to their tribal past, present, and future.

1pm Native Art Now!
What exactly distinguishes contemporary Native art from other contemporary art? Native Art Now! examines the evolution of Native contemporary art over the last 25 years, presenting personal perspectives from internationally acclaimed Native modern artists.

Thurs 11/2
11:30am Surviving New England’s Great Dying
It’s been more than 400 years since the first Thanksgiving, and there’s a lot to learn about that time. Just prior to the Pilgrim’s arrival, a plague decimated New England’s coastal Native American population, altering the course of colonialism. This is the story of the Great Dying and how tribal leaders are learning from the past as they deal with the effects of today’s pandemic.

1pm Roadtrip Nation: Native Way Forward
TV and film have long depicted Native Americans in the past tense. It’s time to shine a light on the present-day experiences of Native young adults. In Roadtrip Nation, follow the journey of three Native young adults as they road-trip across the Southwest to sit down with Indigenous leaders who are making art, building businesses, conducting research, and shaping policy. As the roadtrippers reconcile the past of their people with their possibilities for the future, they begin to realize that their ideas of personal success are becoming more and more intertwined with their desire to uplift their communities and protect their lands.

6pm Independent Lens: Scenes from the Glittering World
Following three Indigenous students, “Scenes from the Glittering World” is a meditation on adolescence, trauma, and the power of connecting with an isolated Navajo homeland.

Fri 11/3
5pm Racing the Rez
Encouraged by their elders, many Navajos and Hopis begin running at an early age – to greet the morning sun, to prepare for a ceremony, or to challenge themselves in the vast, southwestern landscape. In Northern Arizona, Navajo and Hopi cross-country runners from rival high schools vie for the state championship while striving to find their place among their native people. Racing the Rez offers a rare view into the complexity and diversity of contemporary reservation life, from the point of view of five teenage boys on the cusp of adulthood. 

6pm The Medicine Game
The Medicine Game shares the remarkable journey of two brothers from the Onondoga Nation driven by a single goal – to beat the odds and play lacrosse for national powerhouse Syracuse University. The Onondaga Nation is a sovereign Native American community known to produce some of the top lacrosse players in the world. The Iroquois people play a ceremonial game of lacrosse, referred to as the “medicine game” – a ceremony played to ward off sicknesses from the tribe. The obstacles in the brothers’ way are daunting, but their love for the game and each other and their family’s unyielding determination propels these young men towards their dream. 

Sat 11/4
4pm POV: Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
Three communities intersect, sharing histories of forced removal – Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at the Manzanar WWII concentration camp, Native Americans who were forced from these lands, and ranchers turned environmentalists, who were bought out by the LA Department of Water and Power. How do they come together in the present moment to defend their land and water from Los Angeles?

Sun 11/5
8pm Battle Over Bears Ears
Explore the vast cultural divides that are fueling the fight over how the Bears Ears Monument is protected and managed. At its heart, it’s a battle for homeland and sovereignty. The Monument was first declared under President Obama and then drastically reduced in size by President Trump. Now, under President Biden, the fate is under review. Regardless of politics, questions remain–whose voices are heard, whose are lost, and how do all sides find common ground?

Thurs 11/9
4:30pm Without a Whisper: Konnon:Kwe
“Konnon:Kwe” is an untold story of how Indigenous women influenced the early suffragists in their fight for freedom and equality. Mohawk Clan Mother Louise Herne and Professor Sally Roesch Wagner shake the foundation of the established history of the women’s right movement. They shed light on the hidden history of the influence of Haudenosaunee Women on the women’s rights movement, possibly changing this historical narrative forever.

5pm America Reframed: Sisters Rising
Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault than all other American women, and 86% of the offenses are committed by non-Native men. “Sisters Rising” follows six women who refuse to let this pattern of violence continue in the shadows. Their stories shine a light on righting injustice on both an individual and systemic level.

6pm Bring Her Home
Bring Her Home follows three Indigenous women – an artist, an activist, and a politician – as they work to vindicate and honor their relatives who are victims in the growing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. As they face the lasting historical trauma, each woman searches for healing while navigating the oppressive systems that created this very crisis.

Mon 11/13
11:30am Skindigenous: New Mexico
Stephanie Big Eagle grew up astray from her identity, but reconnected with her culture when she rekindled relationships in her home, the Yankton Sioux Reservation. She immersed herself in the fight for aboriginal rights and the Dakota pipeline protests, where her thunder hawk hand poke design became a symbol of the standoff. She sees the revitalization of hand poke as a gift to be offered with love, gratitude, and respect, particularly for the ancestors.

6:30pm Stories from the Stage: Sacred Circle
As a symbol of life’s cyclical nature, the circle is important for Native Americans. Rebekka honors the keeper of the connection between her people and culture. Charlie, who has light skin and hair, works to be accepted by fellow tribe members. Levelle finds a path to meaning, healing, and helping after prison. Three storytellers, three interpretations of “Sacred Circle.”

Tue 11/14
11am Skindigenous: Lebret
Metis artist Audie Murray sees tattooing as a way for people to connect with their culture and communities. Audie’s practice draws from the duality in her life, especially her experience growing up in Regina and Lebret, and then moving to Vancouver to pursue her art career. When Audie returns home, her work is centered around creating and learning from family.

11:30am Skindigenous: Nimkii
Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt founded the Onaman Collective, which represents multidisciplinary artists who focus on land-based decolonization. They established a new community called Nimkii Aazhibikong in Northern Ontario. Under the guidance of elders, they studied ancient markings and are carrying them forward by tattooing individuals from various nations to unify Indigenous peoples.

Wed 11/15
11am Skindigenous: Iqaluit
Northern Canada is home to the oldest tattooing traditions on the planet. Ippiksaut Friesen, a well-known young Inuk artist, was inspired to follow the many Inuit women before her and develop tattooing skills for her sisters. Ippiksaut hopes to play a vital role in the resurgence of traditional tattooing.

12pm Skindigenous: Haida Gwaii
When Haida artist Kwiaahwah Jones picked up traditional Haida tattoo practices, she inspired a whole new generation to embrace their Haida culture and make it their own. She has curated Haida art exhibits across Canada but found her true calling in Haida hand poke tattoos. Tattooing was an important part of Haida culture, signifying family lineage and rank in society. Kwiaahwah sees the revitalization of Haida tattooing as a reconnection to her ancestors.

Thurs 11/16
11am Skindigenous: Los Angeles
Two Ravens is an Opata tattoo artist based in East Los Angeles. As an activist, he was injured at Standing Rock while defending land rights in North Dakota. He continues to use his art to unite and help Indigenous Americans in L. A. and across the U.S. reclaim their origins.

4pm Older Than the Crown
Older Than the Crown follows the trial of Sinixt tribal member Rick Desautel who, in 2010, was charged with hunting an elk without a proper permit in Canada. To the Sinixt, hunting on ancestral land is an aboriginal right, which has legally been denied to the Sinixt people since 1956 when the Canadian government declared the Sinixt extinct in Canada, despite still being around. Now with the Desautel Hunting Case, the Sinixt people have a chance to bring light to their unjust extinction and also abolish the declaration completely.

5pm America Reframed: Blood Memory
For Sandy White Hawk, the story of America’s Indian Adoption Era is not one of saving children but of destroying families and tribes. As an adoption survivor, Sandy sets out to reclaim the pieces of her stolen past. “Blood Memory” explores the communal healing that is sparked by the return of this stolen generation, as Sandy helps organize the first annual Welcome Home Ceremony in the community from which she was removed over 60 years ago.

6pm Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Sacred Justice
Warrior Lawyers examines contemporary Native American Nation rebuilding through the personal stories of Native Attorneys, Tribal Judges and their colleagues. The documentary provides an overview of the major historical, legal, judicial and intertwining social issues shaping many Federally Recognized Native Nations today as well as reveals how culture and traditional values are effectively being utilized to face challenges and promote Sacred Justice. 

Fri 11/17
5pm Searching for Sequoyah
Searching for Sequoyah spans two countries and three Cherokee nations, leading viewers on a journey through the life and death of Sequoyah. This hour-long documentary allows viewers to learn more about Sequoyah through the written language he created for the Cherokee people, interviews with his descendants, cave writing depictions, and more.

Sat 11/18
4pm La Loche
In January 2016, a school shooting in the Canadian aboriginal community of La Loche took the lives of four students and injured seven others. In the aftermath, a teacher, worried about eight boys affected, contacted Survivorman star Les Stroud, whom the students admired. La Loche follows Stroud, the eight young men, and elders where they canoe down a 100-mile river path their ancestors used to traverse. Stroud uses this trek to encourage the boys to tell their stories. They talk about their families, the shooting, and their hopes and dreams. The cathartic journey helps them confront their trauma, moving from fear and confusion to optimism and confidence.

Sun 11/19
8:30pm Our American Family: The Kurowskis
“The Kurowskis” presents the story of a woman raised on the Oneida Reservation and married to a Polish man. At the time, Native Americans were pressured to assimilate into the culture of their white neighbors. Following a tragedy, the Kurowskis move to the reservation, and they strengthen the community and prepare the next generation to support their Oneida heritage.

Mon 11/20
11:30am Skindigenous: Kanahus Manuel
Land defender Kanahus Manuel is revitalizing ancient tattoo practices that represent thousands of years of ancient connection to the land.

12pm Skindigenous: Keith Callihoo
Kanien’keha:ka artist Keith Callihoo keeps his relationship to the land and to his ancestors’ stories from the Michel First Nation alive through his tattoo practice. He strives to pass these teachings on to his 9-year-old daughter, Hayden, who is always by his side.

12:30pm Skindigenous: Kiskihkoman
Nehiyaw/Anishinaabe artist Heather Kiskihkoman finds inspiration for her tattoo designs on the land where she grew up and still lives today. She shares this journey with her family as they prepare for her sister Vivienne’s first traditional tattoo.

1pm Growing Native: Growing Native Northeast: Coast Salish
Venture to the Pacific Northwest to capture the stories of ongoing traditions of its original inhabitants. The rivers here were the highways for trade and grocery stores for thousands of years. Today, tribes participate in a yearly canoe journey, an opportunity for people to travel to all the places their ancestors once inhabited. From totem poles, to language preservation, to traditional crafts, host Chris Eyre (Cheyenne Arapaho) discovers the wilds of the North.

Tue 11/21
11am Skindigenous: Toby Sicks
Struggling to find direction, Toby Sicks credits the discovery of his Metis heritage to his tattooing success. Overcoming his addiction to become the hard working Metis man he is today, Toby sets a great example for youth who are trying to find their own voice in the world today.

11:30am Skindigenous: Stacey Fayant
Born and raised in Regina Saskatchewan, Stacey Fayant is a Metis and Cree tattoo artist who has found a way to give back to her urban Indigenous community by revitalizing the practice of skin stitch and hand poke.

12pm Skindigenous: Lianna Spence
Lianna Spence is a tattoo artist in Prince Rupert, BC, who does beautifully detailed designs based on the family crests of her clients.

12:30pm Skindigenous: Isaac Weber
Isaac Weber, a multidisciplinary artist who is both Creole from the Cape Verde Islands (West African Atlantic Islands) and Anishnawbek from Inlet First Nations, has recently taken up tattooing as a means to reconnect with his family and his community.

1pm Growing Native Alaska: People of the North
All across Alaska, Native cultures have depended on the abundant natural resources found there to support their families, cultures and ways of life. Now, those resources are growing scarce, and the people who have relied on them for centuries have to find new ways to adapt. Growing Native visits some of the communities engaged in this familiar struggle – the struggle to maintain their traditions, while continuing to thrive in a constantly changing world. 

Wed 11/22
11am Skindigenous: Danika Nacarrella
Danika Nacarrella is from the Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola, B.C. She was officially adopted into the Nation at birth, but she has been making her mark in the community by working with the youth as an educator and as a visual and tattoo artist.

11:30am Skindigenous: Gordon Sparks
With over 20 years of tattoo machine experience, Mi’kmaw mask carver Gordon Sparks is turning his skills to handpoke tattooing. Through his art, Gordon is reconnecting to his roots and bringing traditional tattooing home to the Mi’kmaw territories.

12pm Red Power Energy
Native people are in the midst of an extraordinary resurgence. They are challenging long-held stereotypes, fighting for the sovereign right to control their lands and develop their natural resources. Red Power Energy is a provocative film told from the American Indian perspective that reframes today’s complex energy debate. Can energy development on tribal lands empower people while powering the nation? The film offers rare insight into the ideological battle shaping modern Native country and advances a deeper understanding of their culture.

1pm Growing Native: Growing Native Great Lakes: Turtle Island
Over the Centuries, the Great Lakes region has been home to hundreds of tribes and a source of water, food, and health. Indigenous stories describe how the world came into being on the back of a turtle, and today they know the earth as Turtle Island. Growing Native host Stacey Thunder (of the Red Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) guides this journey by engaging tribal voices while touring Native country with those who are devoted to caring for the land.

Thurs 11/23
12pm Sand Creek Massacre
What led approximately 600+ volunteer soldiers to attack a peaceful settlement of Cheyenne and Arapaho in Colorado? Sand Creek Massacre uncovers the history 150 years later. The documentary provides an in-depth look at the story’s villains and heroes through moving oral histories shared by 22 Sand Creek descendants, an interview with David. F. Halass, a Northern Cheyenne Consultant and Colorado Chief Historian, and archival photos and letters.

1pm Growing Native: Growing Native Oklahoma: Red People
Oklahoma is home to 39 federally recognized tribes. Nowhere in North America will you find such diversity among Native Peoples nor a more tragic history. Host Moses Brings Plenty (of the Oglala Lakota) guides this episode of Growing Native, on a journey to Oklahoma’s past and present. What he discovers among the many faces of Oklahoma culture is the determination, values, and respect that tribes have brought to this land, once called Indian Territory.

5pm America Reframed: Daughter of a Lost Bird
Kendra, an adult Native adoptee, reconnects with her birth family, discovers her Lummi heritage, and confronts issues of her own identity. Her singular story echoes many affected by U.S. policy towards Indigenous people.

6:30pm The First Official Thanksgiving
The First Official Thanksgiving tells the story of what some historians call the first “official, English-speaking” Thanksgiving held in the Americas. Under Captain John Woodlief’s command, the ship Margaret left England and reached the New World on the banks of Virginia. A charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a “day of thanksgiving” to God for their safe passage to the New World. Through re-enactment and interviews from Chickahominy Tribe members, historians, and Woodlief’s descendant, Graham Woodlief, The First Official Thanksgiving challenges long-held beliefs of America’s first Thanksgiving.

Sat 11/25
4pm Time Has Many Voices
Time Has Many Voices is the untold story of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. Decimated by Spanish colonizers in the late 1700s, an Ohlone village is rediscovered through cutting edge archaeology, revealing surprising details about their ways of life. Now, modern day members of the Muwekma Ohlone are honoring their past with these findings, laying claim to their existence, and paving the way for their future.