MPR Archive presents a collection of varied Native topics in and around Minnesota. Stories include interviews, commentary, events, speeches, documentaries, and reports.
April 26, 2001 - As part of Mainstreet Radio series Broken Trust: Civil Rights in Indian Country, MPR’s Bob Rhea reports on the fight for religious freedom of Native Americans, including those incarcerated.
April 27, 2001 - As part of Mainstreet Radio series Broken Trust: Civil Rights in Indian Country, MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on free speech within the Indian reservation.
July 9, 2001 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki presents report on attempts to save the Ojibwe language. Report includes various interviews, including Jim Northrup. At one time more than 300 American Indian languages were spoken in the U.S. But with each passing generation, many of the indigenous languages have died; others are on the verge of disappearing. With that in mind, tribes from northern Wisconsin and Minnesota are trying to keep their Ojibwe language from going silent and along the way gain new insight into how their ancestors viewed the world.
July 27, 2001 - Tom Robertson reports on the people of White Earth in northwestern Minnesota trying to bring back the lake sturgeon. The tribe is working to restore the fish and reclaim its heritage. Officials on the White Earth Indian Reservation say when the sturgeon disappeared, so did an important part of their culture.
November 15, 2001 - A collection of reports from the MPR special series "The Color of Justice," which investigates the racial disparity in Minnesota’s criminal justice system. This Midday program includes reports by MPR’s Dan Olson, Brandt Williams, and Elizabeth Stawicki, as well as various interviews and commentary of officials, academics, and community members.
December 26, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Dan Gunderson reports on a pilot project on White Earth Reservation that is trying to reduce the effects of diabetes by bringing back a diet of traditional food.
August 21, 2002 - Mainstreet Radio’s Tom Robertson reports on Organizers of the Anishinaabe Coalition, a new spiritual-based group, formed to fight racism in Bemidji. Includes various interviews with residents and coalition members.
September 26, 2002 - The Mainstreet Radio documentary “An Uncivil War” examines The US-Dakota War of 1862, a war fought in the Minnesota River valley back in 1862 that still leaves scars today. On one side were the Dakota Indians. On the other, settlers and the U.S. government. Hundreds of people died on both sides of the five-week long war. It lead to the largest mass execution in U.S. history, when 38 Dakota were hanged in Mankato.
January 28, 2003 - MPR’s Jeff Horwich looks at “snow snakes,” an ancient Native American winter sport game that involves a decorated wooden stick (or sometimes bone) and a track of snow and ice.
February 6, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich spent a recent evening in the studio with Gary Johnson Cheeseman, the creator of Anishinabe O'denong.