HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. To celebrate Native American Heritage Monthon our program today:
We play some award-winning Native American music …
Answer a question from two listeners about the holidayThankgiving …
And report about new movies written and directed by NativeAmericans.
Native American Movies
HOST:
November is the month the United States celebrates NativeAmerican history and culture. One way people can learn about NativeAmerican Indian culture is through motion pictures. Shirley Griffithexplains.
ANNCR:
American Indians have been shown in American movies for manyyears. But they were often shown in false ways. They usually actedas the faithful friend to the white man, or as a fierce fighterthreatening the white man or as a spiritual person guiding the whiteman. Native American Indians generally never wrote, directed oracted the leading part in movies. This, however, is changing.
Several Native American filmdirectors have begun creating their own movies about their cultureand traditions. Cheyenne-Arapaho filmmaker Chris Eyre is leading themovement. His nineteen-ninety-eight film called “Smoke Signals”received several honors at the Sundance Film Festival. The MiramaxFilm Company bought the movie and showed it widely around thecountry. The film has earned about six-million dollars.
“Smoke Signals” is the story of two Native American Indians whotake a road trip to collect the remains of one character’s fatherwho has died. The two men in the film wanted to show that NativeAmerican Indians are like other people. They are funny, sad, strangeand interesting. The film is based on a short story written byNative American writer Sherman Alexie.
Mister Alexie also wrote and directed another Native Americanfilm released earlier this year. It is called “The Business ofFancydancing.” The film is about two boys who grow up on the SpokaneIndian Reservation in Washington state. The friends separate beforeleaving for college. Years later, they are reunited at the funeralof a friend.
Perhaps the most surprising film about Native people this year isone spoken almost completely in the Inuit Indian language. Thethree-hour movie is called “The Fast Runner.” First-time moviemakerZac Kunuk filmed it in the Canadian Arctic. All the actors andcrewmembers in the film are Inuit Indians.
Like recent Native American films, this one aims to changepeople’s ideas about Indians. Native American filmmakers are tryingto educate people about their culture and customs. They want tochange people’s ideas about the image of Indians created byfilmmakers in Hollywood.
Thanksgiving
HOST:
Our VOA question this week comes from listeners in India andIran. Both Shan Sampath and Nima Faroud ask about the Americanholiday Thanksgiving.
Yesterday, November twenty-eighth, was Thanksgiving Day in theUnited States. Friends and family members across the countrygathered to celebrate. They attended religious services or watchedsports on television. Almost everyone ate a huge meal. OnThanksgiving, Americans eat some of the same foods eaten at thefirst Thankgiving hundreds of years ago. These include turkey, sweetpotatoes, squash, corn, cranberries and pumpkin pie.
Settlers from England calledPilgrims are believed to have held the first Thanksgiving meal insixteen-twenty-one. They had arrived in what is now the northeasternUnited States a year earlier. Soon, more than half had died fromdisease or lack of food.
Those who survived held a day of thanksgiving. They thanked Godfor protecting them. They also thanked the Native American Indianswho lived in the area. These Indians were part of the Wampanoagtribe. The Wampanoags had helped save the Pilgrims by showing themhow to fish and plant crops.
The Pilgrims celebrated for about three days. About ninetyWampanoag Indians joined the celebration. They ate deer, ducks,geese, turkeys and pumpkins. And the two groups made a peace andfriendship agreement giving the Pilgrims an area in the forest tobuild their town.
This friendship did not continue for long. More English settlerscame to America. Unlike the Pilgrims, they did not need help fromthe Indians. Many settlers forgot about the help the Indians hadprovided. Within a few years, the Indians and the English settlerswere at war. Many of the Wampanoags were killed in battle or diedfrom diseases brought by the white people.
Native Americans living today have criticized many of the happystories that have been told through the years about the firstThanksgiving. They say everyone should learn the truth about whathappened after the Europeans arrived in North America.
NAMA Awards
HOST:
Earlier this year, the Native American Music Association held itsfifth yearly awards ceremony. The awards honor musicians, singersand other Native American music makers. Mary Tillotson plays musicby some of the winners.
ANNCR:
The Native American MusicAssociation named Joanne Shenandoah Artist of the Year. She is amember of the Oneida tribe in the northeastern state of New York.Joanne Shenandoah is known for mixing traditional songs of her tribewith modern folk music. Here she performs a traditionalchant,”Kaluhyanu:Wes” from her album, “Matriarch.”
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Each year, The Native American Music Association names an artistto the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame. The winner thisyear was country and western singer Kitty Wells. Here is Kitty Wellssinging her hit song from the nineteen-fifties, “It Wasn’t God WhoMade Honky Tonk Angels.”
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The Native American Music Association honored Mary Youngbloodwith the Best New Age Recording Award. Mary Youngblood writes musicand plays the Native American flute. Her award winning album iscalled “Beneath the Raven Moon.” We leave you now with the titlesong from that album.
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Jill Moss and NancySteinbach. Our studio engineer was Glen Matlock. And our producerwas Paul Thompson.