Embedded Files
Note: Click on the arrow next to "Indigenous Library" to access the Scholarly Resources page for free access PDFs and academic resources.
About this Page:
About this Page:
The Indigenous Library features a curated collection of educational tools, mina:gi (books) authored by Indigenous writers, and publicly accessible resources designed to support learning, cultural preservation, and community empowerment. The library is updated consistently. To access the link, click on the title of the book, documentary, or item.
Organizational Independence Statement: Nedewahe Ita:i: An Afro-Indigenous Alliance of Turtle Island and Beyond is not affiliated with any of the nonprofits or organizations listed on this website. We share public information and resources solely for educational and community support purposes, without formal association.
📚 Usage Policy: All resources shared here are for educational, community, and fair use purposes. You may use materials non-commercially or in community-focused projects that do not exploit or harm Indigenous communities and peoples’ well-being. Credit the original authors and share with care. This archive exists to uplift, not to gatekeep.
Resources for Accessing Free Books Online:
Resources for Accessing Free Books Online:
In honoring our Oni (tree) relatives, we offer resources for accessing free eBooks and digital materials. This approach supports both community learning and ecological responsibility by reducing paper usage while promoting equitable access to Indigenous-centered knowledge.
Table of Contents:
By: Kyle T. Mays
"Beginning with pre-Revolutionary America and moving into the movement for Black lives and contemporary Indigenous activism, Afro-Indigenous historian Kyle T. Mays argues that the foundations of the US are rooted in antiblackness and settler colonialism, and that these parallel oppressions continue into the present. He explores how Black and Indigenous peoples have always resisted and struggled for freedom, sometimes together, and sometimes apart. Whether to end African enslavement and Indigenous removal or eradicate capitalism and colonialism, Mays shows how the fervor of Black and Indigenous peoples calls for justice have consistently sought to uproot white supremacy."
By: Dominique Daye Hunter
"Seeds is a collection of poetry and short stories. In this book, author Dominique Daye Hunter explores the histories, intergenerational and personal trauma, healing, and resilience of the Afro-Indigenous diaspora with a focus on the southeastern United States. This is a journey of reclaiming her traditional Yésah / Saponi culture and West African roots. Informed by the ancestors, Seeds highlights reproductive justice, food sovereignty, water rights, environmental racism, systemic racism, anti-Blackness, and anti-Indigeneity, and self-love."
By: Dominique Daye Hunter
"Hasi Čhigǫ:yǫ (Sweet Berry) is a Children's Book written by Dominique Daye Hunter. Written in Yesa:sahį with English subtitles, this book introduces young readers to the Yesá:sahį (Tutelo-Saponi) language and encourages children and parents to speak it while exploring the beauty and power of nature together. Now available in hardcover and paperback! Follow a young bear cub as they learn about sweet and (not-so-sweet) berries. With guidance from Mother Bear, Mother Earth, Mother Moon, and Plant relatives, they learn how sharing knowledge, curiosity, and honesty helps us stay true to ourselves, fill our bellies, heal our hearts, strengthen our minds, and care for one another. Rooted in Indigenous wisdom, for the whole family."
By: Linda Coombs
"Until now, you've only heard one side of the story: the "discovery" of America told by Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists. Here's the true story of America from the Indigenous perspective. When you think about the beginning of the American story, what comes to mind? Three ships in 1492, or perhaps buckled hats and shoes stepping off of the Mayflower, ready to start a new country. But the truth is, Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists didn't arrive to a vast, empty land ready to be developed. They arrived to find people and communities living in harmony with the land they had inhabited for thousands of years, and they quickly disrupted everything they saw. From its "discovery" by Europeans to the first Thanksgiving, the story of America's earliest days has been carefully misrepresented. Told from the perspective of the New England Indigenous Nations that these outsiders found when they arrived, this is the true story of how America as we know it today began."
By: Corey Roberts
"This is a sketch grammar of the Tutelo-Saponi language, a preliminary examination of the history, phonology, morphology, and syntax of the Southeastern Siouan language and its speakers. While previous works have presented the corpus’ data in the North American Phonetic Alphabet, this study presents data primarily in a combination of the International Phonetic Alphabet (for the phonology portion of the grammar) and the writing system currently being developed for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (a derivation of the orthography of the 19th-century philologist Horatio Hale). Included later in the sketch are methods currently being used to enrich the Tutelo-Saponi lexicon. Finally, this sketch presents a sample opening prayer in the language created in conjunction with an Occaneechi language consultant, as well as a land acknowledgment of the Tohono O’odham people created by Corey Roberts to open a linguistics presentation at the University of Arizona."
By: Giulia R. M. Oliverio
By: Wendy Wilson-Fall
"From the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, thousands of Madagascar’s people were brought to American ports as slaves. In Memories of Madagascar and Slavery in the Black Atlantic, Wendy Wilson-Fall shows that the descendants of these Malagasy slaves in the United States maintained an ethnic identity in ways that those from the areas more commonly feeding the Atlantic slave trade did not. Generations later, hundreds, if not thousands, of African Americans maintain strong identities as Malagasy descendants, yet the histories of Malagasy slaves, sailors, and their descendants have been little explored. Wilson-Fall examines how and why the stories that underlie this identity have been handed down through families—and what this says about broader issues of ethnicity and meaning-making for those whose family origins, if documented at all, have been willfully obscured by history."
"Tutelo-Saponi is a branch of Siouan once spoken by American Indians in central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. As a trade language, Tutelo-Saponi was spoken by many tribes in the region including the Occaneechi around what is now Hillsborough, and the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in Halifax and Warren Counties. Dr. Marvin “Marty” Richardson, project director for the Haliwa-Saponi Historic Legacy Project, said documents show that the Haliwa-Saponi tribe has been in the area since at least the 1720s. It now has about 4,000 enrolled members, mostly living around Hollister, NC. They’re descended from the Nansemond, Saponi and Tuscarora tribes, which came together for safety from disease and warfare after the beginning of colonization."
By: Raven Morgaine
"Yemaya, queen of the sea, first emerged in Yorubaland (now in modern Nigeria). A primordial deity, considered the mother of all, some perceive her to be at the root of numerous ancient goddesses, including Isis. During the Middle Passage, Yemaya accompanied her enslaved devotees to the Western Hemisphere, where her veneration took root and flourished. She is among the most beloved and prominent spirits of Candomblé, Santeria, and other African diaspora traditions. Through her associations with the Virgin Mary, devotion to Yemaya spread throughout Latin America. Cuban immigrants brought Yemaya with them to the US, where her veneration expanded exponentially. No longer a local water spirit, she became an internationally beloved goddess whose devotees derive from numerous traditions and who worship her in her many fluid forms. Yemaya currently ranks among the most beloved goddesses worldwide. Raven Morgaine, a priest of Yemaya for over three decades, shares his expertise and knowledge in Yemaya: Orisha, Goddess, and Queen of the Sea, the first full-length English language book accessible to general readers. Morgaine explores Yemaya’s history and her many forms, including her roles as mother, lover, witch, warrior, and mermaid. He describes her many paths, aspects, and incarnations. Simultaneously a celebration of Yemaya and a practical, hands-on guide to working with her, Yemaya explores her mythology in depth, as well as her special role in the LGBQT community."
By: Dr. David Vincent Kaufman
"Biloxi is a now dormant Siouan language. This is a newly enhanced and expanded Third Edition of the revised Biloxi-English dictionary originally published in 2011, incorporating the language notes of the linguists Albert Gatschet, James Owen Dorsey, John Swanton, Mary Haas, and Morris Swadesh. This is a more user-friendly revised dictionary based on the original dictionary published by James Dorsey and John Swanton in 1912. It is intended for use by language learners, linguists, anthropologists, historians, and anyone else interested in this fascinating Siouan language once spoken on the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi. Today, Biloxis are united with Tunicas as the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, established in 1981, headquartered in Marksville, Louisiana."
By: Gabrielle Tayac (Editor)
"Throughout American history, people of combined African and Native American descent have often struggled for acceptance, not only from dominant cultures but also from their own communities. In this collection of twenty-seven groundbreaking essays, authors from across the Americas explore the complex personal histories and contemporary lives of people wth a dual heritage that has rarely received attention as part of the multicultural landscape. Illustrated with seventy-five paintings, photographs, and drawings, the book brings to light an epic but little-known part of American history that speaks to present-day struggles for racial identity and understanding."
By: Arica L. Coleman and Joseph F. Jordan
"That the Blood Stay Pure traces the history and legacy of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s effort over four centuries to maintain racial purity and its impact on the relationships between African Americans and Native Americans. Dr. Arica L. Coleman tells the story of Virginia’s racial purity campaign from the perspective of those who were disavowed or expelled from tribal communities due to their affiliation with people of African descent or because their physical attributes linked them to those of African ancestry. Coleman also explores the political and social consequences of the racial purity ethos for tribal communities that have refused to define Indian identity based on a denial of blackness. This rich interdisciplinary history engages various disciplines, including Ethnic Studies, Sociology, Political Science, Law, and Critical Race Theory. It includes contemporary case studies—late twentieth-century through early twenty-first century— exploring a neglected aspect of America’s long struggle with race and identity."
By: William Loren Katz
"The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country’s original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies, the children of Native and African American marriages helped shape the early days of the fur trade, added a new dimension to frontier diplomacy, and made a daring contribution to the fight for American liberty. Since its original publication, William Loren Katz’s Black Indians has remained the definitive work on a long, arduous quest for freedom and equality. This new edition features a new cover and includes updated information about a neglected chapter in American history."
By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
"Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things―from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen―provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation."
By: Marc W. W. Case
"Do you know how to speak Cherokee, but cannot read and write the language? Do your children have difficulty grasping the language? Are you new to the Cherokee language and looking for a quick and effective way to learn? Simply Cherokee: Let’s Learn Cherokee Syllabary is the first building block in Simply Cherokee’s catalogue of tools for learning to read, write, and speak the Cherokee language. Inside these pages you will find the fastest—and most effective!—way to learn the Cherokee Syllabary. Each syllabary has a simple story containing a word with the syllbary’s unique sound. After completing the workbook, you will remember the story and the key word whenever you see a syllabary. Cherokee Syllabary is designed for fast assimilation. And when you are done, just move on to the next book. You’ll be fluent as simply as that!"
By: Izeballor Aerocle
"Embark on a transformative journey through "The Easy Yoruba Guide for Beginners," a profound exploration of language, culture, and spirituality. From unraveling the Triple Heritage to delving into the divine realms of Orishas, this guide transcends conventional language learning, inviting you to absorb the essence of Yoruba wisdom. Traverse the creation myths, dance with celestial forces, and honor ancestral roots as you master the intricacies of the Yoruba language. This isn't just a language guide; it's a key unlocking the doors to a rich cultural legacy."
By: Professor Roy Cayetano of Belize
By: Jonás Pérez-Camacho
"The lost Canary Islands - in the Atlantic Ocean - are a mystery in themselves. Since ancient times the islands have been surrounded by a halo of mysticism; that increased since the Europeans made their first incursions, and discovered the strange race that lived in them. The old descriptions tell us that both men and women stood out for their beauty and strength; and that surprised, even more, for his nobility.The origins of the first inhabitants of the Canary Islands are still a mystery.A great mystery. The volcanic origin of the islands rules out the possibility that any population existed. Therefore, the first inhabitants of the islands must have come from somewhere. But where? And what is more unusual, how did they get there?"
By: Andrés Reséndez
"Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andrés Reséndez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of Natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors. Reséndez builds the incisive case that it was mass slavery—more than epidemics—that decimated Indian populations across North America. Through riveting new evidence, including testimonies of courageous priests, rapacious merchants, and Indian captives, The Other Slavery reveals nothing less than a key missing piece of American history."
By: Hannah Durkin
"The Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860—more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history. In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda’s 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. The Survivors of the Clotilda follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship’s 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile—an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston—to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee’s Bend—a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous."
By: Dr. Heriberto Dixon
"The names at first are those of animals and of birds, of objects that have one definition in the eye, another in the hand, of forms and features on the rim of the world, or of sounds that carry on the bright wind and in the void. They are old and original in the mind, like the beat of rain on the river, and intrinsic in the native tongue, failing even as those who bear them turn once in the memory, go on, and are gone forever.—N. Scott Momaday. When we were children we used to chant “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us.” However, as we grew older we learned to put away childish things. Names are very serious undertakings! Names are rarely, if ever, neutral; they tend to point and push us in certain directions. The power to name something or someone, even against one’s will, is an expression of domination.In some Native American traditions: to name a being, for example an animal, is actually to conjure up the powers latent in that animal. Added to this is the fact that when we create words we use our breath and for these people and their traditions breath is associated with the principle of life. . . . It is because of this special feeling about words that people avoid using sacred personal names because they contain the power of the beings named, and if you use them too much the power becomes dissipated. So, names are very important inasmuch as they have the power to cast people and things in favorable and unfavorable lights. Thus, the ability to name one’s self is an act of liberation from semantic bondage."
By: Ana Lucia Araujo
"During the era of the Atlantic slave trade, more than twelve million enslaved Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas in cramped, inhumane conditions. Many of them died on the way, and those who survived had to endure further suffering in the violent conditions that met them onshore. Covering more than three hundred years, Humans in Shackles grapples with this history by foregrounding the lived experience of enslaved people in tracing the long, complex history of slavery in the Americas."
By: Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua (Editor), Ikaika Hussey (Editor), Erin Kahunawaika'ala Wright (Editor)
"A Nation Rising chronicles the political struggles and grassroots initiatives collectively known as the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Scholars, community organizers, journalists, and filmmakers contribute essays that explore Native Hawaiian resistance and resurgence from the 1970s to the early 2010s. Photographs and vignettes about particular activists further bring Hawaiian social movements to life. The stories and analyses of efforts to protect land and natural resources, resist community dispossession, and advance claims for sovereignty and self-determination reveal the diverse objectives and strategies, as well as the inevitable tensions, of the broad-tent sovereignty movement. The collection explores the Hawaiian political ethic of ea, which both includes and exceeds dominant notions of state-based sovereignty. A Nation Rising raises issues that resonate far beyond the Hawaiian archipelago, issues such as Indigenous cultural revitalization, environmental justice, and demilitarization."
By: Norbert S. Hill (Editor), Megan M. Hill (Editor), Desirae Louise Hill (Editor)
"In the second volume of The Great Vanishing Act, voices from Indian Country convey the insidious impacts of the Indian Reorganization Act confronting the existential and pragmatic questions facing many Native Nations to determine who is—and who is not—a citizen. The voices of poets, parents, academics, activists, educators, young adults, and elders prompt conversations in consideration of shared cultural values and lived realities outside of the limited confines of blood quantum. Both informational and poetic, Beyond Blood Quantum: Refusal to Disappear is a guide for conversation in-community and a songline of voices grappling with contemporary Native identity and the sovereignty inherent in defining citizenship with analysis softened by appreciation for kin, land, and promises to future generations from the descendants of generations who continue to resist, who refuse to disappear."
By: Jose Luis Benavides
"In 2019 the Chicanx civil rights, student activist organization M.E.Ch.A. (Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán), of which I was a member, changed its 50-year organization’s name removing the cultural terms “Chicanx” and “Aztlán” (the mythical homelands of the Méxica/Aztec peoples). In an effort to be more inclusive of afro-Latinx and indigenous identities within their 200+ chapters on colleges and high school campus across the US,this renaming however prompted heated debate around the meanings and importance of these terms. Through a hybrid, experimental documentary practice including video-art, photography and installation “The Fall of Aztlán” unpacks the problematic term “Aztlán” and its varied interpretations and manifestations across indigenous epistemologies, cosmologies, spiritualities, and our solar system. Exposed through a personal archive of Chicanx paraphernalia, investigations of Nahuatl language, Méxica dance rituals, Hopi beliefs and traditions, Mississipian and Late Woodland archeological sites, and found N.A.S.A. footage, juxtaposed with interviews conducted through the Covid-19 pandemic. This exhibition unearths the errs of “indigenismo” to indigineities within Mexican and Chicanx nationalist ideology informed by dangerous notions of Mestizaje-whitening, while addressing contemporary erasures of North American indigenous peoples living and resisting settler colonialism in the Southwest today. Through a lens of Critical Latinx Indigeneities, we might expose Aztlán’s geographical untruths, archeological and anthropological fallacies, instead positing new indigenous futures brought forth from oral history and, oddly alternate potentialities found beyond Earthly identity politics, without falling into space-travel, sci-fi colonial tropes."
"Our Land, Our Stories, a collaborative project with Rutgers University, Department of Landscape Architecture and the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, is a multimedia project for environmental justice advocacy and curriculum development for Native American history and contemporary Indigenous land relations. The project elucidates how relationships to land are disrupted by environmental pollution. It explains how negative portrayals of Native American communities have contributed to the targeting of their lands as dumpsites, while leaving them marginalized in the remediation process. It illustrates how Indigenous communities are responding with programs for cultural restoration and food sovereignty. Project materials were created in collaboration with the Turtle Clan, many of whom live on a Superfund site. Materials include the Our Land, Our Stories book, The Meaning of the Seed documentary film, traveling exhibits, short video projects on our YouTube channel, social media platforms, and this digital exhibit for Rutgers University Libraries. Utilizing a variety of formats, the project incorporates multiple voices and creates a multi-media forum for sharing important stories of land and loss, and of survival and recovery."
By: VICE Asia
"The remote community of the Tiwi Islands, located 80km north of the Australian mainland, has a thriving gay and trans community known as the Sistagals. More than 5 percent of the Tiwi population identify as a Sistagal with most of them living publicly as women and observing local Indigenous traditions. In this episode of Australiana, VICE embeds with the Sistagals to explore the intersection of traditional culture and gender identity. We follow the story of Laura, who at the age of 33 has been awaiting gender reassignment hormones since she was 10 years old. Her access has been complicated by the island's limited access to doctors, let alone hormone treatment. This documentary explores the push-pull the Sistagals experience living on their remote Tiwi home, while wanting to find love in the city and start families of their own."
By: Alexandra E. Sutton (Kiyąska Ya:mąhiye:se)
"Yesą́ is the endonym for the eastern Siouan peoples otherwise called the Tutelo, Saponi, Occaneechi, Monacan, Eno, Cheraw, and others, who live contemporarily in tribal nations and communities throughout North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio and in diasporic hubs or urban communities elsewhere. The Yesą́ are Eastern Siouan peoples with origins in the Great Lakes Region. Since time immemorial, we Eastern Siouans have held and occupied a vast territory along the Appalachian foothills, ranging from the Ohio & Kanawha River Valleys to southernmost bounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont Plateau. Present within the Mississippi Shatter Zone, the Yesą́ were deeply impacted by the depopulation events that followed European Contact in the 1500s, and became central to the shifting political landscape of the Indigenous East Coast from that time through the 1700s, at which time the effects of the Indian Wars of the Southern British Colonies, including the Tuscarora War (1711 - 1715), the Yamasee War (1715 - 1717), and later Pontiac's War (1763–66), Lord Dunmore's War (1774) and eventually the American Revolution (1775–1783) collectively formed another shatter event, scattering Native communities across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina."
By: Jala Simpa (Mįyątipi:wa)
"Kihoe hu:kmekureme:čʰen! I’m Jala (Jay-la)/Mįyątipi:wa Simpa, the last name I adopted to honor my Edo ancestors, who were trafficked during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. I am Yesa Occaneechi Saponi Indigenous to Amá̡:inausí̡ka: with Native roots also across the Eastern Woodlands, Caribbean, Mexico, and the Southwest as well as ąyaa sapi (Black/African American), with heritage from the Merina Malagasy, Edo, and Yorùbá peoples. I have a BA in psychology and am pursuing a Master’s in Social Work. This podcast spotlights Afro-Indigenous histories, decolonization, and mental health awareness."
By: AMBER STARKS (A.K.A. MELANIN MVSKOKE)
"Black Natives exist! We are Indigenous peoples of (what is currently known as) the Americas and the Caribbean, and we are also the descendants of Indigenous peoples of Africa. This identity often includes Freedmen—the free men and women who were once enslaved by citizens of the Five Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw)—and their descendants. Black Natives and Freedmen are the legacy of our Black and Native ancestors. We are the personification of their joy, pain, resistance, and endurance, and it is because of our Black and Native ancestors’ hope and resilience that we are still here."
By: PBS
"Follow Maekiaphan, a Taino woman from the U.S. Virgin Islands, on her journey to reclaim her Taino heritage and to become the first woman Kasike (chief) of the Taino tribe. In her efforts to redress the history of colonial erasure, she pursues official recognition of her people. 'HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From' is a collection of short films from the U.S. territories and Hawaiʻi exploring issues of cultural identity, sovereignty, and agency, as residents and members of the diaspora grapple with what it means to be “a part of and apart from” the mainland U.S."
By: PBS
"Follow filmmaker Brian Muna as he seeks to reconnect with CHamoru, the language native to the people of Guam and elders in his family. In his search for identity, he examines his culturally American upbringing and the importance of passing on the CHamoru language and traditions to his sons. As he meets with language advocates and youth in Guam, he wonders, is there hope for future generations of CHamoru speakers to preserve the language?"
By: PBS
"Explore the area of Escambrón Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as beach-goers, protestors, performance artists, and scientists come together to protect its coastline from overdevelopment. Collectively, they make the case for why this public space is vital to the well-being of the people and marine life that intermingle on its shores."
"Mahk Jchi is a haunting song written by the Native American women’s group Ulali. The song is in a compilation of Tutelo and Saponi languages."
"Minority Rights Group is the leading human rights organization working with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and indigenous peoples worldwide. Millions of people miss out on basic rights because they are different. We support minorities and indigenous peoples in the defence of their rights – to the lands they live on, to the languages they speak, to the beliefs they practise, to the cultures they enjoy, to equal opportunities in education and employment, and to full participation in public life. We work with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and indigenous peoples to secure their rights and promote understanding between communities. We are guided by the needs expressed by our worldwide network of over 300 partner organizations in more than 60 countries. Together, we challenge power structures that exclude and silence those who are different. Minority Rights Group is an international non-governmental organization with an international governing Council that meets twice a year. We have consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and observer status with the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights. Minority Rights Group is also registered with the Organization of American States."
"The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA), is a confederation of pre-colonial American Indian Tribes and Nations that are ancestral inhabitants to the lands contemporarily referred to as the Americas. FANA works collectively to develop and implement policies, procedures and initiatives that ensure and support the public safety, economic and cultural progress, and general well-being of the FANA Member Nation Tribal Citizens. Operating through private foreign American Aborigine Tribal Trust established according to international Hague Trust Treaty standards, FANA assists its Member Nations in addressing violations of their inherent aboriginal and human rights by shedding light on the over 600 years of ancestral lineage the FANA Member Nations possess. The Mission of FANA is “To provide leadership and serve as the collective voice for the development of the mass unification of the Aboriginal Tribes and Nations of the Americas." The Vision of FANA is “To be the catalyst and foundational federation for the progression of global respect and support for the Aboriginal Tribes and Nations of the Americas."
"Affirming further that all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating superiority of peoples or individuals on the basis of national origin or racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust, Reaffirming that indigenous peoples, in the exercise of their rights, should be free from discrimination of any kind, Concerned that indigenous peoples have suffered from historic injustices as a result of, inter alia, their colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources, thus preventing them from exercising, in particular, their right to development in accordance with their own needs and interests, Recognizing the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources, Recognizing also the urgent need to respect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples 4 affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements with States, Welcoming the fact that indigenous peoples are organizing themselves for political, economic, social and cultural enhancement and in order to bring to an end all forms of discrimination and oppression wherever they occur"
"The People. Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people."
"The Urban Indigenous Collective (UIC), founded in 2019, is a grassroots, Indigenous-led organization dedicated to addressing the unique and evolving needs of Urban Indigenous people residing in Lenapehoking, or so-called Manhattan and the greater NYC area. UIC serves Indigenous individuals from North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands, prioritizing culturally affirming health and wellness services, community-based participatory research (CBPR), advocacy, community programming, and training and technical assistance. Guided by Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and a commitment to intergenerational healing, UIC centers its work on building sustainable solutions that honor Indigenous knowledge while addressing systemic inequities affecting Indigenous communities in urban environments. By integrating traditional practices with innovative programming, UIC creates pathways for healing, kinship, and connection."
By: Vance Hawkins
"If you ever try to unravel the mystery of the Eastern Siouan you will find it is a story steeped in mystery, lore, legend, and downright fantasy. So where do you turn to for the truth? They left no written language; there are no long-lost scrolls or tablets. In order to unravel this story, one must turn to archeology, recorded history and the research of others."-Chief Jamie Lightwalker Harris, New River Catawba
By: Richard L. Haithcock, Vicki L. Haithcock
"Allow me to introduce my wife and co‐author, Vicki L. Haithcock and I am Richard L. Haithcock. We are Occaneechi Saponi Indians. We have compiled the most complete Cultural, Genealogical and Chronological histories of the Occaneechi, Saponi and Tuteo of the Occaneechi, Saponi and Tutelo of the Saponi Nation aka Monacan and Piedmont Catawba and Southeastern Indians in the Virginias and Carolinas. The Saponi Indians were an extension or the Greater Catawba Nation/Southeastern Siouan Confederacy; also included with this three volume set are tribal histories and biographies of various southeastern Nations; biographies and photos of the contemporary chiefs of today, and Indian Censuses."
By: Kianga Lucas
"Native American Roots” is a blog dedicated to the genealogical and historical research of Native Americans of Granville County, North Carolina and neighboring counties. My name is Kianga Lucas and I am the author of this blog as well as a descendant of this community. I hope this blog will better inform the public, researchers, and descendants about the Indigenous history and heritage of this region. All content and opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own unless noted otherwise. This blog uses primary source records and follows the genealogy proof standard to confirm family relationships."
By: VICE News
" In January, European Union restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria were lifted, meaning citizens of those countries were free to travel and work throughout the EU. This inspired anger in wealthier countries like the UK, where people anticipated a flood of migrants looking to take advantage of relatively generous welfare systems. This anger was directed most fiercely at the Roma. Europe's largest ethnic minority — also known as gypsies — has long endured bigotry and abuse. This year, they've been a boon to rightwing politicians who've used them to garner support for anti-immigration policies and achieve significant electoral victories. VICE News examines the so-called "Roma influx" by visiting a Roma community in northern England, then traveling to Romania to meet a group of Roma who have just been evicted from their homes and don't have the money to leave the country to seek out better lives."
"Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a landmark new report published today. The report, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity. “Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. "
By: Cultural Survival
"In Europe's arctic periphery, one people straddles four nation-states. The traditional tracts of the Saami (formerly called "Lapps") dip south beyond central Norway and Sweden, and skim, across the arctic regions of Finland and the Kola peninsula of the USSR. Fifty-two thousand persons today call themselves Saami. About 70% speak Saami as well as the national language. As one of Europe's prominent fourth world peoples, Saami constitute roughly 1% of the population of the countries they inhabit. Were there some way to gauge the numbers of Saami who have mixed or otherwise assimilated into the dominant national cultures, these crude population figures would be increased perhaps tenfold."
"My name is Benny Wenda and I am a West Papuan independence leader. When I was a child my village was bombed by the Indonesian military and many of my family were killed. Later, I began to campaign peacefully to free my country from Indonesian occupation. For this ‘crime’ I was arrested, tortured and threatened with death. I managed to escape to the UK, where I now live in exile. My people are still suffering. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, raped and tortured. All we want is to live without fear and for West Papua to become a free and independent country. Please hear my peoples’ cry for help. Please support the Free West Papua Campaign."
By: Humanity & Inclusion
"In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Humanity & Inclusion promotes access to school for children with disabilities and provides support to people affected by the chronic humanitarian crisis, facilitating access to mental health and rehabilitation care."
"Paris Is Burning is a landmark 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston that explores the underground subculture of ballroom dance and performance in the 1980s among New York City's African American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities. The film provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of drag queens, trans women, and gay men of color as they compete in ballroom contests, showcase their talent, and express themselves through fashion and style."
By: WOLA
"For more than a decade, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has denounced that there is a genocidal plan against Garifuna communities in Honduras. This plan has become critical in recent months, as Garifuna leaders have been directly attacked, harassed, and threatened by third-party settlers, including owners of extractivist and palm-oil projects, tourism investors, and drug-traffickers. On March 9, 2024, the owner of the tourist complex “Rosa Negra” publicly harassed and threatened Garifuna leaders with racist, demeaning comments. Two months later, third-party settlers aligned with “Rosa Negra” barred the entrance of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz and launched a media campaign aimed at generating divisions among the community. On May 28, 2024, these third-party settlers, with support from the Tela mayor, Ricardo Calix, held a general assembly to elect a parallel community board, or patronato and, through this board, block efforts by the State of Honduras to comply with the 2015 Inter-American Court sentences which order the State to give back the land stolen from Garifuna communities. Similar tactics have been taken against other Garifuna communities, such as Travesia, where the municipal government is actively destroying the social fabric of the Garifuna community by also electing and imposing a parallel patronato. These acts of systematic violence seek to eradicate the Garifuna way of life and being."
By: AJ+
"According to one advocacy group’s calculations, less than 1% of Jamaica’s coastline is accessible to the public. Increasingly, everyday Jamaicans are being blocked from their beaches by all-inclusive resorts and hotels. Many of them relied on those beaches for their livelihood, so now some of them are suing companies and government agencies to get that access back."
By: Synergy Media Group
"During the summer of 2016 we had the honor of being the guests of the Kalinago; the indigenous people of the Caribbean island of Dominica. We Are Kalinago is a short documentary about this fierce tribe who have overcome adversity since the time of their ancestors."
By: Alexa Lawrence, Ph.D.
"Right off the bat, the Great Dismal Swamp’s name does it a disservice. It is a daunting landscape—or it was, anyway, to the European settlers who arrived in the colonial era and found its humid climate, soggy vegetation and booming insect population intolerable, with one planter famously calling it “a miserable morass where nothing can inhabit.” But the larger “Great Dismal”—once covering more than 1 million acres in Virginia and North Carolina, now reduced to a bit more than one-tenth of that size—was also home and refuge to generations of Indigenous and African American communities, who carved out a vibrant and self-sufficient existence hidden from those who subjugated and enslaved them (As Tom Wilson, who escaped slavery and put down roots in the Great Dismal, memorably said, “I felt safer among the alligators than among white men”). While the swamp appeared to be a thorny, impenetrable mire, in reality it was a singular safe harbor sitting at the confluence of several important chapters of American history."
By: John Gresham
"In early 1730, a rumor of freedom spread among the enslaved people of Virginia. It was said that former Governor Spottswood was returning from England with a declaration giving freedom to all enslaved Christians in the colony. For months, Africans and West Indians on the plantations awaited the good news that never came. That fall, they took matters into their own hands. Small and large groups walked away from their enslavers. Some sought to live freely in the countryside. Others conspired to demand their liberation. Gov. Gooch dispatched the state militia to round up enslaved people who left their plantations and suppress them from meeting. The increased number and cruelty of slave patrols ended the era of mass rebellions until after the Revolutionary War."
By: Native News Online
"A new film coming out later this year, You're No Indian, takes a hard look at the growing practice of Native American disenrollment, a process where tribes remove individuals from their membership rolls. Directed by Ryan Flynn, the documentary dives into how this trend has impacted thousands of people, fractured communities, and stirred up debates about identity and sovereignty. “This isn’t just an Indigenous issue; it’s a human issue – and while I can’t fully understand the experience of disenrollment, my goal is to amplify the voices of those impacted and spark meaningful conversations,” Flynn, who is not Indigenous, told Native News Online. He spent seven years following disenrollment battles in California and the Pacific Northwest, regions where these conflicts are particularly heated. Over the past 15 years, more than 11,000 people from 80 tribes have been disenrolled, often under contentious circumstances. For those affected, losing tribal membership means losing access to healthcare, housing, education, voting rights, and financial benefits tied to gaming revenues."
By: VOA
"Ina Christina Millett Lugo, like many born and raised on Bermuda’s St. David’s Island, grew up believing she was descended from Native American war captives shipped from New England in the 1600s as slaves. She had no documents to prove it, only stories that had been passed down through generations. "Philip, King of Mount Hope", from Benjamin Church's "The Entertaining History of King Philip's War," line engraving, colored by hand, by American engraver and silversmith Paul Revere. "Philip, King of Mount Hope", from Benjamin Church's "The Entertaining History of King Philip's War," line engraving, colored by hand, by American engraver and silversmith Paul Revere. “The way the story has been told, King Philip's wife and son were brought here,” said Lugo’s daughter Terlena Murphy, referring to Metacom, a 17th century Wampanoag tribal leader in New England who went on to adopt the English moniker. “Mother and son were separated,” added Murphy, who chairs the St. David's Islanders and Native Community (SDINC). “The mother went to an area called Bailey's Bay, along Bermuda’s North Shore, and the son may have come to St. David's.”
By: Anita Wills
"Along the Rappahannock the Homeland of the Nanzatico Indian Nation is about a entire tribe written out of history. The Nanzatico lived along the Rappahannock River in Virginia for thousands of years. They lived in intricate longhouses and communities along the Rappahannock River. An incident took place in 1704 that caused a backlash felt by descendants to this day. The Author is telling the story as a descendant of the Nanzatico Indian Nation through her Ancestors Indian Charles and Charles Lewis. This is a must read for Students of History, History Buffs, and the General Public."
By: BlackProGen LIVE!
"The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek are revered groups of First Nations people who have a complicated history. Learn about critical record sets when researching these groups and the complex relationship they have with their Freedmen."
"To be marked, branded, or tattooed in chahta anumpa (Choctaw) is Inchunwa. Inchunwa shares the story of the ongoing Southeastern traditional tattoo revivalization movement. We’ll talk with influential artists, Southeastern scholars, and folks directly involved in the movement: those receiving tattoos and Southeastern tribal practitioners. Support our podcast and project by following our Instagram and Facebook."
By: Alison Mariella Désir
"A searing exposé on the whiteness of running, a supposedly egalitarian sport, and a call to reimagine the industry. “Runners know that running brings us to ourselves. But for Black people, the simple act of running has never been so simple. It is a declaration of the right to move through the world. If running is claiming public space, why, then, does it feel like a negotiation?” Running saved Alison Désir’s life. At rock bottom and searching for meaning and structure, Désir started marathon training, finding that it vastly improved both her physical and mental health. Yet as she became involved in the community and learned its history, she realized that the sport was largely built with white people in mind."
"Toni Morrison (b. Chloe Ardelia Wofford on February 18, 1931) is the Nobel Prize winning author of 10 novels, and has also penned 7 non-fiction works, 2 plays, and 3 childrens books. Her work is known for epic themes and often focuses on black women; her novel Beloved received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She held a position in the humanities department at Princeton University from 1989-2006 and has received honorary degrees from Oxford University and Rutgers University."
By: Angela Davis
"With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly, the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration", and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole."
By: Wes Moore
"In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen? That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies. Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world."
"bell hooks (born September 25, 1952, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, U.S.—died December 15, 2021, Berea, Kentucky) was an American scholar and activist whose work examined the connections between race, gender, and class. She often explored the varied perceptions of Black women and Black women writers and the development of feminist identities."
By: Beverly Daniel Tatum
"Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? How can we get past our reluctance to discuss racial issues? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about communicating across racial and ethnic divides and pursuing antiracism. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand dynamics of race and racial inequality in America."
By: Hawaiian Voice
"Haunani-Kay Trask was a Native Hawaiian activist, educator, author, poet, and a leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. She was professor emerita at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she founded and directed the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies."
By: Unreported World
"Unreported World follows a private investigator trying to track down the indigenous women going missing without a trace in the wilderness of the United States. Thousands of indigenous women are believed to be missing or murdered, leaving families and loved ones desperately trying to find answers. But often confusion over jurisdictions between federal, state and tribal authorities can mean that many police investigations become cold cases that are never solved. Now indigenous women across the United States are stepping up to find their women."
By: Mervyn Brown
"Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It is a unique blend of Asian and African culture and is well known as the home of some of the world's most unusual and most endangered flora and fauna, from lemurs to giant tortoises. Although so close to the east coast of Africa, where traces of human existence go back hundreds of thousands of years, Madagascar was uninhabited until about two thousand years ago. How it came to be inhabited by seafaring peoples from present-day Indonesia is just one of the many fascinating aspects of this book. A History of Madagascar examines the origins of the Malagasy, the early contacts with Europeans and the struggle for influence in the nineteenth century between the British and the French. It also covers the colonial period from 1896 to 1960, the recovery of independence and subsequent history up to the early 1990s."
By: Charmaine, Wilkerson
"In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death and her hidden past--a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake."At turns delightfully juicy and then stunningly wise, Black Cake is a winner."--Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Malibu RisingONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022--Glamour, Bustle, Marie Claire, Essence, Parade, Business Insider, Town & Country, Vulture, PopSugar, W magazine, BookPageIn development as a Hulu original series produced by Marissa Jo Cerar, Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Films), and Kapital EntertainmentWe can't choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor's true history, and fulfill her final request to "share the black cake when the time is right"? Will their mother's revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch."
By: Sue Ann Baratt
"Identity is often fraught for multiracial Douglas, people of both South Asian and African descent in the Caribbean. In this groundbreaking volume, Sue Ann Barratt and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh explore the particular meanings of a Dougla identity and examine Dougla maneuverability both at home and in the diaspora. The authors scrutinize the perception of Douglaness over time, contemporary Dougla negotiations of social demands, their expansion of ethnicity as an intersectional identity, and the experiences of Douglas within the diaspora outside the Caribbean. Through an examination of how Douglas experience their claim to multiracialism and how ethnic identity may be enforced or interrupted, the authors firmly situate this analysis in ongoing debates about multiracial identity. Based on interviews with over one hundred Douglas, Barratt and Ranjitsingh explore the multiple subjectivities Douglas express, confirm, challenge, negotiate, and add to prevailing understandings. Contemplating this, Dougla in the Twenty-First Century adds to the global discourse of multiethnic identity and how it impacts living both in the Caribbean, where it is easily recognizable, and in the diaspora, where the Dougla remains a largely unacknowledged designation. This book deliberately expands the conversation beyond the limits of biraciality and the Black/white binary and contributes nuance to current interpretations of the lives of multiracial people by introducing Douglas as they carve out their lives in the Caribbean."
By: Alex Renton
"When British Caribbean slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire in 1833, it was not the newly liberated who received compensation, but the tens of thousands of enslavers who were paid millions of pounds in government money. The descendants of some of those slave owners are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in Britain today. Alex Renton explores what inheritance - political, economic, moral and spiritual - has been passed to the descendants of the slave owners and the descendants of the enslaved."
By: Nelson Mandela
"Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. After his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela was at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is still revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality."
By: Christopher Wise
"Al Hajj Sekou Tall (1913-1985) was one of the most important cultural figures in Northern Mali and Burkina Faso. Besides his many professional accomplishments, Tall was also the nephew of Tierno Bokar Tall (otherwise known as “the Sage of Bandiagara”), the cousin of Amadou Hampâté Bâ, and next-in-line to become the Toucouleur Fulani and Dogon chief at Bandiagara, Mali. Tall was also the direct descendant of Al Hajj Umar Tall. Tall’s writing style is comparable to the approach of the West African griot, rich in genealogy, etymology, and cultural history. Christopher Wise is the translator."
By: Jala Simpa
An article that is a starting point to defining the complex identities of Afro-native/Afro-Indigenous peoples.
By: Jala Simpa
An article about the constant racism and harassment Afro-Indigenous/Afro-Natives experience on and offline.
By: Jala Simpa
The article "Who Are the Hatekeepers?" critically examines a harmful and growing trend both within and outside Indigenous communities: the rise of individuals (dubbed hatekeepers) who take it upon themselves to police Indigenous identity, often in aggressive and damaging ways.
By: Hassan Kiehne, Profit Borrero
"This book aims to revive and standardize the Eyeri-Kalipona language, an Arawakan language commonly known as "Kalinago", "Island Carib", "Island Arawak" or simply "Caribbean" (how we refer to this modern standardization). It is our hope that this will serve as a unifying language for the Caribbean."
"El objetivo de este libro es revivir y estandarizar el idioma Eyeri-Kalipona, un idioma Arahuaco comunmente conocido como "Kalinago", "Caribe Insular", "Arahuaco Isleño" o simplemente "Caribeño" (como nos referimos a este estandar moderno). Es nuestra esperanza que este servira como idioma unificador para el Caribe."
By: Sebastián Robiou Lamarche (Author), Claudia Robiou Ramírez de Arellano
"The Mythology and Religion of the Taínos is an analysis and summary of the beliefs and rituals of the Taíno people, who were the predominant culture in the Greater Antilles, or “West Indies,” at the moment of the Europeans’ arrival. In this fascinating book, text and image join to provide both the general public and the scholar an essential work in the bibliography of the indigenous people of the Antilles.At the moment of Contact, the Taínos’ mythical time, with its periods of creation, the obtention of cultural assets, and the establishment of the structure and norms of society, was interlinked with historical time. Their powerful, sacred cemíes preserved the spirits of the deities and other mythical figures of the past, allowing the Taínos to maintain contact with the time of the origins. When, during the ritual of the cohoba, the cacique, or chief, communicated with those higher beings, he became the mediator between the deities and society. Thus, the power that legitimized the Taíno religion and social order was made visible in the triad cemíes-cohoba-cacique."
By: Ramon Pané (Author), José Juan Arrom (Editor), Susan Griswold (Translator)
"Accompanying Columbus on his second voyage to the New World in 1494 was a young Spanish friar named Ramón Pané. The friar’s assignment was to live among the “Indians” whom Columbus had “discovered” on the island of Hispaniola (today the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic), to learn their language, and to write a record of their lives and beliefs. While the culture of these indigenous people—who came to be known as the Taíno—is now extinct, the written record completed by Pané around 1498 has survived. This volume makes Pané’s landmark Account—the first book written in a European language on American soil—available in an annotated English edition.
Edited by the noted Hispanist José Juan Arrom, Pané’s report is the only surviving direct source of information about the myths, ceremonies, and lives of the New World inhabitants whom Columbus first encountered. The friar’s text contains many linguistic and cultural observations, including descriptions of the Taíno people’s healing rituals and their beliefs about their souls after death. Pané provides the first known description of the use of the hallucinogen cohoba, and he recounts the use of idols in ritual ceremonies. The names, functions, and attributes of native gods; the mythological origin of the aboriginal people’s attitudes toward sex and gender; and their rich stories of creation are described as well."
By: Frantz Fanon (Author), Richard Philcox (Translator)
"Few modern voices have had as profound an impact on the black identity and critical race theory as Frantz Fanon, and Black Skin, White Masks represents some of his most important work. Fanon’s masterwork is now available in a new translation that updates its language for a new generation of readers. A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the black psyche in a white world. Hailed for its scientific analysis and poetic grace when it was first published in 1952, the book remains a vital force today from one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history."
"The Repair Campaign is a social movement for reparatory justice in the Caribbean, guided by the CARICOM Reparations Commission. Genocide, chattel enslavement and colonialism inflicted deep and enduring damage on the people of the Caribbean, while providing significant financial benefits to the colonisers. Our goal is to amplify Caribbean voices calling for reparations and produce evidence-based Socioeconomic Reparatory Justice Plans."
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse