Upcoming Pow Wow, 5 Native History Facts, New Pow Wow Puzzle Book and more!
Published 18 days agoΒ β’Β 11 min read
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We're home for a stretch right now and I needed it. I've got a list of projects I've been itching to get to, and I'm finally making real progress on them.
One I can tell you about, we're doing a full redesign and update of the Pow Wow calendar. I can't wait to show you what it's going to look like. It's going to make finding pow wows so much easier. More on that soon.
One I just launched, I started a brand new free weekly newsletter called This Week Around Indian Country. Every Thursday, I hand-pick 10 news stories from across Indian Country and drop them straight in your inbox. Politics, culture, gaming, events, the stories that matter. It's free, it's weekly, and if you're not already on it, I'll drop a link below. First issue already went out and the response was great.
And then there are a couple of other things I'm working on that aren't quite ready to talk about.
Don't forget, we're also in the middle of celebrating Powwows.com's 30th anniversary all summer long. We've got two giveaways running right now featuring Native-owned brands, and I'll have those links below too.
Now, scroll down and dig in. I've packed a lot into this one, and there just might be a surprise hiding further down if you make it to the bottom. π
Thanks,
Paul G PowWows.com
P.S. I almost forgot to mention this, but we just launched something I'm really proud of. The Pow Wow Puzzle Book is here β 50+ pages of word searches, crosswords, and word scrambles built entirely around the powwow world. The dances, the songs, the regalia, the traditions. It's $11.99 with shipping included, and it makes the perfect road trip companion to your next pow wow. Grab yours below.
There's a version of American history most of us were taught. Pilgrims, Columbus, Lewis and Clark, the Wild West. Somewhere in the margins, Native Americans appear, mostly as backdrop.
That version leaves out a lot.
It leaves out a civilization that was, at its peak, larger than London. It leaves out one of the most important legal minds in 19th-century America β a man who invented something no single person had ever done alone before him. It leaves out a military force so dominant it stopped the Spanish Empire cold for 150 years. It leaves out a network of nations whose system of government helped inspire the one that now governs 330 million people.
Creek Nation tribal member, Army veteran, and serial entrepreneur Dave Smoot is on a mission to change the future of aviation β and bring Native communities along for the journey.
On June 11, 1971, federal officers removed the last Native activists from Alcatraz Island, ending a 19-month occupation that helped change the direction of Native rights in this country.
But the story didnβt begin with the removal.
It began in 1969, when a group called Indians of All Tribes landed on Alcatraz and claimed the island as Native land. The old prison had been abandoned, and the activists argued that under treaty language, unused federal land should be returned to Native people.
They didnβt just protest.
They built a community.
Families lived there. Children learned there. Native voices broadcast from the island through Radio Free Alcatraz. For 19 months, that cold, rocky island in San Francisco Bay became a symbol of Native resistance, survival, and sovereignty.
The occupation ended when the government forced the remaining activists off the island.
But the movement did not end there.
Alcatraz helped bring national attention to Native issues at a time when many people in power still expected Native people to disappear into the background. It helped inspire a new era of activism and pushed the country toward conversations about tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and self-determination.
Most people know Alcatraz as a prison.
But for Native people, it is also a reminder.
A reminder that sometimes history doesnβt move forward because people politely wait their turn.
Sometimes it moves because people stand on a rock in the middle of the bay and say, βWe are still here.β
Want more of these types of stories?
π Subscribe to This Week in Native History and make sure the full story is always in your inbox.
If you've ever missed a pow wow because you just didn't know about it in time, this is for you.
The Powwows.com Pow Wow Calendar eBook gives you every pow wow for the next 12 months, organized by state and month, in a searchable PDF you can pull up on your phone anywhere.
New edition every month. Always current. June's book is now available.
$5.00 / month
$3.75 / month
Pow Wow Calendar eBook
View Pow Wow listings by month and state for the next 12 months.
Each month we will send a new edition! The ebook... Read more
Some things are better talked about than just read.
The Circle is where the conversation continues β a place to ask questions, share what you know, post photos from the trail, and connect with people who get it. No ads, no algorithm deciding what you see. Just real people who care about the same things you do.
This week's conversation starter:
What do you look forward to on Fridays?
Come jump into the conversation, see what everybody else is saying, and add your pick too. I always love seeing where these discussions go.
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