Artwork and Quotes from the Best in Indian Country
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“Indian Landscape,” Ca. 1971 |
"A lot of folks don't realize that Indians still exist in their ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi. That's really the product of an educational system that essentially taught a version of history that excluded who we are. There was a method to that madness -- it didn't happen accidentally. It happened because those folks who approved textbooks and the curriculum of the schools told it their way. The fact that people in [Virginia] didn't realize we existed wasn't happenstance. It was all part of a systematic process to disallow American Indians' existence." Stephen Adkins, Chickahominy |
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Sovereignty rests with the people. It grows inside us. Sometimes our anger can lead us to sovereignty of self. Direct it inward to build strength. Don't rely on courts or governments." Tome Roubideaux, Lakota
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American Indian Gothic, 1954 David Bradley, American/Chippewa/Lakota |
 Singing Spirit Mask Aarnaquq (Phillip John Charette), Yup'ik |
"Someday
the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with
tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let
her die, and when she dies, you too will die."
John Hollow Horn, Oglala Lakota |
Native American Quotes Library Quotes
Art Gallery |
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"In the old days when a person got ready to be
told a story, from the time the storyteller started no one there ever stopped to eat or sleep. They kept telling the
story straight through till it was finished. Then when the story was through, the medicine man would tell all about the
different medicines. There would be a basket of corn seeds there, and for each line that was spoken, that person who was
listening would count out one corn seed. This way there would be sometimes two hundred corn seeds. Then that person
would have to eat them all. If he could eat them, then he would remember all the words he had been told. If you fell
asleep during this time, then the story was broken and was not good. That's the way we used to do."
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" To lose the art of a people is to lose the people themselves." Bruce McGee, Heard Museum |
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"Emergence of the Clowns" by Roxanne Swentzel, Santa Claro Pueblo |
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"Children were encouraged to develop strict discipline and a high regard for sharing. When a girl picked her first berries and dug her first roots, they were given away to an elder so she would share her future success. When a child carried water for the home, an elder would give compliments, pretending to taste meat in water carried by a boy or berries in that of a girl. The child was encouraged not to be lazy and to grow straight like a sapling. -Mourning Dove"
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| Artwork by Noah Billie, Copyright Seminole Tribe |
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"When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them." Oren Lyons, Onondaga NationI |
| Iceberg near St. Johns, Newfoundland |
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"With the arrival of the conquistadores began the extermination of 90 million natives of South America and destruction of all cultures on this side of the Atlantic. There is nothing to celebrate on [Columbus Day], unless you want to celebrate the death and cultural destruction of the conquest.” Marta Gordillo, Argentine
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"The trees are great teachers. The trees are great
listeners. That is why we should meditate in their presence. The Great spirit is in every rock, every animal, every
human being and in every tree. The Great Spirit has been in some trees for hundreds of years. Therefore, the trees have
witnessed and heard much. The trees are the Elders of the Elders. Their spirits are strong and very healing."
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