General Native History

6 posts

Native stories and history

Eclipse Stories

We hope everyone got a chance to enjoy the eclipse today as safely as possible. We’d also like to take this opportunity to share one of the many indigenous stories about what happens to cause an eclipse from the Choctaw!

1 April 2024; Tricksters in Indigenous Culture

Though April Fool’s Day is known for wild pranks, Tricksters were an important part of indigenous culture year round! Though they get a bad reputation because of being Tricksters, they’re generally not considered bad or dark spirits. Rather creatures that often bring lessons that sting a bit, and let’s face […]

26 February 2024; Code Talker Medals

If you’ve been to the museum before, you probably remember our display by the military hats showcasing medals. These medals were produced by the government in commemoration to, currently, 32 tribes that had participating members in the Code Talkers of WWI and WWII. One of the things we do during […]

18 September 2023; Heishi and Pump Drills

Beads come in many different shapes and colors The bead in a disk shape, called heishi, featured on this necklace are made out of coconut shell. To make the coconut shell into beads, a hole was drilled using a pump drill like the one below: Beads were drilled halfway through […]

27 May 2019; Memorial Day and Code Talkers

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for our fallen warriors If you have ever participated in a Native event, such as our past Powwows, you would have noticed that every event has at least one daily event where members of the military are asked to come forward so they […]

29 May 2017; Memorial Day and Code Talkers

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for our fallen warriors If you have ever participated in a Native event, such as our past Powwows, you would have noticed that every event has at least one daily event where members of the military are asked to come forward so they […]