Native American History

From battlefields to ballet stages, these five Native American leaders broke barriers and defied expectations.

Resistant to government regulated reservations, the Sioux retreated into the Black Hills until a final massacre at Wounded Knee.

Settlers seize Great Plains land as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse lead Lakota resistance against the encroaching U.S. Army.

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse face George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at Little Bighorn.

Find out how Andrew Jackson's controversial Indian Removal Act paved the way for The Trail of Tears.

From Chunkey in 600 CE to NASCAR today, America’s been racing wheels for centuries—it all started with the Cahokia people.

Before it was a toy, the Hula Hoop was used in Native dances to mimic nature and symbolize the circle of life and cyclical balance.

In 1876, General Custer and members of several Plains Indian tribes, including Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, battled in eastern Montana in what would become known as Custer's Last Stand.

The French and Indian War saw two European imperialists go head-to-head over territory and marked the debut of the soldier who would become America's first president.

From goggles to kayaks and more, discover eight incredible inventions by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The buffalo was an essential part of Native American life, used in everything from religious rituals to teepee construction.

Explore 5 facts about the Proclamation of 1763, a decree originally enacted to calm the tension between Native Americans and colonials, but became one of the earliest causes of the American Revolution.

Alcatraz, known to most as a famous prison, became an important mark in salvation for Native American history.

Piestewa kept true to her roots and made the ultimate sacrifice for her comrades in battle.

Samuel F. Sandoval, one of the four surviving Navajo Code Talkers, discusses his military career and the Navajo language.

Historian Zonnie Gorman, whose father was one of the original Navajo Code Talker, discusses the unit’s herculean efforts during World War II.

An unlikely bond between the Native Americans and the Irish shows the best of humanity in the darkest times.

Mary Ross, one of the first Native American women engineers, helped shape top-secret Cold War projects that changed history.

After Japan invaded the Aleutians, 6,300 Alaska Natives formed the Alaska Territorial Guard to defend against further invasion.

Maria Tallchief, a trailblazing Native American, became a famed prima ballerina and the Nutcracker’s iconic Sugar Plum Fairy.