News — Yakama Nation

You can still hear Louis Mann sing from 110 years ago. He recorded these songs with Edward S. Curtis. Hundreds of wax cylinders from numerous tribes are still around.

We will cover:

• The reaction of a grandson about his grandfather singing
• Support to digitize the songs and preserve them from a fragile state
• Ongoing questions regarding sharing songs
• Passing my history class, I get a flashback

As Natives face a wide range of topics, we look at examples in our past. What is in history to help center these discussions?

Three Yakama elders talk about their grandfather, Louis Mann. In the first part of this series, we focus on fishing rights and a mountain.

In the late 1860s-1920s, tribes were being asked to sign papers they could not read. Louis Mann could read, write and speak English. His letters are substantial. In helping the Yakama people interpret policy presented by the government, he advocated for the treaty rights. 

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are receiving more awareness, more data collection, more mainstream media coverage and some state and federal elected officials calling for solutions to address this issue.      

There are elders we look to for their good words and lessons. A Yakama elder breaks her silence on a 1850s historical account and her own personal story of facing predatory behavior.

Phyllis LittleBull is 78-years-old.

How do we support Native women? There are people in different places and positions doing a lot of work.

Sometimes, it's community organizers marching, handing out t-shirts. Sometimes, it's professionals advocating for Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization, which expires at the end of next month, September 30, 2018. 

For so many of us, this is a tough subject to visit. Part of the reason, I call this a lifestyle blog is because of the statistics Native Women face. Statistically speaking, it's tough to just live as a Native woman without dehumanization, harassment, and violence. We need support.  

How do Native Languages include a database of knowledge in one word? The oral history and legends are powerful records to learn and share. The easiest example is to think of a name. This name connects to what you know about the person, but it certainly builds over time. In the process of speaking and teaching Native languages, it is important to pause and acknowledge the database that exists within one word.   For the people who grew up hearing and speaking the language, this is inherent knowledge. For people speaking or teaching one or two words at a time, on the pathway...