Program 204

The Announcement. Arikara. Photo by Edward S. Curtis. Courtesy of a2zcds. www.a2zcds.com

The Arikara

with Arlie Neskahi

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

From the journal of William Clark::
William Clark, October 12 th, 1804. “The Arikaras are about 500 men able to bear arms, and the remains of ten different tribes. reduced by small pox and wars with the Sioux. Their men tall and well-perportioned. Their women small and industrious. They raise great quantities of corn, beans etc. Also tobacco for the men to smoke.. Their houses are close together and towns enclosed with pickets, their lodges are 30 to 40 feet in diameter, covered with earth on neat poles set end wise.” Read more »

Rodney Howling Wolf and Virgil Chase. Photo by Milt Lee.

Rodney Howling Wolf and Virgil Chase

with Brian Bull

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Arlie Neskahi:
The passage of time can dry rivers, collapse trees, even crumble mountains. But for Arikara tribal members Rodney Howling Wolf and Virgil Chase, it can also build and strengthen a friendship. Both Rodney and Virgil recollect growing up together in North Dakota’s “Indian country”, attending ceremonies, learning oral history from elders, and even finding their home town swallowed up by flood. The men know that while much of their childhood now lies under water, their trust and respect for one another is everlasting. Brian Bull has more. Read more »

Judy Bluehorse Skelton

Anne White Hat and Marie Randall

with Judy Bluehorse Skelton

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Arlie Neskahi:
Corn mother, corn maiden, sister corn – she is called many things, but the stories of her gift of life are told and retold even today throughout many Native nations. Native Americans were the first to cultivate corn, well before the arrival of Columbus. It has since spread around the world, sustaining people in countries far from Turtle Island. Judy Bluehorse Skelton offers insights into the significance of this sacred plant. Read more »

Nico Wind

The Arikara

with Nico Wind

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Arlie Neskahi:
If Lewis and Clark had made their journey through central North Dakota in 1960, they would have found that the Missouri River had become a lake. The Garrison Dam, constructed in 1951, was just one of many challenges to the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa tribes. Now they are recognized as the three affiliated tribes, but 200 years ago, they were considered formidable traders, merchants and bankers along the Missouri River system. Read more »

Leo Lockwood

Leo Lockwood

with Milt Lee

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Arlie Neskahi :
In Indian country, the term “boarding schools” usually evokes images of children torn from families, mouths being washed out with soap, long braids chopped. But for some, the boarding school was a garden in which new things sprouted and grew. This was true for an Arikara musician who picked up his first set of drum sticks at Flandreau Indian School. Today, on Contemporary Rhythms, Milt Lee talks with Leo Lockwood about his introduction to contemporary Native music. Read more »

Dorene Yellow Bird

Doreen Yellowbird:
Honoring Corn Mother

with Doreen Yellowbird

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dorene Yellow Bird:
In the room in which we sat, an ear of corn, dressed like a woman to represent mother corn, was elevated on the wall, just as a crucifix is elevated on the wall of a Christian household. Read more »