What make s a person Indigenous? ….There are an estimated 476 million Indigenous people in about 5,000 Indigenous groups spread out all over the world. They live in almost every corner of the globe, including the frozen Arctic in northern Canada and Alaska, the plains of the U.S., the mountains and rain forests of Latin America, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and just about anywhere else that people live – including major cities. Each of those unique groups has deep, historical connections to a particular part of the world. And their experiences have produced just as many unique cultures. Where you live – especially if your family has lived there for centuries – can have a huge impact on your way of life. It shapes things like the type of home you live in, the food you eat, how you cook and even things like how and who you worship in your religion.
There is a group Uncovering The Effects Of The Indian Relocation Act Of 1956…The Red Road Project, established in 2013, highlights Native American history through words and visual storytelling. Throughout the United States’ complicated history, the stories of Native Americans have often been misrepresented and misunderstood in the cultural mainstream narrative — but groups today, such as The Red Road Project, are working to share Native American experiences as told by indigenous people. Since European colonizers first landed in North America, Native Americans were killed, lied to and moved around, with Indigenous Americans being displaced from their own land. With the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the US government allowed European-Americans and their descendants to take land and forcibly move indigenous peoples to other areas. To try and avoid violence, President Ulysses S. Grant pursued a “Peace Policy” in 1868 with the goal of relocating tribes from their ancestral land to designated parcels. This resulted in many remaining Native Americans being corralled and effectively forced to live on reservations.
