♪ >> the pueblo is a tribal nation that exists here in new mexico. because very distinct we live on our aboriginal property and we have maintained our sovereignty as a tribal nation for centuries, beginning with the first europeans who came in this area, the spanish, they recognized tribe sovereignty all the way through mexico, taking over from spain in this area and then the united and all ofng over the foreign governments have recognized the tribal nations. the region name of the pueblo is -- which is water drink in place. us being at the low part of the valley, there is a lot of natural springs and the rivers run through here. our pueblo is the pojoaque water because of the quality. we have approximately 13,000 acres. the pojoaque pueblo is known for its traditional architecture. what is given to us by our ancestors and handed down through generations, these traditional building techniques with mud bricks. we have carried that all the way to our most major development, which is a $300 million destination resort that looks like it is built with adobe. we have carried our identity and culture into contemporary times. that is part of what makes us unique. the traditions are being carried into the future. today is an important day because we celebrate the new year and we also celebrate our sovereignty. president lincoln in 1862 gave the pueblos sovereignty. that was important that the current foreign government, the united states, recognizes tribal sovereignty. it makes for good relations in identity,our cultural which is unique in the country, and also important for moving withrd because we live non-native people in this area. the governor of new mexico, in spain, in a came from the 1600s, the king of spain gave the pueblo the cane. and recently spain also gave the to recognizer cane is sovereignty. these canes are held by the governor, the leader of the pueblo, in his house. they are also referred to as canes of authority. electsvernor the tribe is responsible for holding onto the cane and passing it on to the next governor. today we had the eagle dance. that eagle dance is important to many tribes across the country. we celebrate it with a unique dance. the eagle is an important part of the ceremony. it is looked at as power and the feathers are in almost every ceremonial outfit we have. ceremony, wef the have the dances and all of the tribal members come to bless the cane and bless me and bless themselves. all of the people were tribal officials, and the next was a lieutenant governor and then the tribal secretary and treasurer. those are the four elected officials. all of the officials of the byoaque pueblo are elected the general population, males and females over 18 years of age. it is very hand to hand campaigning because we are such a small population. of each other and visit each other either at work or on the phone and talk to each other about what is going on in the pueblo and was the goals are for the future. the relations with the state and the federal government are essential to the pueblo. ,ll of the laws that implement that are implemented on the state level and federal level, it is important to keep up with that as well as the collaboration we are going to do together to benefit the people in whatever ways it is, whether it is through social programs or or just development, enforcement of general laws. it is important we are in communication with each other. a big impact on communities in northern new mexico. as a result, you have different addiction to drugs and substance abuse, and so the only way to really get communities out of that is to have some kind of into andty to move look forward to. what we have done is tried to say the most important things for us are the education and employment. that is where we focus. we have seen a huge turnaround in the few short years, offering people a better life. it is an ongoing challenge, but it is something that works. we have seen a huge turnaround. we have gone to almost 100% graduation rate with our tribal members coming out of high school. we spend about a million dollars on our scholarships, going from kindergarten through phd level. we do try to encourage all of our members to be traditional and also to be caught up with contemporary times and with their education and doing well for themselves. them as artant for to practice their traditional songs, their traditional ceremonies. but then also to advance in some ofin life the contemporary ways they will need to survive. are veryur youth excited about who they are as pueblo people. they are also out there getting a great education. of theblo area is one most beautiful places in the world. if the landscape speaks to you every day, the clouds, and when you look at native art and symbolism, you see the landscape and the clouds always communicating messages. and so when people come from other places, that is what they see, they see the landscape and they see the people and the integration of the culture and everything into how people portray this area. starting with the architecture and the native people all the way to contemporary times. of the peopleook and events of native american history is part of c-span's city store where we travel across the country highlighting the history of each city we visited. you can see more from the city store on our website. c-span visited fort mims to hear from an author about the 1813 fort mims massacre. went on tocks massacre settlers in the area. park.are at fort mims it is a little park in alabama and this is the location of a major battle between americans and indians in 1813. the fort was full of all kinds of folks taking shelter from an impending attack here at including indians that were allied with the americans, local settlers,