American Cultures: A Struggle for Justice (Evidence from History, Literature and Film)Coming in 2025 EndorsementsProfessors' Comments:
“Whether you’re a student trying to expand your understanding of the American experience, an educator seeking to gain valuable knowledge and insight to share with your class, or just a curious person who wishes to delve deeply into the amazing American experiment, you will be transformed by this text.” Elisa Shore, Professor, English as a Second Language, City College of San Francisco. “Using the pleasurable means of literature and film, this book offers an honest and probing analysis of America’s collective psyche and its rich cultural mosaic…Its interesting and relevant content supports the notion that another world of social justice and peaceful coexistence is possible.” Allan Fisher, Professor, English as a Second Language, City College of San Francisco. “Having grown up in the United States and educated my whole life about it, I thought I was intimately familiar with “American cultures.” However, after taking Professor Jabbar’s class, reading the compiled materials in his book, and watching the linked videos, I realized how much I’d missed. The book opened my eyes and understanding to the panoply of cultures—their histories, struggles, and contributions—that makes this country resilient and exceptionally great. I highly recommend one and all exploring the whole nation with Professor Jabbar as trusted and informed navigator.” Jenny Hammer, Professor (retd.), English as a Second Language, City College of San Francisco, Author, Albert Drosoph’s Field Guide to Punctuation "Dr. Jabbar has assembled a rich collection that embraces the diverse people, experiences and cultural traditions that make up the great American experiment. He weaves together a wonderful mosaic of stories, films and essays that cover the breadth of the many Americas that exist, offering a variety of extraordinary voices and unique perspectives. Thought provoking and enlightening." Kim Tally, Writer, Editor and Journalist. Students’ Comments I cherish and learn from my students’ comments on my teaching. Here are some of their views on the literary selections and movies in the reader for my interdisciplinary studies class on American Cultures in Literature and Film. That reader is now been made into this book. “Professor Abdul Jabbar: I just wanted to drop you a small note to let you know how much I really enjoyed and appreciated your class. Your choice of poems, short stories, articles and films was eye and mind opening. It was not at all what I expected. This class has inspired me to be a little more engaged and given the climate we now find ourselves in I welcome that. Keep teaching and challenging your students.— Veronica Smith” “Thank you so much for this incredible course. The materials are wonderful - I'll be holding on to this reader for my children to read (they're 5, 3, and 1 now).… “Again, thank you for this course. It should be required at every university. I have a BA in international relations and a JD, and this is one of the best classes I've ever taken. It's been really hard to read a lot of the reading material--hearing it in the voices of the people who actually feel it is so powerful. But it is so worthwhile. Thank you!—Jennifer Stringfellow” “Thank you for the learning and insight that your course fostered over the last few months. I was sometimes feeling rushed between work, school, and life taking its dues, but I thoroughly enjoyed your course. I felt engaged with the work and often found myself wearing the perspectives of our readings and themes of our discussions for days at a time, much like when a skillful work of fiction or film pulls you into its world and everything you see during the day becomes informed by the experience. In this case the perspective was also informed by the historical content.—Samuel Speas” “School and grades and academia aside, I deeply admire your work. I was profoundly challenged by your course in ways that forced me to examine my own ingrained paradigms, preconceived notions that I didn't even know were a part of how I saw this life I'm existing in. In exploring these places in me, my worldview, my mind and, most importantly, my heart was expanded to planes I hadn't conceived of. For that, I am eternally grateful. Your offering to our world, in this course and your other work, is a gift. Thank you.—Victoria Robertson” "In the literary world, there's no shortage of thought-provoking material. Unfortunately, most of that material is of very particular origin: straight, white men.…but where are the people of color? The LGBT voices?…I found the material [in this book] refreshing in its relevance and diversity of voices and attitudes. It's an unflinching look at lives of people who would otherwise be ignored, and therefore an essential read not only to the growing writer, but the average American." Abigail Kelly, novelist and author of Knitbone.” “In the class reader (now being made into a regular book), I appreciated the mix of prose, poetry, fiction and non-fiction from a diverse variety of authors and sources, both noted and obscure. Additionally, I especially appreciated that the works were thoughtfully chosen, and presented views both uncommon and uncommonly fair. For example, very few people care about presenting both sides of the Jewish and Arab issue, and fewer still include works by Black men sympathetic to poor Whites. As a mixed person, I took great pleasure in that—Anonymous
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Chapter-by-Chapter Links to Readings & ViewingChapter 1Description
URLs
Sixteen Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World
The True Story of Pocahontas Is More Complicated Than You Might Think” by Jackie Mansky; updated by Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian, February 20, 2024
Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again,” a poem by Langston Hughes (4:44)
Rudyard Kipling, “We and They,” a poem. (The last stanza is of special relevance to cultivation of empathetic understanding of “others.”)
George McGovern, Democracy Now’s presentation on George McGovern (58:56)
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (London and New York: Longman, 1980/1994) pdf by United Diversity Library (628 pages)
Sixteen Indigenous Guiding Principles for Co-creating a Sustainable, Harmonious, Prosperous World
Native American Heroic Women
Notable Native American Warrior Women
Prof. Jackie Mansky questions the prevailing Pocahontas legend
Native American poet Paula Allen on Pocahontas and her English husband John Rolfe
Nick Estes: Leonard Peltier’s Continued Imprisonment Is an “Open Wound for Indian Country” (59:02) May 13, 2022
“Biden Should Grant Executive Clemency to Leonard Peltier Now” by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Feb 10, 2022
Leonard Peltier Has COVID; His Lawyer—an Ex-Federal Judge—Calls for Native Leader to Be Freed. (59:02) January 31, 2022
“U.S. Marks 100th Anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre, When White Mob Destroyed ‘Black Wall Street’.”
More links for the Tulsa Massacre
If this tinyurl does not work, use the following url:
To come out of the internment-like camps, the black internees had to be vouched by a white person.
Latin Americans timeline
Asian Americans timeline
A documentary titled American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs:
Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza Strip since October 2023, exceeding World War II bombings in Dresden, Hamburg, London combined.
U.S. media bias against Palestinians:
Link
Chapter 2Description
URLs
N. Scott Momaday, "Revisiting Sacred Ground," in The Man Made of Words.
Chief Seattle’s words of wisdom:
Sixteen Indigenous Guiding Principles for Co-Creating a Sustainable, Harmonious, Prosperous World. Drafted by Four Worlds International Institute: Dedicated to Unifying the Human Family Through the Fourth Way
Ishmael by Danial Quinn, (Bantam, 1995)
John Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (Bison Books, 2014)
Luther Standing Bear, “What the Indian Means to America,” The Land of the Spotted Eagle (1933)
Samuel Gilbert, “Native Americans’ farming practices may help feed a warming world,” West River Eagle, December 10, 2021.
Another link:
“Lullaby,” a short story by Leslie Marmon Silko. (link also included in Chapters 4, 6, and 9)
“As It Was in the Beginning,” a short story by E. Pauline Johnson (Also included in Chapters 4 and 6)
Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha (Red Jacket), “1805 Oration of Red Jacket”
Chief Seattle (Quotes)
Native American Wisdom (quotes)
Sara Kettler, “5 Powerful and Influential Native American Women,” Biography newsletter, October 30, 2020. The five Native women honored in Sara Kettler’s article are Nanye-hi (Nancy Ward), Sacagawea, Sarah Winnemucca, Lozen, and Susan La Flesche.
Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (University of Nevada Press, 1994, first published in 1883)
“Foreword”:
Boban Docevski, “Notable and Important Native American Warrior Women of the Nineteenth Century.”
Paula Gunn Allen. A reading of “Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe,” a poem with images from “The New World” from Skins and Bones (West End Press, 1988) 2:13
Another link to the reading of the same poem:
Print version of the poem:
Feminist Response: Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe
Pocahontas: Beyond the Myth. Smithsonian Channel’s documentary reviewed by Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian Magazine, March 23, 2017
Link
Chapter 3Description
URLs
Misleading poster, titled “California: Cornucopia of the World.” From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
“Why the Gold Rush Is One of the Darkest Moments in US History” (11:26; Whitewashed)
BBC World America: The American Dream (3:56)
"The American Dream & Other Fairy Tales": Disney Heiress Tackles Inequality and Family Legacy (18:36)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” (6:46)
Another link for Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" Full Speech Restored (17:17)
NPR transcript of this speech:
Denzel Washington’s Motivational Speech to graduating students: “Fall Forward” (10:05)
James Baldwin Pin Drop Speech on African Americans and the American dream during a debate with William Buckley at Cambridge University (8:14). This is the shorter version of the full debate linked in the next item.
James Baldwin vs William Buckley: A legendary debate from 1965 (58:42)
James Baldwin’s speech on the American dream: “Has the American Dream Been Achieved at the Expense of the American Negro?” (58:53)
James Baldwin's Speech on the American Dream (2:16)
Samir Doshi, “Decolonizing Our Dreams”
Short Stories about the American Dream
Andrew Carnegie, “Wealth” (alternatively titled “The Gospel of Wealth”). North American Review, Vol. CXLVIII, June 1889. Reprinted in Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays, ed. Andrew C. Kirkland (Cambridge, MA: 1962).
Another link (pdf): “The Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie
“Rain in a Dry Land,” movie review by John Anderson, Variety, March 8, 2006
America Is in the Heart: A Personal History by Carlos Bulosan (University of Washington Press; revised edition, 2014).Read selections from this book according to their relevance to the chapter being studied. For this chapter, which relates to the American dream, read Bulosan’s Chapter XLIX excerpt starting with “The next morning” and ending with the word “ever.” Also read the two-paragraph excerpt from p. 189. It starts with “It is but fair to say” and ends with We are America!” And finally, read the 8-line excerpt from the novel’s p. 312. It starts with “We who came to the United States as immigrants are Americans too.” It ends with the word “unencumbered.” Accessing specific pages is very easy by choosing the “jump” option on the screen. Permanent link to the entire book America Is in the Heart.
Arundhati Roy, The End of Imagination (Haymarket Books, 2016). The title essay is linked. Pages 8–9 are the only parts that are relevant to the American dream. Roy offers an important variation on the conventional view of the American dream. Of special importance is the part beginning with “Contrary to all… and ending with…And never, never to forget.”
Loren Eisley, “The Brown Wasps,” an essay in The Night Journey (Library of America, 2016)
"The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner’s, 1925) Read only those parts of the novel that relate to the Chapter’s topic, that is, the American dream. For example, Chapters 2 and 9 of the novel seem especially relevant. The opening paragraphs of Chapter 2 show the disintegration of the American dream in general, whereas in Chapter 9, Fitzgerald describes the tragic waste of Gatsby’s dream as a symbol of the disintegration of the American dream in general.Chapter 2, pages 9-14. This part ends with “Wilson sat discreetly in another car.”
Chapter 9, page 93-99. The words of special importance start with “The morning of the funeral I went up to New York to see Meyer Wolfshiem”—page 99. "
Chapter 4Description
URLs
John Gast’s painting “American Progress” (1872) highlights the themes of this Chapter:
“Why the Gold Rush Is One of the Darkest Moments in U.S. History”:
The Traumatic Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
US Indian Boarding School History
U.S. to Search Former Native American Schools for Children’s Remains
Cultural Genocide
Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools
US churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools
Reclaiming Native Truth Project Study
Today’s Remaining Native American Boarding Schools Are a Far Cry from Their History
A Century of Trauma at U.S. Boarding Schools for Native American Children
How the US Stole Thousands of Native American Children.
Stolen Children: Residential School Survivors Speak Out
A short 12-minute film titled “Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery” with an accompanying article.
A group photo of prominent Native and non-Native activists, such as Muhammad Ali, Buffy Saint Marie, Marlon Brando, and others.
Native American actor Sacheen Littlefeather conveyed Brando’s regrets for not accepting the Award.
On the Dick Cavett Show, Brando talked about the reasons for his not accepting the Oscar Award:
The Longest Walk 2 (2008) as reported by Morning Star Gali, February 5, 2008.
Native resistance against the North Dakota Exxon-Mobil Gas Pipeline, a direct encroachment on Indian sacred sites and drinking water supply. The location was Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
Native American History Timeline
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
“Why the Gold Rush Is One of the Darkest Moments in US History” | Whitewashed (11:26)
History of Native California (12:57)
The "Indian Problem" (12:31) Narrated by Robert Redford
Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24 by John Green (12:43)
Phillips, Charles. “Wounded Knee Massacre: United States versus the Plains Indians” on December 29, 1890, Historynet, June 12, 2006; also American History, December, 2005, 40(5) pp. 16–68.
America's Great Indian Nations—full length documentary (54:34)
1805 Oration of Red Jacket (Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha)
Link to the complete book, An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha or The Red Jacket and His People (1750-1830) by J. Niles Hubbard (Albany, New York: Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1886), 394 pages Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corpn.
“Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery,” a 12-minute film made by Teaching Tolerance, with an accompanying article.
Diseases brought by Europeans and wars killed close to 60 million Natives during the first 100 years from the start of colonization in 1492. Study in Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 207, March 2019, Pages 13-36
Another link for the same study:
“Death by Civilization” by Mary Annette Pember, The Atlantic, March 8, 2019
The Traumatic Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
US Indian Boarding School History
U.S. to Search Former Native American Schools for Children’s Remains
Cultural Genocide
Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools
US churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools
Reclaiming Native Truth Project Study
Today’s Remaining Native American Boarding Schools Are a Far Cry from Their History
A Century of Trauma at U.S. Boarding Schools for Native American Children
“How the US Stole Thousands of Native American Children” (13:41)
Article: “How the US Stole Thousands of Native American Children,” Vox, October 14, 2019, by Ranjani Chakraborty
“American Indian Boarding Schools: A Small US Town Digs for the Truth,” a report by Foreign Correspondent. 29:53
“Indian Boarding School: The Runaways,” poem by Louise Erdrich from Original Fire: Selected and New Poems (HarperCollins, 2003)
“Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” by Louise Erdrich; Andrew Spacey’s analysis of the poem, Owlcation, September 16, 2020
“The Lasting Impact of Native American Residential Schools” by Cheyenne Bearfoot, KQED, December 1, 2021
“There Are No Words,” a poem by Reohad Randall about the Indian boarding schools’ atrocities
Text of the poem with analysis by Grace Terry: “Poet gives voice to the horror of boarding school atrocities,” West River Eagle, December 8, 2021
“Stolen Children: Residential School Survivors Speak Out” (18:35)
Sara Kettler, Famous Native American Women
Boban Docevski, Notable Important Native American Warrior Women of the Nineteenth Century
“The True Story of Pocahontas Is More Complicated Than You Might Think” by Jackie Mansky; updated by Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian, February 20, 2024
William Jay Smith, The Cherokee Lottery: A Sequence of Poems (Northwestern University Press, Curbstone Books, 2000)
“Wounded Knee” by history.com editors
“I am everyone,” poem by Leonard Peltier
Democracy Now’s interviews with the Native American activist Leonard Peltier (links below) give a lot of important information about his incarceration, including some of his poems. (53:01)
Exclusive: Leonard Peltier Speaks Out from Prison on Denial of Medical Care, Bid for Clemency (58:56)
“So Live Your Life” by Chief Tecumseh (A Native American Poem) 2:50. #poem #nativeamerican #wisdom Read by Shane MorrisChief Tecumseh was a great Native American warrior chief who was leader of a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War. Although his efforts to unite Native Americans ended with his death in the War of 1812, he became an iconic folk hero in American, Indigenous, and Canadian history.
Native American Misrepresentation in Films (37:55)
“Sociological Images”: In her blog, Lisa Wade, Professor of Sociology, discusses the manufactured images of Native Americans.
The Native American actor Sacheen Littlefeather conveys Brando’s regrets for not accepting the Award.
Revisiting Sacheen Littlefeather’s Shocking Appearance at the 1973 Oscars, by Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, September 27, 2022. The Academy formally apologized for how Littlefeather was treated after she declined the Best Actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando.
On the Dick Cavett Show, Brando talks about the reasons for his not accepting the Oscar Award:
Native American Proverbs (Life-Changing Wisdom) 3:50
Native American Proverbs (5:11) Source: #echowill #nativeAmericanProverbs
“Indivisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas”
“American Indian Activism and the Siege of Wounded Knee” by Jason Pierce, Bill of Rights Institute (printed article)
Native Americans resist desecration of their sacred earth by the North Dakota Exxon-Mobil Pipeline
The Native historian LaDonna Brave Bull Allard’s role in leading the 2016 Anti-DAPL Uprising,”
“Lullaby,” a short story by Leslie Marmon Silko. (Also included in Chapters 2 and 6)
“As It Was in the Beginning,” a short story by E. Pauline Johnson (Also included in Chapters 2 and 6)
Lakota Historian Nick Estes on Thanksgiving, Settler Colonialism & Continuing Indigenous Resistance, Democracy Now, November 28, 2024 (11:48)
Zinn’s Chapter 7: As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs (p. 128) bottom of the page beginning with “The leading books on the Jacksonian period, written by respected…” and page 146.
Zinn’s Chapter 8: We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God (Page 147)
Zinn’s Chapter 12: The Empire and the People (Page 304) bottom of the page beginning with…“The report termed the request for coaling or naval stations…”—page 310 mid-way ending with “And yet, there was with all this the consciousness of a brutal war, fought against colored people, a counterpart of the violence committed against black people in the United States.” (Page 312) beginning with “Back home, while the war against the Filipinos was going on, a group of Massachusetts Negroes addressed a message to President McKinley…”—ending on Page 313
Zinn’s Chapter 13: The Socialist Challenge (Page 314–Page 316), second-to-last paragraph ending with “True, the very big businesses were not hurt, but profits after 1907 were not as high as capitalists wanted, industry was not expanding as fast as it might, and industrialists began to look for ways to cut costs.”
Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe, a poem by Paula Gunn Allen
“Giving Blood,” a poem by Sherman Alexie
“The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore,” a short story by Sherman Alexie
“This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” a short story by Sherman Alexie
A helpful comment on “This Is What It Means”:
“Remembering the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz” by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Alice Woelfle, Kyana Moghadam, Alan Montecillo
“Longest Walk emphasizes Native American concerns,” The Final Call, by Askia Muhammad. Last updated: July 22, 2008
“Indians of All Tribes to Commemorate the 52nd Anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz Island on Saturday,” dated November 17, 2021, by Levi Rickert
From A Native Daughter, a book of nonfiction by Haunani-Kay Trask. PDF of a part of the book:
“Inside USA—The Other Hawai’i,” part 1 (11:42 mins)
“Inside USA—The Other Hawai’i,” part 2 (11 mins)
Avi Lewis visits the people behind the native movement for self-determination in
Hawaii. Well over 200 years old the movement has recently been gaining in strength.
Archive footage courtesy of www.namaka.com.” (Al Jazeera English)
“Hawai’i Statehood.” PBS Learning Media video (3:11)
Philip Thomas’s review of Ridley Scott’s movie, “1492–Conquest of Paradise” (1992), 150 minutes. Review date: January 1, 2000
Tell Them, a poem by Kathy Jetnil-Kijjiner
“I Am Joaquin,” poem by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales
A Daily Joy to Be Alive, a poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca (Pages 3-4)
Poema para los Californios Muertos, a poem by Lorna Dee Cervantes
Boricua Artist Lah Tere reads from Oscar Lopez Rivera's book, "Between Torture and Resistance" (7:03)
P-SPAN #713-B Oscar Lopez Rivera, part 2 (16:39)
P-SPAN #713 Oscar Lopez Rivera Lecture, at Berkeley City College (57:56)
Oscar Lopez Rivera: Resistance and Resilience (57:23)
PM Press “Oscar Lopez Rivera” (blog)
“Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery,” a 12-minute film made by Teaching Tolerance, with an accompanying article
We Shall Remain: American Experience, PBS mini-series (2009). Directed by Chris Eyre. Five 90-minute documentaries spanning 300 years tell the story in U. S. history from the Native American perspective.
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The New World (2005), directed by Terrence Malick. A feature film
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Dead Man directed by Jim Jarmusch
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Leslie M. Silko: This video is a part of the Native American Novelists series produced by Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
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Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris, Bill Moyers' series "A World of Ideas" (documentary)
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N. Scott Momaday in the same series as noted above
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Smoke Signals, a feature film based on Sherman Alexie's writings
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Dances with Wolves, a feature film by Kevin Costner
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Geronimo: An American Legend, directed by Walter Hill
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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, directed by Yves Simoneau (was shown on HBO in 2007)
Incident at Oglala (about Leonard Peltier's long incarceration), narrated by Robert Redford
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The following documentaries have been shown at annual American Indian Film Festivals. To find out about their availability for viewing, check their website (www.aifisf.com).
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"Trudell," directed by Heather Rae, Visionmaker Video, nominated for the best documentary in 2005 (88 mins). This film chronicles the life and work of John Trudell, a Native American activist
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"Half of Anything," directed by Jonathan Tomhave. This documentary with Sherman Alexie, John Trudell, Christine Entrekin, and Deborah Bassett answers the question: "What is a REAL Indian?" (Native Voices, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA) (25 minutes)
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"Scrubbed White," directed by Frank Mitchell and Anna Geyer (30 mins). Living in two worlds, the character faces the barriers of preconceived and stereotypical views of Native Americans in contemporary Western society, while struggling for his place, being an educated man of color in the United States. The main character's plight can be compared to that of other minorities in America today.
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"The New World," directed by Terrence Malick (2005) 2 hours, 52 mins
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"Smoke Signals," "Dances with Wolves," "Incident at Oglala," and “The New World” may be easily available. The rest may involve some searching.
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To honor the National Native American Heritage Month in November, 2020, the American Indian Film Festival 45’s showings (November 6–14) consisted of many films, such as “Rez Dogs,” “Monkey Beach,” etc., that were screened virtually because of COVID-19 pandemic. The festival’s complete list of movies can be obtained from American Indian Film Institute, San Francisco <[email protected]>.
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“Hawai’i the Stolen Paradise” (53 minutes)
“Noho Hewa, An Indigenous Struggle Part 1 (47:08)
“Noho Hewa, An Indigenous Struggle Part 2 (47:09)
“1492–Conquest of Paradise,” directed by Ridley Scott (1992), 150 mins
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