Blog

Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate brings orchestra, language, dance and storytelling together in Lowak Shoppala’, a major work centered on Chickasaw history and living culture.

Taté Walker is a Two Spirit Mniconjou Lakota writer whose poetry confronts colonial expectations while exploring identity, kinship and responsibility. Their collection The Trickster Riots was featured in the Museum of Indigenous People’s 2023 Native Voice exhibition.

The story of Lori Ann Piestewa, the Hopi soldier whose name is carried by one of Phoenix’s most recognizable mountains.

Born near Four Peaks and taken from his Yavapai family as a child, Wassaja became Dr. Carlos Montezuma, a physician, publisher, and outspoken defender of Native rights and Fort McDowell land and water.

Diné scientist Reagan Wytsalucy is restoring the Southwest peach and reconnecting Native communities with a food nearly erased by forced removal.

Diné artist Landis Bahe works across tattooing, painting, music, and contemporary Native art. His practice opens a larger story about Indigenous tattoo traditions, cultural renewal, personal expression, and the responsibilities carried by designs placed permanently on the body.

CONTRIBUTIONS closes July 31, 2026, at the Museum of Indigenous People. Explore the Indigenous technologies, food systems, ideas, and living knowledge highlighted throughout the exhibit.

Chunkey is an ancient Indigenous game requiring speed, endurance, accuracy, and judgment. Its history connects Cahokia, the Mississippian world, the Mandan, the Chickasaw Nation, and many other communities across North America.

Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup has ended, the Puyallup Tribe’s historic role deserves reflection. The Tribe became the first sovereign Indigenous Nation to serve as an official FIFA Host City Supporter, helping Seattle welcome the world while sharing Puyallup language, culture and contemporary community life.

Can tribal nations be fully sovereign if another government controls criminal jurisdiction and sacred lands? Explore Native sovereignty, Oliphant, Bears Ears, Chaco Canyon, and treaty rights.

Lacrosse returns to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, but its story began long before the modern Games. Indigenous nations, especially the Haudenosaunee, shaped one of North America’s oldest team sports.

The Tour de France is known as one of the world’s ultimate endurance tests. But who are the Native American, First Nations, and Indigenous cyclists who have reached cycling’s biggest stage?

Long before chile peppers traveled across oceans and transformed global cuisine, Indigenous farmers in the Americas were cultivating, selecting, and sharing them. This story explores how peppers became one of the world’s most important Indigenous food contributions.

Learn how Ojibwe inventor Olivia Poole drew from cradleboard knowledge to create the Jolly Jumper, a lasting Indigenous contribution to modern baby care today.

Generations of "Skywalkers" (Mohawk ironworkers from Kahnawà and Akwesasne) helped shape New York’s bridges, skyscrapers, and the World Trade Center. Their story connects Indigenous skill, family responsibility, dangerous high-iron work, and the recovery and rebuilding that followed September 11.

The Skidi Pawnee Star Chart is one of the most compelling examples of Indigenous astronomy in North America. It reflects a Pawnee understanding of the sky as a source of knowledge, ceremony, order, and responsibility.

Akimel O’odham, Tohono O’odham, and Western Apache foodways show how Indigenous communities developed distinct approaches to farming, gathering, and thriving in the Southwest.

Before kayaks became recreational boats, Arctic Indigenous peoples developed them for hunting, fishing, travel, and survival in cold waters. This MIP article explores the kayak as an Indigenous contribution rooted in engineering, environmental knowledge, and generations of design skill.

Discover how Hohokam engineers built hundreds of miles of canals that sustained communities and helped shape Arizona’s Salt River Valley in the Sonoran Desert.

Donicio Sánchez’s life offers a deeper look into the artistic and cultural legacy of San Ildefonso Pueblo. More than a collaborator in pottery, he was a vital link between generations, contributing to a tradition that shaped Indigenous art in the Southwest. His story reveals the people behind the craft—honoring family, identity, and the enduring strength of Pueblo culture.