Featured Tribe: Anadarko - Texas

Anadarko (from Nädä'ko, their own name). A tribe of the Caddo confederacy whose dialect was spoken by the Kadohadacho, Hainai and Adai. The earliest mention of the people is in the relation of Biedma (1544); who writes that Moscoso in 1542 led his men during their southward march through a province that lay east of the Anadarko.

The territory occupied by the tribe was southwest of the Kadohadacho. Their villages were scattered along Trinity and Brazos Rivers, Texas, higher up than those of the Hainai, and do not seem to have been visited so early as theirs by the French.

A Spanish mission was established among the Anadarko early in the 18th century, but was soon abandoned. La Harpe reached an Anadarko village in 1719, and was kindly received. The people shared in the general friendliness for the French. During the contentions of the latter with the Spaniards and later with the English, throughout the 18th century, the Anadarko suffered greatly. They became embroiled in tribal wars; their villages were abandoned; and those who survived the havoc of war and the new diseases brought into the country by the white people were forced to seek shelter and safety with their kindred toward the north east.

In 1812 a village of 40 men and 200 souls was reported on Sabine River. The Anadarko lived in villages, having fixed habitations similar to those of the other tribes of the Caddo confederacy, to whom they were evidently also similar in customs, beliefs, and clan organization. Nothing is known definitely of the subdivisions of the tribe, but that such existed is probable from the fact that the people were scattered over a considerable territory and lived in a number of villages.

They are now incorporated with the Caddo on the allotted Wichita reservation in Oklahoma. The town of Anadarko perpetuates the tribal name.

Indians denied home loans

By: Mike Nowatzki

Willard Yellow Bird says he wanted to buy a home in his native North Dakota.

Yellow Bird, an Arikara from White Shield on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, ended up in Moorhead instead because he and his wife were able to get a low-interest mortgage through a program offered by her tribe, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa.

“The only stipulation was we had to live in Minnesota,” he said.

But Yellow Bird isn’t complaining. Many other American Indians who try to get home loans aren’t as successful.

A Forum analysis of home loan applications for 2006 found that lenders denied one out of every three applications made by American Indians in North Dakota and more than one out of every four in Minnesota.

American Indians are North Dakota’s largest racial minority, accounting for 5.2 percent of the state’s population in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Indians accounted for 1.1 percent of the state’s home loan applications last year.

“I think a lot of the Natives don’t even try,” said Yellow Bird, safety coordinator for the city of Fargo and a liaison to the city’s Native American Commission. “They’re just so used to getting denied.”

Want to know more? Click here: http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=187455&section=News&freebie_check&CFID=79424037&CFTOKEN=32887088&jsessionid=88308ba2f670234c5753

Anglers Continue to Protest Nez Perce Gillnetting

Associated Press

LEWISTON -- Anglers in northcentral Idaho continue to protest the recent decision by the Nez Perce tribe to start gill net fishing for steelhead on the Clearwater and Snake rivers.

The group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is holding meetings to protest the move.

Jason Hollibaugh says time and money have gone into restoring runs of wild steelhead.
All that could be damaged if the tribe starts gill netting the fish, which could result in indiscriminate taking of wild fish.

The tribe, meanwhile, is asking for a fair examination of their fishery impacts, not just criticism over the method.

Clifford Allen, a tribal member, says an 1855 treaty gives the tribe the right to harvest fish on tribal lands -- as it pleases.

Tlingit Treasures

Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)- A Juneau man has donated four ancient stone objects, including tools and a carved seal head, to the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Ronald Haffner donated a maul, a bowl, a grinder and a carved stone seal head to the institute. Institute President Rosita Worl, an anthropologist, said the items will be displayed at Sealaska Plaza in Juneau after they are studied.

Haffner said the objects probably were dug up by his great-grandmother in the 1930s at the site of the first commercial farm in Juneau.

"I'm glad we can finally put them out there and give them back to the Native community so everyone can see and enjoy them and learn about them," Haffner said.

The cultural treasures were passed down through the family. Haffner made the donation earlier this month to honor his grandmother, Edith Trambitas, who cherished the items for 50 years before giving them to her son. Trambitas died in November 2006.

The items are considered to be the most significant addition to the institute's collection in recent years.

They join 300 artifacts, 20,000 photographs and 750 linear feet of manuscript material housed at the institute, an arm of Sealaska, an Alaska Native regional corporation created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Read more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/tlingit-treasures