Proposed federal commission would investigate abuses at Native American boarding schools that operated until the 1970s

WASHINGTON – A move is underway in Congress to create a commission to expose abuses at Native American boarding schools.

Navajo Girls brought to a boarding school from Keams Canyon. Photo dated June 19, 1923. (Photo courtesy of Fort Apache Central Classified Files, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Archives)

Skateboarding gives Navajo and other Indigenous people an outlet for artistry and heritage

WASHINGTON – Skateboarders from the Navajo Nation and other Indigenous groups “shredded it” at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The sport has proven to be an outlet for artistry and heritage.

Di’Orr Greenwood with one of her handcrafted skateboards at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., June 24, 2024. (Photo by Brianna Chappie/Cronkite News)

Navajo uranium miners, people downwind of atom bomb tests demand justice as Congress lets aid program lapse

WASHINGTON – Congress let the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expire June 10, leaving Navajo uranium workers and people downwind of nuclear weapons tests furious.

The BADGER explosion on April 18, 1953, at the Nevada Test site (Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)

Where the buffalo roamed: Bill would return herds to ancestral Native American lands

WASHINGTON – A bill pending in the Senate would help tribal governments in Arizona and around the U.S. reintroduce buffalo onto reservations where millions of their ancestors once roamed.

Buffalo in Custer State Park, SD, Sept. 2020. (Photo by Brianna Chappie)

Bill aims to ease teacher shortage at tribal schools by granting federal pensions to educators

WASHINGTON – A proposal in Congress aims to address recruitment and retention problems at Arizona’s tribally run schools by letting their teachers join the federal pension system. The bill is authored by Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego of Phoenix and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico.

Theodore Roosevelt School near Fort Apache serves grades six through eight. (Photo courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt School)

Low staffing, space crunch hobble state museum’s Native American repatriation work at UArizona

TUCSON – The Arizona State Museum holds the largest number of Indigenous remains in Arizona. But the museum has struggled to comply with a 1990 law to repatriate Native American remains and artifacts because of staffing and space shortages.

The Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona in Tucson is the oldest and largest anthropological facility in the Southwest, founded in 1893. (Photo by Christopher Lomahquahu/Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU)

Misplaced artifacts, inaccurate inventories and 2% of Native American remains returned to tribes: Inside ASU’s repatriation record

PHOENIX – Arizona State University has made under 2% of its Indigenous human remains and artifacts available to Native American tribes, one of the lowest rates in the nation, according to an analysis by Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU.

The School of Human Evolution and Social Change is the anthropological and archaeological research arm of Arizona State University. The school’s collections include Indigenous human remains and artifacts subject to repatriation under NAGPRA. (Photo by Chad Bradley/Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU)

What is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990?

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act empowered Indigenous people to reclaim ancestors and artifacts from American museums. The 1990 law is regarded as one of the most significant Indigenous civil rights laws of the 20th century.

A special exhibit at the S’edav Va’aki Museum in Phoenix that closed in May told the story of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA. (Photo courtesy of the S’edav Va’aki Museum)

Community, healing and justice: Indigenous journalists share what reporting on repatriation meant to them

PHOENIX – Three Indigenous Cronkite reporters describe how reporting on the repatriation of Native American remains deepened their appreciation for returning ancestors home.

Cronkite News and Howard Center reporters, from left, Christopher Lomahquahu, Aspen Ford and Chad Bradley reported on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and wrote about the experience as Indigenous journalists. (Photo by Aspen Ford/Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU)

How Cronkite News and the Howard Center reported on NAGPRA

PHOENIX – Journalists at Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism reported on how Arizona public universities have complied with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. Here’s how they did it.

Eight graduate students reported on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act as part of a project on the compliance records of Arizona’s flagship public universities in returning Indigenous remains and artifacts. (Photo by Madison Perales/Cronkite News and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU)

Congress gave citizenship to Native Americans a century ago, but voting rights would come decades later

WASHINGTON – It’s been 100 years since Native Americans gained U.S. citizenship, but voting rights came much later. Arizona was the last state with an outright ban on voting for Native Americans.

Calvin Coolidge, center in a white suit, poses with a group of Native Americans outside the White House in 1927. (Photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

Supreme Court rules in favor of two Native American tribes in dispute with federal government over insurance billing fees

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Native American tribes in Arizona and Wyoming that sought millions in federal reimbursement for health care insurance billing fees.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Native American tribes in Arizona and Wyoming that sought millions in federal reimbursement for health care insurance billing fees. (File photo by Stephanie Snyder/Cronkite News)