Following in My Cherokee Great-Grandfather’s Footsteps

I Work With Tribes Across the Country to Honor Our Ancestors—And Ensure Our Survival

I started working in repatriation efforts before I even knew what the term meant.

But repatriation—bringing our ancestors home—is in my blood. I grew up in a Cherokee community in Chewey, Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Ozarks. Sometimes I’ve wondered how my extended family could be as fortunate as we were, remaining isolated from the nearby towns, with a river running in front of us and a small creek behind. My relatives would tell me how much it was like our ancestors’ original home in the East, with mountainous terrain, …

Fossilized human footprints.

No, Ancient Egyptians Did Not Build a City in the Grand Canyon

Science Refutes Racist, Made-for-TV ‘Alternative Histories’ of Indigenous Americans

The histories of Indigenous peoples of the Americas are fascinating. Looking at the spectacular buildings of Machu Picchu, the walrus ivory carvings of the Canadian Arctic, and the effigy stone …

The Slideshow That Kept Oil Drills Out of the Arctic National Refuge

The Last Great Wilderness Helped Earn a Grassroots Victory for Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice

The story seems impossible to believe: A low-budget traveling slideshow kept oil drills out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But Indigenous leaders from the Arctic, environmental advocates on Capitol …

Surfing the Tides of History in Northern Chumash Land | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Surfing the Tides of History in Northern Chumash Land

White Men Have Long Dominated the Sport I Love—But the Status Quo Isn’t Set in Stone

For health reasons I have to stay out of the water for the next couple weeks so I am dreaming about surfing, thinking about surfing, writing about surfing, doing everything …

When Alaskan and Russian Native People Thawed the Cold War’s ‘Ice Curtain’

Citizen-Diplomats on Both Sides of the Bering Strait Eased U.S.-Soviet Relations—and Could Help Confront Climate Change

As the Russian city of Provideniya’s deteriorating concrete buildings came into view below, Darlene Pungowiyi Orr felt uneasy. So did the other 81 passengers landing in that isolated far-eastern Soviet …