03/11/2021 @ All Day – NATIVE HAWAIIAN TRADITIONAL NAVIGATOR CHARLES NAINOA THOMPSON BORN Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Nainoa is a Native Hawaiian navigator and Executive Director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. The first Hawaiian to practice the Polynesian art of navigation (wayfinding) since the 14th century, he navigated double-hulled canoes from Hawaiʻi to other Polynesian islands without aid of western […]
03/12/2021 @ All Day – FORMER GWICH’IN GRAND CHIEF CLARENCE LEE ALEXANDER BORN Alexander was raised about 20 miles north of Fort Yukon, Alaska. Former Grand Chief of Gwich’in peoples, he also was the first Chief of Fort Yukon (1980-94). Alexander co-founded and was chairman of the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments and co-founder of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed […]
03/13/2021 @ All Day – ALEUT CHAGUDAX CARVER/ACTIVIST ANDREW GRONHOLDT DIED Born August 26, 1915, in Sand Point, Alaska, Gronholdt had a background as a wooden boat builder. He also crafted wooden pumps, known as chxuusi-x, to bail water out of the skin-on-frame iqyax, the Aleut sea kayaks. While living in Sand Point among the Qagun Tayagungin, Unga, and Pauloff […]
03/14/2021 @ All Day – BLACK CARIB GARIFUNA CHIEF SATUYE (JOSEPH CHATOYER) KILLED IN ST. VINCENT Chatoyer was a Carib chief who led two wars against the British colonial rule in Saint Vincent. In 1772, the First Carib War forced Britain to sign a treaty in 1773–first time Britain signed an accord with non-white people in the Caribbean. By 1795, […]
03/15/2021 @ All Day – CAYUGA HEREDITARY CHIEF DESKAHEH (LEVI GENERAL) BORN Born on the Six Nations Reserve on the Grand River, Levi became the Cayuga’s hereditary chief, or deskaheh, on the Confederacy Council in 1917. A strong orator, he became deputy speaker in 1918 and speaker in 1922. As government actions during and after World War I threatened Indian […]
03/16/2021 @ All Day – SAMOSET GREETS PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH Samoset (“He Who Walks Over Much”), a sagamore (subordinate chief) of either an Eastern Abenaki or Mohegan tribe, was visiting the great Wampanoag chief Massasoit when he entered the English settlement at Plymouth greeting the colonists in English, saying “Welcome! Welcome! Englishmen!” and asked for beer. He had learned English […]
03/17/2021 @ All Day – NATIVE HAWAIIAN CHAMPION SURFER EDDIE AIKAU DROWNS SAVING LIVES Born May 4, 1946, Eddie descended from the high priest of Kings Kamehameha I and II. Working at a cannery so he could surf on morning breaks on O’ahu’s North Shore, his several surfing awards included the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship. A fearless lifeguard […]
03/18/2021 @ All Day – PIMA (O’ODHAM) REVOLT ENDS The Pima Revolt was the culmination of a 70-year period of hostilities against Spanish settlers due to a gradual loss of autonomy and territory. Treaties allowing mining and herding by the Spanish on native lands were eroded by an influx of settlers. The Pima Revolt was directly preceded by the Seri […]
03/19/2021 @ All Day – QUECHUA LEADER TÚPAC AMARU II (JOSE CONDORCANQUI) BORN José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera was a descendant of the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru. He took the name Túpac Amaru II when he led the Peruvian peasants in an unsuccessful rebellion against Spanish rule. Túpac Amaru II was a cacique (hereditary chief) in the Tinta region […]
03/20/2021 @ All Day – NATIVE AMERICAN POET FLORENCE AI OGAWA DIED Born on October 21, 1947 in Albany, Texas, she described herself as having Choctaw-Chicasaw, Southern Cheyenne and Comanche heritage, along with black, Japanese and Irish roots. After finishing high school in Tucson, Arizona, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Oriental studies, focusing on Japanese, from the University of […]