Explore and celebrate the heritage, culture and traditions of Native Americans throughout history and today in a series of broadcast programming honoring Native American & Alaska Native Heritage Month.
6 p.m. Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer
A Native American girl from an isolated Blackfeet reservation uses her basketball skills as a ticket to a college education and the opportunity to give back to her people. Her chief described her as “a warrior.”
10:00 p.m. Little Bird: Burning Down The House
Esther finds members of her family who help her put together the pieces of the past. She returns to Montreal to confront her adoptive mother about the revelations that shine a light on their life and change the way they look at the past.
10 p.m. Indigenize the Plate
Extraction, water displacement, and climate change have impacted food sustainability in Indigenous communities, and the combination of these challenges has also affected cultural sustainability. In INDIGENIZE THE PLATE, a Dine woman travels from the Navajo Nation to a Quechuan community in Peru to see how they address these issues in their region. The program tells the stories of Indigenous people across the world and shows viewers how their communities are working together to address some of the many challenges that the world faces collectively.
11 p.m. Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer
A Native American girl from an isolated Blackfeet reservation uses her basketball skills as a ticket to a college education and the opportunity to give back to her people. Her chief described her as “a warrior.”
8 p.m. Native America: Women Rule
Native women are leading, innovating, and inspiring in the arts, politics, and protecting the planet. NATIVE AMERICA explores the diverse ways they carry forward deep traditions to better their communities, their lands, and the world.
11 p.m. Roadtrip Nation: Native Way Forward
Native American leaders tell their stories and illuminate the path for three Native young adults.
10 p.m. Little Bird: I Want My Mom
Esther returns to the prairies and continues her pursuit of uncovering her past. Reconnecting the severed ties of a broken family is not easy. When tragedy strikes, Esther realizes that she needs her mother, Golda, more than anything.
10 p.m. Almost an Island
ALMOST AN ISLAND is a cinematic portrait of the Goodwins, an Inupiat family living above the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, Alaska. Through observing three generations of one family over four years, the documentary explores what it means to be indigenous in the dramatically changing Arctic. Elmer Goodwin, 78, grew up in a sod house wearing animal skins. Now, his dog sled has transformed into a snow machine. His children are half white, but Elmer wants to teach his family everything he knows about being Inupiat. ALMOST AN ISLAND is an intimate portrayal of this multi-generational family, revealing their memories, dreams and goals, and challenging common stereotypes to show the Goodwins as complex, dignified individuals.
8 p.m. Native America: Language is Life
Celebrate the power of Native languages and the inspirational people who are saving them. From secret recordings to Star Wars films dubbed in Navajo, follow the revolutionary steps transforming Native America.
7:30 p.m. My Music with Rhiannon Giddens: Charly Lowry
Charly Lowry is an indigenous singer and songwriter of Lumbee/Tuscarora descent whose native American roots and experiences inform her music. Host Rhiannon Giddens visits Charly’s tribal homeland of Robeson County, NC for songs and conversation.
6 p.m. Cara Romero: Following the Light
Contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero’s work captures Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.
10 p.m. Little Bird: Bineshi Kwe
The Little Bird family comes together to mourn death and celebrate life. Esther and Golda are both changed from this journey of self-discovery, but it has strengthened their bond. Esther has finally found what she’s been looking for.
10 p.m. Bring Her Home
BRING HER HOME follows three Indigenous women – an artist, an activist and a politician – as they work to vindicate and honor their relatives who are victims in the growing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. As they face the lasting effects of historical trauma, each woman searches for healing while navigating the oppressive systems that brought about this very crisis.
