November 2017 - American Indian Heritage Month

In November, KQED proudly celebrates the diversity of our community with a special American Indian Heritage Month programming lineup on KQED Public Television.

Premiere dates are listed below. Please click on each program for additional airdates and information.

KQED 9

Saturday, 11/11
6pm Badger Creek
Badger Creek is a portrait of Native resilience as seen through a year in the life of three generations of a Blackfeet family living on the rez in Montana.

6:30pm Metal Road
Metal Road explores the dynamics of livelihood, family and the railroads through the lens of a Navajo trackman.

Wednesday, 11/15
11pm Racing the Rez
This documentary offers a rare view into the complexity and diversity of contemporary reservation life, from the point of view of five teenage boys on the cusp of adulthood.

Wednesday, 11/22
11pm Sol
Sol is a moving tribute to Solomon Tapatia Uyarasuk, a charismatic young Inuk and amateur acrobat and musician who was found dead in the Igloolik police station in 2012 at the age of 26.

KQED Plus

Mon, 11/20
3pm Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears
Examine the story of Cash's little-known concept album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian and his unique collaboration with folk artist Peter Lafarge. Based on the book A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears. 

KQED Life

Thurs, 11/2
7pm Standing on Sacred Ground
In this four-part documentary series, native people share ecological wisdom and spiritual reverence while battling a utilitarian view of land in the form of government megaprojects, consumer culture and climate change.

9pm Walking in Two Worlds
This documentary journeys to the Tongass to reveal its splendor and shed light on the devastation and division resulting from the Settlement Act.

10pm First Language – The Race to Save Cherokee
This program examines how the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are fighting to revitalize their native language and come to terms with their native heritage in the context of the modern United States.

Thursday, 11/16
8pm Grand Coulee Dam: American Experience

This film explores how the tension between technological achievement and environmental impact hangs over the Grand Coulee Dam’s legacy.

9pm Medicine Game
This film, six years in the making, shares the remarkable journey of two brothers from the Onondoga Nation driven by a single goal — to beat the odds and play the sport of lacrosse for national powerhouse Syracuse University.

Sunday, 11/19
7pm Lineage: Tlingit Art Across Generations (NEW)
Lineage: Tlingit Artists Across Generations shines a light on Tlingit masters, their apprentices and their descendants.

KQED World

Sun, 11/5
7pm Choctaw Code Talkers
Witness the empowering chronicle of Choctaw Soldiers as the original Code Talkers during World War I, a story that has been buried in history for nearly a hundred years.

Tues, 11/7
5:30am Ohero:kon — Under The Husk (NEW)
Follow the challenging journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women.

6am Local USA: The Mayors of Shiprock (NEW)
Meet the Northern Dine Youth Committee. These young Navajo leaders meet every week to learn about their Native culture, discuss community improvements, and work to bridge divides within their community.

Wed, 11/8
5am America ReFramed: On a Knife Edge (NEW)
On a Knife Edge is the coming-of-age story of George Dull Knife, a Lakota teenager growing up on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation. The film traces George's path to activism, inspired by his family's long history of fighting for justice for Native Americans.

Tues, 11/14
5am Smokin’ Fish
Cory Mann, a businessman in Juneau, Alaska, rediscovers the art of preparing a traditional Tlingit dish, smoked salmon.

6am Horse Tribe
Watch as the 21st century Nez Perce —one of America’s greatest horse tribes – returns to their land and lives with the unlikely help of a charismatic Navajo horseman, Rudy Shebala.

Wed, 11/15
7am Urban Rez
This program explores the controversial legacy and modern-day repercussions of the Urban Relocation Program (1952-1973), the greatest voluntary upheaval of Native Americans during the 20th century.

Saturday, 11/18
5pm Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War
This two-part program presents a balanced view of events, underlying causes, consequences and legacy of the Pequot War – a pivotal event in early American history that set the stage for the ultimate domination of all Native Americans by Europeans.

Sunday, 11/19
7pm Ladonna Harris: Indian 101
This documentary profiles Comanche activist LaDonna Harris, who led an extensive life of political and social activism.

8pm Rising Voices/Hothaninpi
Focusing on the Lakota (often called "Sioux") language and culture, this documentary is about how languages die  and how speaking them again can spark cultural and community restoration.

Tuesday, 11/21
6am Crying Earth Rise Up
A Lakota mother studying geology seeks the source of the water contamination that caused her daughter's critical health problems. This documentary exposes the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on Great Plains drinking water.

Wednesday, 11/22
5am American ReFramed: We Breathe Again
We Breathe Again introduces four Alaska Natives who are trying to break free from histories of trauma and suicide – creating a new, more positive path for their communities.

6am Our Fires Still Burn: The Native American Experience
This exciting and compelling documentary invites viewers into the lives of contemporary Native American role models living in the US Midwest.

Thursday, 11/23
6:30am POV: Tribal Justice

Follow two Native American judges who reach back to traditional concepts of justice in order to reduce incarceration rates and create a more positive future for their youth.

Friday, 11/24
6am Lost Pueblo Village, A Time Team America Presentation
Time Team America uses airborne 3D mapping and ground-penetrating radar to explore the extent of a Basket Maker III community that thrived 1400-1500 years ago.

7am Medicine Woman
Produced by and about women, this documentary interweaves the lives of Native American women healers of today with the story of America's first Native doctor, Susan La Flesche Picotte.

Sunday, 11/26
9:30am The Road to Andersonville: Michigan Native American Sharpshooters in the Civil War
The Road to Andersonville is the first film to document the story of Michigan's Native Americans in the Civil War who served in Company K of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters.

8pm Sand Creek Massacre
This documentary revisits the horrific acts of the Sand Creek Massacre and uncovers the history 150 years later.

Wednesday, 11/29
6am Navajo Math Circles
Navajo students collaborate with mathematicians in math circles, which emphasize student-centered learning by putting children in charge of exploring math to their own joy and satisfaction.

7am Sousa on the Rez: Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Trace the origins of the 4 remaining multi-generational, community-based tribal bands and get a glimpse of this little-known aspect of the Native music scene.

7:30am Injunuity
Injunuity is a collage of reflections on the Native American world, our shared past, our turbulent present, and our undiscovered future.

Thursday, 11/30
5am Across the Creek
This program is a conversation among members of the Lakota, who are seeking ways to restore their culture after a legacy of colonialism.

5:30am Finding Refuge
The efforts of one dying woman to preserve her Native culture prompt a renewal in finding pride in that culture.

6am Independent Lens: What Was Ours

A tribal elder and Vietnam vet visit the underground archives of Chicago's Field Museum with two young Arapaho to explore ancestral objects kept in boxes for many years.

KQED 9 is available over the air on DT9.1, 54.2 and 25.1 and via most cable systems on Channel 9. It is on XFINITY cable from Comcast (Channels 9 SD and 709 HD) and on Wave (Channels 9 SD and 164 HD). It can also be found on DIRECTV and DISH satellite systems (Channels 9 SD and HD).

KQED Plus is available over the air on Channels 54, DT54.1, 9.2 and 25.2, and via many cable and satellite systems on either channel 10 or 54. It is on XFINITY cable from Comcast (Channels 10 SD, and 710 HD) and on DIRECTV (Channel 54 SD and HD) and DISH (Channel 54, SD only) satellite systems.

This schedule also lists programs airing on KQED Life (XFINITY 189, Channel 54.3) and KQED World (XFINITY 190, Channel 9.3 & 54.5).