Issues Background
Vol. 21 No. 4
Winter 2020
American Indian magazine Winter 2020 cover featuring a Tlingit hat with raven face

On the Cover

This cedar woven crest hat features the painted face of a Raven, one of the animals that represent the two moieties that balance the Tlingit world. On the hat’s reverse is the face of a whale, from which the Raven is said to be bursting forth. The painting on the hat is by Naak’ushtáa, a Dakhl’aweidí carver. It was repatriated to the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on behalf of the Tlex’ L’ooknax.ádi (One Coho) clan in 2014.

“Yaay yikdéi wudikíni yéil s’aaxw” (Raven Flying Out of the Whale Hat); 1850–1875; cedar bark, paint and ermine pelts; 14” x 20” x 5.8” x 4.7”, 17/6251

Articles

Marmot Hat
A two-decade collaboration with Tlingit people in Alaska has returned more than 70 items from Smithsonian collections to clans.
A poster depicting an Indigenous woman (left) and a Black woman (right), holding hands and raising their fists. Type on the poster reads: "Together we rise, resist, reclaim."

Through art, a collective of Black-Indigenous artists is advancing social justice.

The Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower ship, at sea.
When the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower four centuries ago, they knew far less about the local Indians than the Indians knew about them.
Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino plate food and serve customers at their cafe

Even during a pandemic, Indigenous chefs continue to sustain their communities.

An archival photograph of a small, white woolly dog
Coast Salish people once used the hair of a now-extinct dog in their weavings. Today, they are reviving their nearly lost art.