The “last wild Indian,” Ishi, spent nearly 45 years in hiding with his mom, uncle, and sister as the rest of the Yahi People were killed in the Three Knolls Massacre. After their camp was ransacked, Ishi was the last survivor. He spent 3 years surviving on his own in the wilderness until he was captured by the local Sheriff. He stayed at the University of California, Berkeley and taught the anthropologists his peoples tradition, culture and language as best as he could remember. His brain...

During a time where women were no more than stay-at-home housewives, Susan La Flesche Picotte broke through all barriers and became the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. Graduating from the Hampton Institute as valedictorian, Susan was determined to pursue her medical degree and was accepted at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She wrote an appeal to the Connecticut Indian Association for finances and was the first person to receive financial aid...

In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son’s last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom–choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly...

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian. 2020. This collection of writings offers lessons from successful challenges to institutional racism that have been won through the grassroots Black Lives Matter at School movement. Black Lives Matter at School offers the wisdom of lessons learned through the Black Lives Matter at School movement, which began at one school in 2016 and has since spread to hundreds of schools across the country. This book will inspire many hundreds...

In response to the overwhelming number of requests for recommendations of anti-bias children’s books, we are launching the Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk series. Beyond just sharing booklists, we want to share how we select high-quality, anti-bias books so that parents and teachers can do the same. Teaching for Change associate director Allyson Criner Brown is producing the series for parents, teachers, and librarians. She explains, Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk is part anti-bias...

The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz...

If you would have asked me in 2008, when I realized we were misdiagnosing trauma as learning disabilities, if I would have been writing this book, I wouldn't have been able to conceive it. Grounded Learning captures the observation, research, and insights gained over the last 12 years on this justice journey. It's a book about stories, stories interrupted. " Trauma unaddressed impacts student learning, multiplied across millions effects a system, unattended into adulthood influences cities...

From one of the world’s leading experts in meditation comes a roadmap for engaging in challenging times with clarity, calm, and heartfulness. Real Change guides us to embody the fundamental principles of mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to create a better world for both ourselves and others. Sharon Salzberg is one of the mindfulness field’s most beloved teachers and prolific authors, with multiple best-selling titles including Real Happiness and Love Your Enemies . In her most...

Season's Greetings Folks, Whatever your faith, belief system, ethnicity, identity may be, I am wishing everyone peace and joy. I am grateful that our paths have crossed. I will share a song of "Joy". I don't have much to offer, but as a musician I do have the gifts of music to share. An older song of mine & video, but the sentiment remains the same. Stay safe & Take care, Michael. "Joy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4tWjowZVo

Hey folks, A powerful music documentary. Well worth watching to learn the back story on some great musicians and music. I saw this a few years ago, glad I watched it again. Talk about overcoming trauma, racism and stigma....these folks exemplify the courage and the perseverance of the human spirit. Take care, Michael. - RUMBLE | The Indians Who Rocked the World | Independent Lens | PBS - https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/rumble/

The pandemic has forced professionals and their organizations to practice without a relevant playbook. Reactive attention to suffering for high volumes of critically ill patients many with limited chance of survival, have replaced proactive dialogues on pain relief, symptom management, and quality of life. Trauma-informed practices have never been more vital to understand and render across populations.

Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter December 2020 Hi Folks, Hoping this finds you well and safe. Wow, coming to the end of a very challenging year...I do hope that 2021 brings forth healing and hope for all of us. Life can be hard, a pandemic...