Native American Science

In this exquisite collection of children’s folktales, Zitkála-Šá shares the legends that were handed down to her through generations of Yankton storytellers. These tales display the wide range of insights and observations that accrue to such stories through repeated iteration, but they also benefit from the sharp ear and finely tuned sensibility of Zitkála-Šá as a writer. Her characters seem to speak to us—often crying out to us—in the same tones that Zitkála-Šá must once have heard.

Charles Eastman is unique among Indian writers, whether storytellers or oral historians. He was raised traditionally, as a Woodland Sioux, by his grandmother, from 1858 to 1874, until he was 15. He thus gained a thorough first-hand knowledge of the lifeways, language, culture, and oral history. His father (thought to have been hanged at Mankato, Minnesota) reappeared and insisted he receive the white man's education.

Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the Southeastern Arizona desert, 15 miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby.

Cherokee people have lived in the Great Smoky Mountains for thousands of years. During all this time, they have told stories to each other to explain how things came to be, to pass on lessons about life, and to describe the mountains, animals, plants, and spirits around them. The Origin of the Milky Way and Other Living Stories of the Cherokee collects 26 stories that are great for kids and are still being told by storytellers today.

It has often been said that the greatest invention of all time was the sail, which facilitated the internationalization of the globe and thus, ushered in the modern era. Columbus’ contact with the New World, alongside European maritime contact with the Far East, transformed human history, and, in particular, the history of Africa.

In 1673 the first European explorers to travel down the Mississippi River spot on the high, sheer bluffs the painting of a huge, winged monster. Where does it come from? Why did somebody take the trouble and risk to paint it on the bluff face? The Indians told them the terrifying story of a man-eating, dragon-like creature, and the brave chief who killed it.

Insightful, telling, ironic, and moving, 14 Native-American legends reflect a nomadic non-property-owning culture, with a reverence for all things natural.

A short listen that packs some powerful magic. When Billy Proudfoot and Terry Blackbird return to the reservation for the funeral of a beloved friend, they are shocked to find themselves alone at the funeral home. When their friend rises from his casket, they make tracks to the only man they know who can help them, Odd Whitefeather. The old man explains that a Windigo is on the loose and that the two of them must defeat it, or die trying.

In the 13th century, Moundville was one of the largest Native American settlements north of Mexico. Spread over 325 acres were 29 earthen mounds arranged around a great plaza, a mile-long stockade, and dozens of dwellings for thousands of people. Moundville, in size and complexity second only to the Cahokia site in Illinois, was a heavily populated town as well as a political and religious center. Moundville was sustained by tribute of food and labor provided by the people who lived in the nearby floodplain as well as other smaller mound centers.

In Cherokee myth - as in other indigenous American traditions - the whole of creation is alive and able to communicate like humans and with the human beings who share their environment. Cherokee myths explain how the world came to be the way it is and imparts important lessons about Cherokee cultural values.

La palabra muisca, significa en lenguaje nativo persona o gente. Y según muy serias investigaciones los nativos muiscas parecen descendientes de los chinos que poblaron la América Central, y de ahí sin duda pasaron a Panamá, territorio que antes pertenecía a Colombia, Perú, Ecuador y otros lugares. Sí, a los “Chibchas” o “Muiscas” los hacen descendientes de los chinos, por cuanto el legisla cultural y legendaria, cuna a la vez de los primeros inventos y de una gran civilización. De la misma manera se afirma que los fenicios también se establecieron en América.

There is another Native America a place that has always existed in the hearts and minds of the first Peoples. Travel with Sawyer Thomas from his reservation home through the realm of..."what if..."and visit a new land as it could be.

Xeechagillapxtuurii jumps into the raging current to be carried downstream in search of his vision. He finds his vision, including the one he is looking for. But this world is totally foreign to him. Nobody understands him. Somehow he must gain her trust and communicate with them. Somehow he must get her to want to come back to his world to help him save it. Sylvia is a college student. When she sees a hippie being driven towards her truck, she responds as she always does when she sees someone in need - she opens the door and pull some blankets from the back for him to wrap up in.

The Cherokees might be the most famous tribe in the country. If so, the person most responsible for it is Sequoyah, whose invention of the Cherokee syllabary also played a prominent role in facilitating the assimilation between the Cherokee and Americans. Sequoyah began work on devising the writing and reading system around 1809, and it was instantly popular among Cherokees, to the extent that it was being used in written publications among the tribe by the 1820s. The syllabary has been in use ever since, both within the tribe and among outsiders.

For centuries, most Native Americans lived in a state of limbo, neither citizen nor foreigner, at times, considered part of "domestic dependent nations," but never really having full rights. It was not until after their efforts in World War I that universal citizenship was given to Native Americans.

Mary Golda Ross designed classified airplanes and spacecraft as Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's first female engineer. This story traces her journey from being the only girl in a high school math class to becoming a teacher to pursuing an engineering degree, joining the top-secret Skunk Works division of Lockheed, and being a mentor for Native Americans and young women interested in engineering. In addition, this story highlights Cherokee values such as working cooperatively, remaining humble, and helping ensure equal opportunity and education for all.

A treasury of imaginative tales including: the Algonquin story of how Glooskap conquered the Great Bull-Frog; "The Meeting of the Wild Animals", a Tsimshian myth; "The Bear Man", a Cherokee legend; and more.

The Olmecs walked the Earth a long time ago, but their marks are still felt these days. In fact, some of the traditions you know may have originated from the Olmecs. Learn about the Olmec civilization, particularly their art and religion, daily lives, and discoveries. Get a copy and encourage your fifth grader to listen beginning today.

This book contains two short stories, inspired by my experiences thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. The first tells of the Ugalu, a Cherokee Nation spirit-beast and how it was instrumental in the creation of the balds in the Southern Appalachians. The second is a tale of Pamola, the Penobscot Nation demon-beast who inhabits the summit of Mount Katahdin, the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail in Maine.

Kushtaka or Kooshdakhaa is a Tlingit word meaning “land otter man.” The Kushtaka is on one hand the nemeses of the Tlingit people, yet necessary to their Shamans who play a critical role in the survival of the Tlingits. The Tlingit people are as mysterious in their beliefs as the Kushtaka, making for strange bedfellows.