Exploring Our Past: Comparing the Lives of Native Peoples

Comparing four geographically-distinct regions, this program takes a look at Native Americans from the wooded Northeast and compares them to the people of the desert Southwest, while the Indians of the Pacific Northwest are juxtaposed with the Plains tribes. Combining archival photographs and re-enactment footage filmed at historic sites, Exploring Our Past, narrated by Joanne Shenandoah, illustrates how the environment shapes human dwellings, clothing, food, and lifestyle, pointing out that the term “Native American” covers numerous distinctive traditional cultures (viewers will see how a wooden long house from the forest compares to an adobe pueblo in the desert and a hide-covered tipi traditionally used by the nomadic Plains peoples). Unfortunately, no attention is paid to the Southeastern tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole—who should have been added to the discussion here. A better choice here would be the other four volumes in the Exploring Our Past series, each of focus on particular groups: Native Peoples of the Southwest, Native Peoples of the Northwest, Native Peoples of the Plains, and Native Peoples of the Eastern Woodlands. A strong optional purchase. Aud: E, I, P. (R. Reagan)