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The Heard Museum for American Indian Art and History in Phoenix, Arizona, premiered its first Virtual Hoop Dance Contest Feb. 13, via YouTube and Facebook. The contest included video submissions from 80 competitors from 40 tribes, who competed for $2,500 in the youth, teen, adult, and senior divisions.
Hoop dancing is a popular Native American tradition originally meant for healing ceremonies. This year s competition was unlike any other though, due to the virtual format put in place out of caution for COVID-19.
Dennis Bowen of the Seneca Nation was the master of ceremonies for the event.
“We ve danced when it was starting to rain, we ve danced when it was a very hot day, we ve danced when there is a still of cold wind coming from the north,” Bowen said. “What we have seen was the development of world-class hoop dancing.”
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Ahead of the kickoff for Super Bowl LV on Sunday, a local group staged a protest at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Raymond James Stadium to urge the team to ditch the Kansas City Chiefs mascot out of respect for Native Americans.
The St. Petersburg-based Florida Indigenous Rights and Environmental Equality, or FIREE, gathered at the stadium at 4 p.m. E.S.T. The details were released shortly before the game on a Facebook page the group created for the event, which is called “WHERE IS THE HONOR?”
“As we move through the 21st century it is time America began to respect the Indigenous Peoples. No other group of human beings suffers the weekly indignity of both racial and spiritual stereotypes trivializing and degrading their culture in a circus-like atmosphere. No other groups are racially trivialized into a mascot,” the group said.
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For the first time in 83 years, a Native American illustrator has won a Caldecott Medal. Michaela Goade of Sitka, Alaska’s Raven/Frog Clan collected the award for her illustrations in the picture book, “We are Water Protectors.”
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It’s awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
“It s a great honor to be the first Indigenous artist to win this award, but I am of course standing on many shoulders,” Goade told CNN. “I think it s important to acknowledge and reflect on the significance of being the first in 2021, while also looking towards the future with much hope. I won t be the last! It brings me so much joy to think about Indigenous youth who will see themselves in this recognition and know that their stories are powe
How Many Native American Tribes Are There?
How Many Native American Tribes Are There?
Posted By Baley Champagne January 11th, 2021 Last Updated on: April 5th, 2021
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Across the United States, hundreds of Native American tribes continue their traditional lifeways to sustain their inherent sovereignty.
Today s Native American tribes descend from the original inhabitants of North America who have been making history for more than 20,000 years.
In early American history, tribes were forcibly removed from their lands and onto reservations so the U.S. Indian Agents could control and eventually exterminate them. From there, treaties formed, but not with honest intentions. In the last 180 years, most federally recognized tribes have survived on reservations. Some tribes escaped removal and distanced themselves from encroaching foreigners and their beliefs.