Redman's America; Nomad Indians of the Plains : The Pueblos

Item Information

Title:
Redman's America; Nomad Indians of the Plains : The Pueblos
Description:
This video includes episodes 6 and 7 of Redman's American. The 6th episode, Nomad Indians of the Plains, explains that when Columbus reached America there were no horses on the continent. These were brought by the Spanish who settled in present-day New Mexico one hundred years after the new world was discovered. Some of these horses escaped, some were stolen, and some traded, but from the 17th century more and more Plains Indians had horses and were able to wander at will, following the great herds of buffalo, which were their main source of food, clothing and shelter. It was not until this time that their elaborate hunting culture, with its sign language and system of war honors, was developed. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche). In the 7th episode, The Pueblos, Spanish explorers of the Southwest, looking for fabulous golden cities, found instead the Pueblo Indians, living in villages carefully constructed of stone or sun-dried bricks, often piled on top of each other to make complicated, many-storied dwellings. These Indians were not only good farmers, raising corn, squash and gourds by means or irrigation canals, they also made beautiful pottery, and raised cotton which they spun, dyed and wove into fabrics equal to any cloth made on European looms. Examples of their handwork, as well as scenes of these craftsmen at work, are used extensively in this episode. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche). Redmans America represents the combined efforts of museums, universities, anthropologists and the Indians of America themselves to give television audiences an accurate portrait of our oldest inhabitants. The histories, languages, customs and crafts of tribes stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Plains to the seacoast of the Northwest are the subject of this series, which presents to the viewer their artifacts, their rituals, and their own descriptions of their lives. Thanks to the rich diversity of artifacts available, and to the flexibility of the television medium, the episodes emphasize chiefly the material aspects of Indian culture, although their social and theological institutions, and their reactions to the white settlers of the region, also are portrayed. The series uses films and artifacts from Chappell House, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Smithsonian Institution and is the anthropologists story of the material culture of the American Indian from his first appearance on the North American continent down to the coming of the white man. Each episode follows a general format of lecture and illustration, making use of authentic artifacts of the American Indian. Dr. Ruth Underhill, host for the series, is a nationally recognized authority in the field of American anthropology and Indian studies. She is the author of four books about the Indians, and has been active on behalf of tribes and Indian families throughout the West and Southwest. Her experience with television as a classroom medium dates from 1956, when she first began lecturing to a television audience on a variety of topics in anthropology. The 30 half-hour episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on kinescope. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Production company:
Rocky Mountain PBS
Host:
Underhill, Ruth
Date:
1960
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive > Redman's America
Subjects:
Social Issues
Education
History
Race and Ethnicity
Extent:
00:58:22
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-52-38jdfrnd
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 7
Episode Number: 6