Public Media Collaborates on Programming for Native American Heritage Month

Clockwise from left, 'DeCoded: The Untold Stories of Native Veterans Whose Tribal Languages Helped Win WWII'; 'Our Voices Will Be Heard'; 'The Storyteller'; and 'Native Vote 2024: Election Night Live!' anchors Shaun Griswold and Antonia Gonzales.

Through its collaborative ecosystem of producing organizations, programs, local stations, newsrooms and distribution networks, public media offers an array of news coverage and programming about Indigenous people throughout November, Native American Heritage Month.

Native Vote 2024: Election Night Live! is a four-hour, coast-to-coast broadcast November 5 with live reports from key states and races, focusing on Indigenous candidates and issues affecting Indigenous communities. Anchored by Antonia Gonzales (Navajo) (National Native News) and Shaun Griswold (Laguna) this coverage is a collaborative effort among Native Voice One radio network, FNX / First Nations Experience television network, and IndiJ Public Media’s  ICT News. Coverage starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Native Voice One and FNX.

On Public Television:

The CPB-supported Vision Maker Media, which develops, produces, and distributes programs about Indigenous people and culture to educate all audiences, is offering seven feature documentaries to public television audiences in November:

• Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life follows two Lummi families fishing for sockeye despite wildfire smoke and a depleting fishery. Produced by Darrell Hillaire (Lummi) and Beth Basa Pielert, the film premieres November 4 on World Channel’s "Local, USA," and airs on local public television stations (check local listings). 

• Firelighters: Fire Is Medicine follows female leaders from the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk tribes in Humboldt County, CA, as they build educational resources to share Indigenous land management practices and create policies to reinstate Indigenous burning rights. Sande Zeig produced the film, which premieres November 18 on World Channel’s "Local, USA," and airs on local public television stations (check local listings).

• The Electric Indian tells the story of Ojibwe hockey legend Henry Boucha, from his start in Warroad, MN, to the 1969 Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament, the 1972 Olympics, the NHL, and beyond. After an on-ice assault and injury ended his athletic career, Boucha embarked on a journey of healing and cultural reclamation. The Twin Cities PBS documentary by Leya Hale airs on public television stations starting November 1 (check local listings).
• Native Horse traces the evolution of horses in North America and their relationship with Native Americans by bringing together Indigenous Lakota science and ground-breaking DNA research. The film, produced by James Kleinert (Onondaga) airs on public television stations through November (check local listings).
• And Knowledge to Keep Us shows Sugpiat children gathering every summer near The Native Village of Akhiok in Alaska to learn and celebrate their traditional knowledge and culture. The film is produced by Torsten Kjellstrand, Sven Haakanson (Sugpiat) and Mark Blaine and airs on public television stations starting November 1 (check local listings).
• Oyate Woyaka follows fluent Lakota speakers as they embrace their language and spirituality to heal from historical trauma. Produced and directed by Bryant High Horse and George McAuliffe, the film airs on Public television stations starting November 2 (check local listings).
• The Bears on Pine Ridge focuses on the Bear Program, a youth performance group composed of young suicide survivors, part of an Oglala Sioux suicide prevention effort. Produced by Noel Bass & Sonny SkyHawk (Sicangu Lakota), the film airs on public television stations starting November 2.

On PBS, “Antiques Roadshow” offers a Celebrating Native American Heritage episode on November 4 with art and artifacts from Indigenous creators and history makers. And on the November 26 special Lidia Celebrates America: Changemakers, chef Lidia Bastianich visits chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota Sioux), founder of North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, who collects traditional techniques and uses Indigenous food practices.

On Public Radio:

Native Voice One, the distribution division of Anchorage-based Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, will distribute “Our Living Lands,” a five-minute, weekly public radio segment focused on climate change’s impact on tribal communities produced through a collaboration among Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, Native Public Media and the Mountain West News Bureau, a regional journalism collaboration launched with CPB funding. “Our Living Lands” highlights the wide-ranging impact of climate change and potential solutions.

Native Voice One (NV1) is distributing five other public radio programs (check local listings) in November:

• A Prayer for Salmon, a production of KALW’s “Spiritual Edge,” tells the story of the Winnemem Wintu people and their ongoing struggle to protect their sacred sites and restore salmon populations to the waters above the Shasta Dam in Northern California. The series of five hour-long episodes  (or 11 shorter episodes) is produced by Judy Silber and Dr. Lyla June Johnston, Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne).
•  Stolen Childhoods is a one-hour documentary exploring the personal and historical impact of the Indian Adoption Project, a federal program from 1958-1967 that was designed to place Native kids with white parents. Producer Melissa Olson’s Ojibwe mother, Judy Olson, was raised by a white family.
• Our Voices Will Be Heard is an hourlong radio theater adaptation of a Tlingit play about a mother and daughter learning how to deal with the discovery of family violence in 19th century Alaska.
• The Storyteller is a series of 10 stories and folktales, 3 to 6 minutes long, revived from the audio archives at KNBA in Anchorage, AK, as well as new stories from today's Alaska Native culture bearers. The series is hosted by Canaar, the spirit that has arrived.
• DeCoded: The Untold Stories of Native Veterans Whose Tribal Languages Helped Win WWII, a half-hour Veterans Day special about code talkers Lex Porter, an Ojibwe speaker from Grand Portage and a member of the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Nagaajiwanaang), and Reuben St. Clair, a Dakota speaker from the Lower Sioux Indian Community (Mdewakanton). The special is produced by Minnesota Native News & Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.

Public Media Online:

• Sovereign Innovations, a PBS Digital Studios series hosted by Cheyenne Bearfoot (Chiricahua Apache), explores Indigenous knowledge and storytelling to see how Indigenous stories continue to shape our understanding of the world. The series is part of the PBS Voices channel on YouTube
• StoryCorps features a Native American Stories Collection to honor and uplift the voices of Indigenous people across the country.
• The American Archive of Public Broadcasting offers Native Narratives: The Representation of Native Americans in Public Broadcasting, an online exhibit exploring how Native peoples and cultures have been portrayed in public broadcasting while also showcasing the rise of Native-created media. The exhibit is divided into five sections, including (Mis)Representations of Native Americans, Termination, Relocation, and Restoration, The American Indian Movement, Native Americans in Contemporary News Media, and Visual Sovereignty: Native-Created Public Media. Throughout the featured programs and commentary, the exhibit highlights how Native producers have worked to preserve cultural identities and offer more accurate portrayals of Native communities in public media.

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