American Indians

For decades, Native Americans were sent off to boarding schools run by the federal government or religious groups. They were stripped of cultural ties and forced to assimilate into an American lifestyle.

In the Southwest, tribal health organizations are finding ways to counter the factors – including the lack of access to clean drinking water – that contribute to high rates of childhood obesity in Native communities.

The Center for Native American Youth is collecting survey data to better understand the lives and needs of American Indian and Alaska Native youth.

The hidden history the Bear River Massacre and how it was a defining moment for the Northwestern band of the Shoshone Nation.

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, several states in the Mountain West are preparing their own laws to protect tribal rights should the court deem ICWA unconstitutional.

The park’s indigenous skills day is a celebration — with live demonstrations — of what is known about the people known as the Fremont Indians.

Preliminary estimates show that the life expectancy of newborns is still declining in the U.S., from 77 in 2020 to 76 last year. A main driver is COVID-19. However, life expectancy decreased much more for American Indians and Alaskan Natives, who had a life expectancy of 65 last year.

Over the next year, History Colorado, a nonprofit and an agency under the state’s department of higher education, will investigate the experiences, abuse and deaths of students at the former Fort Lewis Indian School near Durango.

The first volume in the Interior's investigative report shows that the United States operated or supported 408 boarding schools in 37 states between 1819 and 1969, including 127 in the Mountain West.

There’s a false narrative that Native Americans are genetically predisposed to becoming addicted to alcohol. New research shows that simply believing it can be harmful.