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Monday, May 31, 2004

Native American Veterans Honored Today

May 31, 2004
In the States

Native American Veterans Honored Today Run Date: 05/26/03 By Peggy Simpson
WeNews correspondent

Native American women who served in the military will be honored for the first time this Memorial Day at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial.

Lori Piestewa

ARLINGTON, Virginia (WOMENSENEWS)--Lori Piestewa, an Army specialist killed in the Iraq war, has already been given an emotional funeral ceremony from her Hopi tribe in Arizona. But today, Memorial Day, she will be honored at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial here at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery.

Piestewa, a Tuba City, Ariz. native, was one of eight soldiers with the 507th Maintenance Unit ambushed near Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23. Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor will be paying tribute to her, along with one of the highest ranking Native American women serving today, Brig. Gen. LaRita Aragon of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, who is Cherokee and Choctaw.

In addition to a color guard comprised of Native Americans from across the country, the Cedartree Singers, headed by a Washington-based Cherokee, will sing, with drums. Several Native American tribes will present eagle feathers to the Piestewa family. And the memorial to Piestewa and other Native American women in the military will be blessed in a "smudgeon ceremony" by a Saginaw Chippewa reservation pipe carrier.

The Women in Military Service for America Memorial opened in 1997 on 4.2 acres of National Park Service land at the ceremonial entrance to the country's most famous soldier's graveyard, facing the Arlington Memorial Bridge, the Lincoln Memorial and the memorials to those who died in Vietnam and Korean wars. An existing 33,000 square-foot building was retrofitted for the memorial, which aims to honor the women who have served in the past 220 years and to find out more about them. The Women's Memorial Foundation is collecting artifacts from women in the military and conducting oral history interviews with surviving veterans, to dramatize the saga of women's effort to gain military rank.

Exhibit Underway when Piestewa Died

Preparations for an exhibit of Native American women in the military were well underway at the time Piestewa was killed. With the help of the TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a military health care contractor based in Phoenix, Ariz., the current exhibition was completed--and broadened to include the special tribute to Piestewa.

A uniform belonging to Piestewa will be on display in the exhibit opening on Memorial Day, "Voices: Native American Women in the U.S. Armed Forces."

This is a first-time effort. No similar exhibit has been mounted. And very little is known about Native American military women. Those featured were chosen partly to show their diverse cultural backgrounds: Some grew up on reservations; others were totally removed from that culture until adulthood; still others had footholds in both worlds.

In addition to Piestewa and Aragon, others honored are: Lieutenant Colonel Brenda Finnicum, a Lumbee national who served three stints in the Army Nurse Corps between 1978 and 2000; Iva Good Voice Flute, an Oglala Sioux, an Air Force senior airman from 1991-95; Minnie Spotted Wolf, a Blackfoot private first class with the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve, 1943-45.

Three other women are included in the exhibit to represent three generations of Pueblo and Jicarilla Apache Nations in the military: Evelyn Koteen Archuleta of Dulce, N.M., a Women's Army Corps private from 1945-46; her daughter, Melinda Archuleta Cain of Espanola, N.M., an Army specialist, 1987-1990; and a granddaughter, Melanie Cain, also of Espanola, who was an Air Force airman from 1993 to 1998.

It is not known how many Native American women have served in the military but the founder of the women's military museum, retired Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, says it could be as high as 10,000, with 2,700 currently on duty.

Native American Women Fought in Revolutionary War

Historians at the museum are discovering that Native American women fought with the U.S. military as far back as the American Revolution. For example, an Oneida woman, Tyonajanegen, fought alongside her U.S. Army officer husband at the battle of Oriskany in New York in 1777. Riding horseback withhim into the battle, she loaded his gun after he was shot in the wrist.

The permanent exhibits include photos and a cane used by Dr. Mary Walker, an Ohio surgeon with the Union Army who was captured by Confederate forces in 1864 and held four months at a Virginia prison. She is the only woman to have won a Congressional Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service.

Women formally became part of the U.S. military early last century with the creation of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901 and the Navy Nurse Corps in 1908. During World War I, more than 35,500 women served in war zones, and 422 lost their lives doing so. During World War II, 450,000 women served in the war zones and 470 died, 21 of them killed in action. During the Korean War, 1,000 women were deployed, 16 died, although none in action. In Vietnam, 10,000 women were deployed and eight died, one in action.

A decade ago, in Desert Storm, 41,000 women were deployed. Sixteen died, including Major Marie Rossi, who met her death while piloting a helicopter that was shot down.

An Air Force woman was killed in the 1998 embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya; two navy women died on the U.S.S. Cole in the October 2000 attack in Yemen; and eight military women died on duty at the Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2001. This March, Air Force Lt. Tamara Long Archuleta died in Afghanistan when her helicopter crashed during a rescue mission en route to take injured Afghan children to medical care.

How many women served in the Iraq war still isn't clear, says Vaught, but it definitely would be more than those in Desert Storm. And this war has disproved skeptics who questioned whether women had the right stuff to serve in combat.

After Desert Storm, the military lifted most restrictions on occupations open to women. A decade ago, women "were flying tankers, helicopters and cargo aircraft. This time, they were flying combat aircraft as well--both fighters and bombers," Vaught said. "More women were performing combat support duties than in 1990-91 and so more ended up in harm's way."

"Lessons learned" reviews are still underway at the Pentagon, but Vaught says women now are integrated into all aspects of the military, including 151,818 of them in the reserves. "We're at the 'no turning back point.'"

It's not just the renowned remark by POW Jessica Lynch, whose first words when rescued was that she was an Army soldier.

There are also the exploits of fighter pilot Kim Campbell Casey, whose nickname is "Killer Chick." When her A-10 aircraft was shot up on a mission in Iraq, she defied the odds and navigated it back to a safe landing.

"I talked to the chief of staff of the Air Force and he said that what she had done was just awesome," Vaught said. "She had only had 300 hours in that plane but she had spent hours on hours at the simulators, preparing for all the things that could go wrong. Just like what happened."

Peggy Simpson is a veteran reporter recently returned to Washington after a decade in Central-Eastern Europe.

Native American Women with Military Service:
http://www.nativewomenveterans.org/

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Featured at Native American Art

Buffaloberries in Autumn Buffaloberries in Autumn Harriet Peck Taylor PrintsAuthor/Artist Harriet Peck Taylor

"Harriet Peck Taylor's vibrant and luminous colors pulse with effervescent joy. With simple lines and subtle shading, she takes viewers on a magical, mythical journey across quiet deserts and up to moonlit mountains. "My work reflects a playful approach to the natural world. Bears dance under a starry sky and fish may fly. The animals and birds in my landscape call out to the child that is in all of us." Peck Taylor works in batik, an ancient Indonesian process of painting with liquid wax and dyes on fabric. Her original art is in numerous public and private collections. She is author and illustrator of four children's picture books. A graduate of the University of Colorado, she lives in Boulder, Colorado where she finds inspiration for her work." --Boulder Art Tile

Harriet Peck Taylor also has a line of children's books and t-shirts.

Saturday, May 29, 2004

Black Arrow

Black Arrow Indian Art

Featuring Cindy Jo Southwestern Decor

Our Featured Artists

Cindy Jo

Unique Southwestern Decor Wall Hangings - Dancers, Warriors, and Spirit Masks, Cowboys


Cindy Jo, Native American Artist


 Cindy Jo, Native American Artist
Renown Artist

Cindy Jo is part Cherokee Indian and has honored the pride of her heritage through her work as well as her life.  She is known Internationally for her artwork. She has been creating Native American style art since childhood and is partial to the life of the warrior who conquers adversity with pride and honor.

Cindy Jo not only admires the Indians, but feels we owe them a tremendous debt.  White Fang, Dancer- Special Edition, by Cindy JoThey gave us romance, legends, myths, as well as a history. They shaped the character of our entire nation. Their bravery, spirituality and devotion to family, tribe and the Creator are a constant inspiration to her. She has been said to be the "Rolls Royce" of Native American style artists and anyone who owns a piece of her art is sure to agree.

Each Cindy Jo product is entirely original and the demand for Cindy Jo's stunning and beautiful creations only increases with time due to her on-going creativity and her demand for absolute quality.  Each piece proudly bares her signature.Coyote Dancer- Special Edition, by Cindy Jo

Cindy Jo carefully creates each piece totally by hand, from sculpturing the clay, to painting, feathering and traditional beading. She uses the most natural materials, custom creating her own recipe for the clay of Mother Earth.  She recreates the powerful and vivid colors of nature, as well as the most elemental materials that Mother Earth has provided for her people for many years.  Her lifetime research along with her own unique ideas lead her on to represent, promote, preserve, and protect a time and a people whose heritage fulfills a vast part of the circle of life.   

Odell Borg

Native American Indian Flutes - Cedar and Maple woods with decorative carvings and turquoise inlays

Andrew Begay

Native American Flutes - Feather Collection

Ray Tracey

Native American Indian Jewelry (Ray Tracy Jewelry)  

Joe and Angie

Lakota War Shirt and Warrior Apparel, including Leggings, Tomahawk, Quirt, and Headdress

Lonny and Michelle Cloud

Bone Feather Jewelry - Hand carved Pins, Earrings and Necklaces

Featuring Cindy Jo  Southwestern Art


Arizona's
Largest Collection
of
Native American Indian Jewelry
Sacred Buffalo Turquoise Jewelry
"Sacred Buffalo" Turquoise forms where
 there are no heavy metals present, which
turns out to be a very rare occurrence. 
"Sacred Buffalo" Turquoise Story

Friday, May 28, 2004

Pottery








fig. 1: Kiva-step vase, 1993.
by Jean Bad Moccasin, polychrome; 10.5"x11.25" dia.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Freeman. Photo by Craig Smith.


Susan Peterson
Essay
· Statement · Biography · Bibliography

POTTERY BY AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN
The Legacy of Generations: the Avant-Garde
© Susan Peterson, 1998

I Introduction
· II History · III Avant-Garde · IV Gallery

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Swallowtail Gallery

link

 

                               

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Some New Mexico Events


Native American Events

You'll find the culture and the traditions of our Native American tribes alive and well in New Mexico. The famed Indian Market in August, the Pow Wows, the arts and crafts, the feasts, and the dances celebrated in the Pueblos and on the Reservations year-round continually restore and deepen the Native American heritage. Their ancestors would be proud.

Annual All Children's Pow
Friday, October 1st 2004
Albuquerque -

Tesuque Pueblo San Diego Feast Day

Friday, November 12th 2004
Tesuque -

Guadalupe Feast Day

Sunday, December 12th 2004
Pojoaque -

Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial

Friday, August 6th - Sunday, August 8th 2004
Gallup -

Artist:Susan Bankey Yoder

Cottontail Spring
Cottontail Rabbits

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

More on Trail Of Tears ( repeat)

  Trail Of Tears A Georgia soldier who took part in the removal wrote, "I fought through the War Between the States and have seen many men shot, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work i ever knew"

 ( Well Angel Fire, that is ok! Others have the very same items and do share, to feature their site and work.But do you take your free members Art from them to claim as your own? Just a thought!)

"We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that the Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth...it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood... we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear."

Charles Hicks, Tsalagi (Cherokee) Vice Chief on the Trail of Tears, August 4, 1838

"Feast of the Flowering Moon"

Calendar Event: "Feast of the Flowering Moon"

Event Date: 28/05/2004
End Date: 30/05/2004
Event Description:
May 28-30: Feast of the Flowering Moon
Location: Yoctangee Park, Downtown Chillicothe, Chillicothe, OH 45601
Event Detail: This is a three day event involving the entire city of Chillicothe. Come and enjoy Native American Music, Dancing, Food, Arts & Crafts, Story Telling, Educational Demonstrations and much more. Three Drums: Mingo River, SouthEastern WaterSpider and Souther Singers. Special Guest: Douglas BlueFeather, 2002 & 2003 NAMMY Winner. Joseph FireCorw, 2003 NAMMY Winner. Native Violinst Arvel Bird of Singing Wolf Records.
Contact: Gregg Downing
phone: 614-882-4957
email: sciotowhitewolf@aol.com




Posted by Waya on 05/25/2004 and approved by Deseroka.

"Southern BearDance Contest Powwow"

Calendar Event: "Southern BearDance Contest Powwow"

Event Date: 28/05/2004
End Date: 29/05/2004
Event Description:
May 28-29: 2004 Southern BearDance Contest Powwow
Location: Sky Ute Casino Pavilion, Southern Ute Reservation, Ignacio, CO 81137
Event Detail: Drum & Dance Contests. Specials: Friday Night - Womens Jingle & Fancy Shawl, Saturday Night - Mens Fancy & Mens Grass Dance.
Contact: Lark M. Goodtracks
phone: 970-563-0100
email: lgoodtracks@frontier.net



Posted by Waya on 05/25/2004 and approved by Deseroka.

Lakesfest 2004

Calendar Event: "Lakesfest 2004"

Event Date: 26/06/2004
Event Description:
http://www.ndnpromoter.com/id4.html
Water is LIFE within the sacred circle. Come and learn how to conserve our lakes and their shores, and the beautiful environment of the northwoods of Wisconsin (and everywhere else...)!!!!!

Lakesfest 2004. SATURDAY, June 26th, 2004: a day of live entertainment featuring the amazing music of Clint Miller and Wade Fernandez, environmental displays, discussions, carnival rides, canoe races, and much more. Admission is FREE. Public invited and encourged to attend. Free hotdogs and drinks also available.



Posted by Anonymous on 05/03/2004 and approved by Deseroka.

6th anual Pow Wow (delgrossos amusement park)"

Calendar Event: "6th anual Pow Wow (delgrossos amusement park)"

Event Date: 17/07/2004
End Date: 18/07/2004
Event Description:
The 6th anual traditional native american pow wow will be held July 17th and 18th at Delgrosso's amusement park.
Tipton, PA

Address:
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park
Old Route 220, Tipton, PA 16684


Phone: 1-814-684-3538

Fax: 1-814-684-9820

Email: summerfun@delgrossos.com



Posted by Waya on 04/14/2004 and approved by Deseroka.

Across America

Calendar Event: "Across America"

Event Date: 06/08/2004
End Date: 07/08/2004
Event Description:
Across America is a festival that is organised by the Studycenter of American Indians (SAI) and that will take place in Wilrijk (Antwerp-Belgium).
We've invited several Native American artists who will come and perform or do demonstrations and workshops.
This year is our second edition and we hope to make it bigger and better every year.
More info will be put on http://groups.msn.com/SAI-Belgium very soon



Posted by chief_joseph on 01/19/2004 and approved by Deseroka.

Artist:Susan Bankey Yoder (repeat)


Tree Top Bandit

Thank you for your comments & concern!

In tornado my 8.0 connection was wiped out! Yes, the Springfield, MO USA area AOL phone connections were wiped out for 8.0!!!!! So I was, I am, but I am not :):):):):) but I am here as a guest of AOL who still remembers sort of that I was):):):) Modern computer Shakespeare):):):)

The tornado came to the edge of where I was, it was traveling at 15 miles per hour, it then suddenly stopped and stood still a bit.......slowly started backing away, then picked up speed to 35 miles an hour still backing off and  headed to the lakes by Branson. WOW, that was close! But it still did its strange workings on our systems here.

Thanks for your replies, concerns and thoughts!! Ann

Saturday, May 22, 2004

A Young NA side of the story of his tribe Passamaquoddy/Penobscot. 

 By John Bear Mitchell Photo of John Bear Mitchell




he oral tradition of my people parallels the European documented history of the time: It has been told that Passamaquoddy and Penobscot relationships with the English existed as a mutual relationship from 1624 to 1630. Before 1624, my tribe had experienced sickness and disease, through exposure to unfamiliar European viruses, which destroyed 75% of my people. After 1630, we entered an era of war with the English. The year 1628 was a time of hope and temporary peace. Being part of a project that brought us back to the ideas and attitudes of that time was exciting. I had looked at a lot of documentation via English journals and trade books. These primary resources foretold a future of uneasiness.

I worked with the COLONIAL HOUSE production team in two capacities. First, I was a researcher and consultant to the series from the native perspective. I was also an active participant as a tribal member who interacted with the colonists. The producers worked with people from three tribes -- the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Wampanoag -- who have for thousands of years occupied what we now call New England. The production team wanted to show the interactions between the English and the tribes, as they would have historically been. I come from a tribe that maintains its connections with the land and still "owns" many of our traditional territories. I had to interact with the colonists on two levels. First, I was interacting by conducting business in trade. Secondly, I was interacting on a human level -- the colonists became my friends.

It is my hope that we Passamaquoddy/Penobscot show the audience the relationship between an English colony and native tribes of my area. We never tried to change the history, but instead show how we actually worked together. Although some natives have differing viewpoints, it was important to show the humanness in our interactions and my tribal people as a very hospitable people.

I could never have predicted my feelings, emotions, and attitudes by the end of this project. I was hoping that by the conclusion, I would have experienced what my ancestors had experienced and come to know a little more of what it was that my people were trying to accomplish in developing these relationships. In the end, I made real friends with the colonists and gained an understanding of hope and promise for my people.

1628 Across the Continent What was happening throughout North America in the 17th century? Learn about the different regions of the New World.

The Alguonquians, who numbered 24,000 in 1607, were reduced by disease

PBS HomePicture of the colony   Interactive History   Interactive History  

Interactive History Feature: 1628 Across the Continent
Northeast Southeast Plains & Mountains Southwest West Coast Caribbean Islands 
Drawing of de Soto
A rendering of Hernando de Soto's "discovery" of the Mississippi River in 1541. During the 16th century Spanish, French, and English mariners had explored various regions of what is today the southeastern United States, with the Spanish and English establishing permanent settlements by the year 1628. The Spanish had traversed present-day Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and east Texas in search of gold and silver during first half of the 16th century. In the 1550s, their French enemies were responsible for pirating half of the treasures being shipped by the Spanish from Mexico to the New World. Thus, when the French established a small base named Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River, a Spanish expedition led by the naval officer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles responded quickly; 500 Spanish soldiers surprised and killed most of the French at their fort. After destroying the French forces, Menendez and his men entered the native Timucuan village of Seloy, which they fortified and renamed San Agustín (St. Augustine). The Spanish were assured control of the region, and in 1565 San Agustín became the first permanent European settlement in North America.

Photo of men on Mississippi
Photo of men working on the Mississippi River in 1882. However, San Agustín was never a prosperous settlement, so the Spanish replaced their military tactics with the mission system in an effort to make Hispanics out of the natives. During the 1590s and early 1600s, several missions were established along the Atlantic coast north of San Agustín into what is today Georgia, north-central Florida, and to the west in the Florida panhandle above the Gulf Coast. At the peak of the mission system in 1675, 40 friars ministered to 20,000 native converts in 36 churches.

Ignored by the Spanish and French, the mid-Atlantic seaboard was claimed by the English, who called the entire region between Florida and the northeast "Virginia." After trying unsuccessfully to establish colonies there in the 1580s, the English tried again in 1607, establishing the Jamestown settlement on the James River. Inadequately prepared for the undertaking of frontier life, less than half of the initial settlers survived that first winter, and in subsequent years -- between famine, disease, and sporadic attacks from the local Algonquian natives -- the colony's demise seemed imminent. But the town held fast, becoming the first permanent English settlement in North America.

In 1616, English planters learned how to raise tobacco and great changes came to the Virginia colony. Tobacco production surged from 200,000 pounds in 1624 to 3,000,000 in 1638, and the Chesapeake outstripped the West Indies to become the leading supplier of tobacco to Europe. This stimulated the population growth of emigrants from England to Virginia, from 350 colonists in 1616 to 13,000 by 1650.

Native Virginians suffered a drastically different fate. The Alguonquians, who numbered 24,000 in 1607, were reduced by disease and war to only 2,000 by 1609. Other Indian people remained numerous outside of the Virginia colony, particularly the Susquehannock, an Iroquoian people, north of the Potomac. But the disastrous pattern of European contact devastating the native inhabitants continued throughout the southeast region. By 1600 the native Mississippian population had collapsed to a small fraction of its formernumbers; by 1700, most of the regions larger chiefdoms had collapsed, with the exception of the Natchez people of the lower Mississippi River. The remaining smaller and less powerful native tribes regrouped; the refugees formed new composite confederations that we know today as the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee.

In 1539, Hernando de Soto of Spain landed on Florida, most likely near present-day Tampa Bay. From there, he led an expedition across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Alabama in search of gold and silver. In 1541, De Soto and his crew were most likely the first Europeans to see and cross the Mississippi River. They traveled up the Arkansas River into Oklahoma, but never found the riches they expected. De Soto died on his journey, and was buried in the Mississippi River.

-- Mica McCarthy and John Uhl

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