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Friday, April 10, 2009

We Shall Remain (A PBS American Experience production on Native Americans)

I went to the screening of the first episode of We Shall Remain (After the Mayflower). I was very impressed. It is the first time that a film has done a respectable job at portraying the King Philip (First Thanksgiving) story, taking into account all perspectives. The visual representation offers a lot for discussion of similarities and differences between the Pilgrims and Wampanoags (that is not explained in the dialogue), like clothing, health, and cleanliness.

The first episode airs on Monday at 9pm on PBS (ch 2) and continues for five nights. The next day, the previous night's episode will be available in streaming video on the WGBH website. They also have another series ReelNative on their website with 27 film shorts (some won awards) made by indigenous people which allows Native Americans to give voice to their heritage.

It's all very cool and exciting.

Some reviews:

A Truer Picture of Native America
http://www.reznetnews.org/article/truer-picture-native-america-32710

Utah's 5 tribes getting their due, too
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705297509/Utahs-5-tribes-getting-their-due-too.html

We Shall Remain: From Plymouth to Wounded Knee, a Tale of Survival
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/12/AR2009041202539.html

American Experience: We Shall Remain
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-we-shall-remain13-2009apr13,0,7652873.story

Centuries of American Indian Valor, Celebrated and Recreated
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/arts/television/13rema.html?_r=1

A Native Perspective on U.S. History
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040202285.html

Seeing History Through Indians’ Eyes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/arts/television/12jens.html

We Shall Remain Tells Native American History, With Native Americans
At The Helm
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/tv/hc-remain.artapr12,0,6767784.story

PBS miniseries captures heart of Native American voice
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090411/LIFE/904110319/1052/OPINION01