Academic Journal Blog M3 - Web Resource

The web resource I selected to describe from Module 3 is the Native American Authors link to an alphabetic listings by author’s name, resource (online or book) title, and tribal affiliation. A message is posted on the homepage stated that the IPL2 consortium of US colleges and universities is now closed permanently, but that the website, hosted by Drexel University, may continue to be used.

I was surprised by the amount of information available on this website. Anyone looking for information about Native American authors would be well served to bookmark this website for future reference. The IPL2 did a terrific job of compiling and organizing this data. However, at some point in the future, as this site is not updated, the data will become incomplete. I hope that some other organization sees the value in this resource, and assumes responsibility for maintaining and providing this information as an online resource.

I decided to test the value of the resource by searching for my voice, Wilma Mankiller. I easily found four online resources about her, and a book reference to “A Chief and Her People” written by her. I know that I could have found these same, and probably thousands more resources, with a simple Google (or some other browser) search, but the ease and simplicity of using this resource should make it very attractive to researchers.

One of the online resources was a speech titled “Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation” given by Mankiller in 1993 at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. I read through her speech and found very interesting that when she became Chief she did not focus on the daunting problems facing the Cherokee, but instead on the strengths of the Cherokee and making use of those strengths to tackle those daunting problems. The strengths she mentioned were: the Cherokee are a tenacious people; the Cherokee paid attention to culture, history and heritage; the Cherokee had great leadership in their communities; and the Cherokee had a great sense of interdependence. From her perspective, these strengths were the foundation for rebuilding the Cherokee Nation.

Module 3 - Indian Affairs.gov

Module 3 Journal Blog – Indian Affairs.gov  

For module 3 I have reviewed the web resource of IndianAffairs.gov, which is the site of the U.S. Department of the Interior/ Indian Affairs. This web source site was created by the Department of the Interior in Washington D.C. The web resource is a very extensive resource that will enable a great amount of research to be done on current as well as past legal topics. This specific page that is listed for module’s 3 online web sources is the frequently asked questions page. This may seem unimportant, but this page is actually an endless resource and starting point for many basic questions that I personally have and many others may also have. One example of a good basic question that I even wanted to the answer to was:

What is a federal Indian reservation?
In the United States there are three types of reserved federal lands:  military, public, and Indian.  A federal Indian reservation is an area of land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with the United States, executive order, or federal statute or administrative action as permanent tribal homelands, and where the federal government holds title to the land in trust on behalf of the tribe (bia.gov/faq)

What perspective do you think it is meant to convey? I think that the web source is trying to convey the perspectives of creating a site that offers the general public quick and easy access to many answers that are often asked but are tough to get a direct answer to. The web source also gives the person looking for information about Native American tribes within the United States the government’s own answers to frequently asked by the public. If a person needs to find an answer to a specific question such as: What are Indian treaty rights?, it should be of great help if one had the ‘government’ answer to that question rather than just an answer that was placed on some random website. This would be of special interest to someone who seeks a reliable resource that could be used for scholarly purposes.

One additional part to this web source is a very interesting and savable map of ‘Indian Lands of Federally Recognized Tribes of the United States’ and this map is available for download in a .pdf format. 

www.bia.gov/FAQs/index.htm

End of Module 2

M2 Online Resource

               The Museum Of The American Indian

             The online resource that I chose to review was The National Museum of TheAmerican Indian. There are 3 locations to this Museum. The 1^st is located in Washington D.C. the 2^nd is in New York City.  The 3^rd is in Suitland Maryland.  The insert from the Web explains the Washington exhibit states “The National Museum of the American Indian houses one of the world’s largest and most diverse collections of its kind. The museum’s sweeping curvilinear architecture, its indigenous landscaping, and its exhibitions, all designed in collaboration with tribes and communities from across the hemisphere, combine to give visitors from around the world the sense and spirit of Native America.”

                The Museum is an active part of the Smithsonian Institute. It contains one of the world’s biggest collection of Native artifacts. The museum was founded by George Gustav Heye and the current director is Kevin Gover. Mr. Gover is part of the Pawnee and Comanche tribes. He became director in December of 2007.

                The Museum has a variety of events for educators and students. These events are spread over the entire year. The Museum offers different workshops for both students and teachers in exciting ways to make the learning fun. There is also a variety of films and media online from the film festival that was held in past years.   

                The Museum sounds like a very interesting place to visit to learn about different Native American tribes. I would like to take my kids to this place someday for not only them to learn but also me.

Photos. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://newsdesk.si.edu/photos/kevin-gover-director-national-museum-american-indian

(n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://nmai.si.edu/

The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum

I wanted to do a post that was related to another post that I had done in the MOD2 discussion posts that was about the Modoc Nation. I found a web resource that had a link to the Modoc Nation and I had just found it. The website is The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. This website at first seams to a bit difficult to navigate but with a little time spent it got easier to navigate. At one point towards the mid left side of the webpage there are links that are listed as: The Center, Support, Experience, and Tribes. The tab for Tribes is where you can find a rather large listing of Tribes but it listed as USA-Oklahoma Tribes. The drop down menu then reveals the list where I had found the Modoc Tribe listed. When I chose the Modoc link it brought up anther small tab that listed the contact person, in this case, it listed it listed Chief Bill Follis and another link that will take you to the Modoc Nation web page (www.modoctribe.net ).

http://www.theamericanindiancenter.org/oklahoma-tribes#

Academic Journal Blog M2 - Web Resource

The web resource I selected to describe from Module 2 is the Museum of the Southeast American Indian located on the University of North Carolina at Pembroke website. I chose this resource because I am currently living in North Carolina and am interested in Native American resources in the state.

1. The Museum of the Southeast American Indian, formerly known as the Native American Resource Center, was created as part of the Southeast American Indian Studies Program at UNC Pembroke to support the University’s ability to address the complex cultural, historical, and contemporary issues facing American Indian communities in North Carolina and the Southeast. The mission of the museum includes five goals. (About Us)

·         to educate and serve the public about the prehistory, history, culture, art and contemporary issues of American Indians, with special emphasis on the Native American communities of Robeson County, of North Carolina and of the American Southeast
·         to conduct scholarly research
·         to collect and preserve the material culture of Native America
·         to encourage American Indian artists and crafts persons
·         to cooperate on a wide range of research and service projects with other institutions and agencies concerned with American Indians

2. This web resource was selected for this course because it represents one of many examples where colleges and universities are leading the way in preserving Indian culture and discussing contemporary Indian issues. Because this web resource is posted on a university’s website I do think this web resource is a quality academic website. “Telling Our Stories: Recollections of Lumbee Indian Teachers” is the current film for visitors to view and provides a really interesting look into the special memories of some teachers of the Lumbee Indian children.

3. Other sections of the web resource provide other films for viewing, answers to frequently asked questions, other links to Native American resources, and a featured artist page.

4. One section of the web resource that I found interesting was on the 1956 Lumbee Act. After reading the actual language of the Act I was puzzled. I could not understand the purpose of the Act. After a few more reading I came to the conclusion that the only purpose of the Act was to formerly designate certain people living in or near Robeson County in North Carolina and based on their last names, as the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina. Nothing else was granted to the Lumbee Nation in this Act. In fact, the Act specifically stated that “Nothing in this Act shall make such Indians eligible for any services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians, and none of the statutes of the United States which affect Indians because of their status as Indians shall be applicable to the Lumbee Indians.” I was surprised at how careful the House of Representatives and Senate were to make sure that the Lumbee Indians were not granted anything that other Indians may have been granted in other statutes with the government. (1956 Lumbee Act)

References:

"About Us." UNC Pembroke Museum of the Southeast American Indian, www.uncp.edu/academics/opportunities-programs-resources/opportunities-programs/museum-southeast-american-indian. Accessed 3 May 2017.

"1956 Lumbee Act." UNC Pembroke Museum of The Southeast American Indian, www.uncp.edu/academics/opportunities-programs-resources/opportunities-programs/museum-southeast-american-indian/faqs-and-links/1956-lumbee-act. Accessed 3 May 2017.

 

Academic Journal Blog M1 - Web Resource

The web resources I’ve selected to describe from Module 1 is the American Indians Biographies A – Z website. This website provides a list of links to individual biographies for many important and well-known American Indians. While this by itself provides a wealth of information on individuals there are two companion websites shown on this page, Indian Battles, Movements, and Events and American Indian Tribes and Cultures which provide a wealth of information on American Indian tribes, their cultures and their histories.

There were 2 links on this website for Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Indian chief. I followed these 2 links to learn more about how the website worked and to learn more about the history of American Indians in New York. The first link to a PBS site was broken. I attempted to search PBS for something on Joseph Brant but was unsuccessful. Knowing that this happens more often that any of us would like, I successfully followed the second link to an Indians.org website where I found a lengthy biography on Brant.

Brant served as a spokesman for the Mohawks, a Christian missionary for the Anglican Church, and a British military officer during our War of Independence with Great Britain. Much detail followed but I was struck by the fact that he was an Indian, a missionary and a soldier. He fought against the colonists because he believed Indians would lose their lands if the colonists achieved independence. He was a missionary because he felt his followers could learn much from observing the ways of the white man. He was a spokesman because he saw the need for Indians to try to live with the white man because the white man was not going back to Europe. He tried unsuccessfully to arrange a settlement between the Iroquois and the United States government.

I briefly followed the links to Indian Battles, Movements, and Events and found an extensive list of links to descriptions of historical and significant battles, and to American Indian Tribes and Cultures and found an extensive list of links to individual tribal websites. Both of these lists of links may be useful throughout the remainder of the course.