Learning about Indigenous Peoples

  Repost from When I Was 69 blog, dated 10/16/2021

This is how I imagined my ancestors when I was a kid from Texas, growing up in St. Louise, Missouri. I listened to radios and then watched on early TV's the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, and Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Indigenous was not a name in my vocabulary, though Cowboy and Indian was.

Hunkpapa Lakota chief Sitting Bull and family, 1882.

The teepees in various movies were similar, but I didn't see the starving Native Americans, nor their children torn from families and sent to boarding schools. I only saw the hero cowboys and their lives. 

So this last Monday was Indigenous People's Day in many communities around the USA. The Italian descendants all celebrated the old Columbus Day still. I noticed lots of FaceBook posts about Native Americans, and wonder if that's just because of my own interest. My Italian friends may have missed seeing all those posts!

Balanced Rock in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, 1928.

As a tourist in 2005, I visited this park, and many of the features are still the same. They probably were the same before any western Europeans appeared on the scene, i.e. Spanish and then English explorers. I wonder how the Indigenous peoples thought about these incredible formations.

I camped in Bryce Canyon in the 1970s with my 2 older sons...a beautiful experience of nature!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week, where we post some old photos and stories of our own interests!

Photo Paiute Tribal Member Jeremy, Credit Arch Deac Design LLP, shared on FB

Charlie Bulletts,  Kaibab Band of Paiutes at Bryce Canyon.

"I'd like visitors that come to Bryce Canyon to know that Southern Paiutes are still here.

"We're not 'these people,' 'these people once lived here,' 'these people once thrived,' 'these people survived in a harsh environment.' Those types of statements, to me, are not true because it's who I am, and I am still here, we are still here."

-Charley Bulletts

"Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, as well as a commitment to their inherent tribal sovereignty. It is also a day for the celebration of native culture and cultural understanding through cross-cultural teachings.

"We invite you to learn more about Bryce Canyon's indigenous peoples, their stories, and tribal elder perspectives at: https://www.nps.gov/.../history.../americanindianhistory.htm"

From Bryce Canyon National Park

And another article shared on FB...

Columbus Statue to be removed...(from Mexico City)

 "Now, reports Johnny Diaz for the New York Times, a sculpture of an Indigenous woman is set to replace the controversial explorer’s likeness."

"A pedestal in the center of Mexico City that once hosted a statue of Christopher Columbus has stood empty since last October."

A 1909 photograph of the Christopher Columbus statue

"Columbus’ gesture refers to an outdated history that casts the explorer as the “discoverer” of the Americas. In truth, Columbus ventured to the Caribbean in 1492 and met the Taíno people—one of many civilizations that had been living across North America for tens of thousands of years. The explorer enslaved and killed thousands of Indigenous people; his actions paved the way for European colonization of the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade.

"For now, reports the Times, the Columbus statue will be relocated to Parque América, in Mexico City’s wealthy Polanco neighborhood."

From: Smithsonian Magazine