Recommended reading list

This list is meant to give you some good things you might want to read while building your character, or about things that might be useful for developing your roleplay. Most of these come from the 90's or later, and this is pretty intentional- Good portrayals of Native Americans with actual Native actors didn't really exist before Last of the Mohicans and Dances with Wolves, and a highly publicized Supreme Court Case in 1996 over the Black Hills helped develop public interest in contemporary Native civil rights and affairs. Many of these are also adaptations of books, as this has and continues to be a relatively successful setting for historical fiction and crime dramas.


Native American Movies/TV

Early Frontier Period
Last of the Mohicans (Movie, 1990): Adaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's 19th century novel, with Daniel Day Lewis, Russel Means and Eric Schweig playing a trio of Mohican Indians (and a white man raised by them) as they travel through New York during the French and Indian War. Usefulness: 3/5- Not particularly relevant to our setting, but it's designed as a "proto-western," and pretty much a necessity if you haven't really seen a good movie about Native Americans. it's also much, much better than the original book it was based on.

Into The West (TV, 2000's): TNT Mini-series that spans multiple generations and different POV characters of the settling of the frontier, from the early settlement period to the first reservations. Usefulness: 5/5. It's a good history lesson all around about the settlement of the West, and it treats all sides relatively objectively.

End of the West/Reservation Period
Dances With Wolves (Movie, 1990): Based on a novel by Michael Blake (with a decent sequel). A Union infantry officer is reassigned to a remote outpost on the frontier, finds out he is abandoned by the army, and proceeds to interact heavily with a nearby band of Lakota who begin to adopt him into their ranks. Usefulness: 4/5. It's not that historically accurate, and ends up having a similar premise and effect as The Last Samurai, but it is good to show the daily lives of nomadic Plains Indians before the treaties, and how shades of this might return.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Movie, 2000s): based on a really good book by Dee Brown, it crosses over with Into the West, but specifically focuses on the dissection and reduction of the Great Sioux Reservation into the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock Oglala Lakota reservations, the life of Charles Ohiyesa Eastman, Sitting Bull's passive resistance against the government, and the emergence of the Ghost Dance and the subsequent massacre at Wounded Knee in 1878. Usefulness: 10/5- Watch this if nothing else.

Modern Period:
Thunderheart(Movie, 1992)- Loosely based on the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. An FBI agent investigates the murder on a Lakota reservation, and its potential connections to native activists and private business interests. Usefulness: 5/5. A bit preachy, but it's one of the few movies that shows the emergence of the militant American Indian Movement. Some of the actors were involved in the Alcatraz occupation or even the actual wounded knee occupation.

Skinwalkers (TV series, 2003)- a TV miniseries based on a 3 books of a long-running novel series by Tony Hillerman about 2 vastly different Navajo Tribal Police officers- one who is a older, skeptical detective, and a younger, more traditional deputy that also wants to become a healer- investigating the murder of Navajo on the reservation. Usefulness- 3/5. It's an okay introduction, but I would very, very much recommend the books, which are short mysteries that go into much more depth and nuance into Navajo spirituality, and in general are the gold standard for Native American fiction in general (the audiobooks are also some of the best ever made for a book series). This is the only thing I'd recommend if you have a Navajo character. Not much else is out there and it tends to not be very good.

Smoke Signals (Movie, 1998)- Based on short stories by Sherman Alexie (good for page quotes, a really good poet): A Couer D'Alene man goes on a road trip from Idaho to Arizona after his father dies. Usefulness: 3/5. It's a comedy drama, and the lightest thing on this list, but it covers all the big issues that Natives encounter in the present, and honestly, it's one of my favorite movies.

Longmire (TV show, 2012-2017): Based on a long-running series of mystery novels by Craig Johnson. Deals with the cantankerous sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, and his frequent forays on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and Native organized crime. Usefulness: 4/5. Overall not entirely about the Cheyenne, but the Cheyenne are important characters and are pretty much the B Arc for most episodes. Talks about issues like blood quantum, kidnapping of native women, poverty issues on the rez, and the implications of casino money for native peoples, and does a fairly good job from what I can see.

Wind River (Movie, 2017)- I haven't seen this one yet, but it's supposed to be about federal agents investigating the strange murder of an Arapaho woman on the Wind River reservation, and discusses the ongoing issue of missing Native women.

Others:
Last of the Dogmen (1996, Movie)- A bounty hunter and an archaeologist discover a hidden tribe of Dog Soldier Cheyenne living in total secrecy from the outside world. Usefulness: What the fuck/5, but you can't more topically relevant than this.