Nevada INBRE Tribal Academy of Health and Science

Jim Thorpe (1887 - 1953) was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation and was the first Native American to win a gold medal in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Before the Olympics, Thorpe was a college athlete attending Carlisle in 1907. During the Olympics, Thorpe competed in both the pentathlon and decathlon and won a gold medal for winning the events. He also played professional football, baseball, and basketball at the highest competitive level and was known as the “greatest athlete in the world” by the words of King Gustav V of Sweden, who also presented Thorpe his medals at the Olympics. His titles and medals were at first removed in 1913 due to rumors of Thorpe receiving small payments during his baseball career in 1909 and 1910, thus deeming Thorpe as someone infringing the rules of amateurism in the Olympics. Following his death, on January 18, 1983, the International Olympic Committee reinstated Thorpe’s medals from 1912 at an ceremony attended by his two children.

The Esther Martinez Native American Language Preservation Act was created in 2006 and was made to fund Native American language programs meant to preserve Native American languages. Specific programs include Native American language nests, language restoration, and language survival schools. In the photo, Esther Martinez (1912 - 2006) was a linguist and storyteller of the Tewa people of New Mexico and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. honored her as a 2006 National Heritage Fellow for folk and traditional artists.

Native American religious and cultural practices were typically prohibited by the federal government with laws and policies meant to assimilate Native Americans. By August 11, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to protect their rights to practice, express, and believe their various religious and cultural customs. It also prohibited the federal government from interfering with these practices and allowed tribes access to sacred sites, possession of cultural objects, and the freedom to worship through traditional ceremonies.

In 1990, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act was created to prohibit the marketing and selling of Native American objects and misrepresentation of Native American products. It is therefore illegal to sell any products that are falsely claimed as Native American products. This law also protects any arts and crafts made after 1934 and typically requires tribal enrollment verification from the creator of the product. Today, people who break this law can owe $250,000 in fines and a 5-year prison sentence and businesses could face up to $1,000,000 in fines.

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Happy Patriot Day from the Tribal Academy of Health and Science
#911 🇺🇸

The NAGPRA was signed in the year 1990 and was meant to have Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony protected by federal law and returned to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. After the act was signed, there was a new process in which new findings on native lands were to be addressed by federal agencies and museums, as listed in 43 CFR 10.4.

The Mojave language is spoken by the Mojave people in areas such as northwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and southwestern Nevada. It is a member of the River branch of the Yuman language family and is closely related to the Maricopa, Quechan, and Cocopah languages. Although the language is endangered today, people continue to teach and pass the language on to the youth through language workshops in which fluent elders of the Mojave tribe teach the youth.

In 1990, the Native American Languages Act was signed to preserve, protect, and promote the rights of Native Americans to use Native American languages. It wasn’t until October 26, 1992 that President George H. W. Bush signed the act and became known as an answer to the English-only movements in America during the assimilation and termination period of Native Americans.

During World War I, 19 Choctaw soldiers were the first to use their native language as a code to confuse enemies and to transmit military messages. German soldiers were able to tap into American phone lines and find the location of the Allied Forces. The Choctaw soldiers were placed on the front lines and at command posts to transmit messages in the Choctaw language to throw off enemies.

Happy Labor Day from the Tribal Academy of Health and Science!

In 1972, the Indian Education Act of 1972 was created to authorize funds to be used by Native American and Alaskan Native students of all grade and education levels.It also led to the establishment of the Office of Indian Education and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind during your first week back to classes! 📚✏️

Happy first week of classes wolf pack! 🐺📚

Happy Move-In Day to all Upperclassmen! Good luck!

In 1953, a policy was passed by the federal government meant to terminate the legal sovereignty of Tribal Nations. According to the National Archives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Records: Termination, the policy was meant to “make Indians within the territorial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to other citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to American citizenship.” (Bureau of Indian Affairs Records., 2023).

The Indian Reorganization Act, or “Indian New Deal”, was a measure by the U.S Congress to decrease any federal control over Native American affairs and to increase Native American tribes’ abilities to self-govern themselves. The act was signed on June 18, 1934 and was also implemented as a sign of gratitude for native services during World War I. The deal was officially signed by President Franklin Roosevelt at the time as presented in the photo.

In August 20, 1794, the Battle of Fallen Timbers took place in Maumee, Ohio with Native American tribes such as the Shawnee, Egushawa, and others with the Northwestern Confederacy and British allies against the United States. It is also known as the final battle of the Northwest Indian War that resulted in the United States, led by Major General Anthony Wayne, to be victorious and led to the creation of the Treaty of Greenville and Jay Treaty. Both of which forced Native Americans away from their lands and American settlers to reside.

In Photo: The Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument by Bruce Saville in 1929 located at Maumee, Ohio.

Attention Wolf Pack!

Come join us at the University of Nevada, Reno 2034 Powwow this Saturday! Come meet some of our team and enjoy the powwow at the UNR Quad. See you all soon!

Reminder for students! We are accepting new students eligible for the Native American Fee Waiver and those with a major in health and biomedical science. Fill out the application online today!



https://www.unr.edu/nevada-inbre/student-programs/tribal-academy

Happy Move-In Day NevadaFIT!

Did you know that on October 7, 2016, U.S Congress passed the Nevada Native Lands Act? This act, also known as Public Law 114–232, ensures that six areas of public lands in Nevada are held in trust for specific Native American Tribes. In addition, 71,000 acres of land used by the federal government is given to six Nevada tribes to allow the tribes to expand housing, provide economic development opportunities and promote cultural activities.

Aaron Yazzie (1986 - present) is a member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation and is a Mechanical Systems Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He graduated Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2008 and has been a part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover mission, the Mars InSight Lander Mission, the Mars 2020 Rover Mission, and now the Mars Sample Return Campaign. Additionally, Yazzie is passionate about STEM outreach for underrepresented communities and is a Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

🚨Attention!🚨

Friends and families, we would like to invite you to the Native American and Indigenous Students Welcome Reception at the Joe Crowley Student Union on campus. We hope to see you there!

Date: August 17th, 2024
Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Joe Crowley Student Union, 4th floor

Ella Cara Deloria (1889 - 1971), also known as Anpetu Wastéwin (“Beautiful Day Woman”), was a member of the Dakota Sioux Nation. She was an educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist who recorded Native American oral history. Before graduating from Columbia’s Teacher College in 1915, she met the “father of anthropology” Franz Boas. Both of them translated Native American texts from the 19th century and linguistics during their 15 years of working together. Deloria’s own research and work consisted of the novel Waterlily, writing Dakota grammar books, interviewing elders, teaching at the University of South Dakota, and working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding the Lumbee of Robeson county and the Navajo Reservation.

Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins (1844 - 1891) of the Northern Paiute tribe was born near Humboldt Lake, Nevada and was known for being a writer, activist, lecturer, teacher, and school organizer. Her Northern Paiute name was Thocmetony, which meant “shell flower”. During the Pyramid Lake War, she and her family escaped to San Francisco and Virginia City. Sarah later worked as an interpreter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Fort McDermitt in 1871 at 27 years old. Her other occupation included being an advocate for Native American rights across the United States and in the U.S. forces as a messenger, interpreter, and guide, and as a teacher for imprisoned Native Americans after the Bannock War. Her most famous written work published by Sarah was her book Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims in 1883, which was both a memoir and written piece about the history of the Paiute tribe during the first 40 years of European contact. To highlight her accomplishments, she was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1993 and had a statue built in her honor by Benjamin Victor, which resides in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S Capitol. Although Sarah passed away from tuberculosis in 1891, her legacy and stories continue to live on today.

Native American Beadwork is an art form in which colorful and beautiful designs are hand-sewn into wearable designs on necklaces, earrings, rings, medallions, bracelets, and other accessories. To most artists, beading is sacred and almost as precious as saying a prayer. In history, beads and beaded necklaces came from Europeans and were traded with native tribes for animal furs, skin, and meat. Over time, beadwork became a status symbol and tribes would use the jewelry in spiritual dances and celebrations including weddings, treaties, and trade agreements.

Nicole Aunapu Man (1971 - present) is a member of the Wailacki branch of California’s Round Valley Indian Tribes and is known for being the first Native American woman in space. She was a Mission Commander for a SpaceX flight to the International Space Station in 2022 and is training to be the first female candidate for a moon landing mission in 2025 as well as being a part of the international Artemis program. Before joining NASA in 2013, Mann flew 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a test pilot for the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet aircraft.

Jerry Chris Elliot High Eagle (1943 - present) is a physicist and the first Native American to work for NASA. Being of Osage-Cherokee descent, Jerry applied to work for NASA and became a guidance engineer in NASA’s Gemini program. As he continued to work for NASA, he accomplished many personal and occupational goals such as watching Neil Armstrong’s moon landing in 1969, being part of 11 Apollo missions, including Apollo 13, and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jerry Chris Elliot officially earned the name High Eagle as an honor from the Cherokee nation for his achievements and work with NASA.

John Herrington (1958 - present) of the Chickasaw Nation was the first Native American chosen by NASA in 1996 and the first Native American to conduct a spacewalk mission in 2002. He conducted three spacewalks in 2002 when chosen as a mission specialist for the 16th shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Retiring from the Navy and NASA in July 2005, Herrington currently works with the Chickasaw Nation youth to teach them about math and science as well as writing his children’s book in 2016 Mission to Space. Now Herrington has the honor of being inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame (2022), the National Native American Hall of Fame (2018), and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame (2019).

Mary Golda Ross (1908-2008) was the first Native American female engineer and was a member of the Cherokee nation. She received her professional engineering certificate at UCLA while also being the first Native American woman to do so. For World War II, Lockheed Martin and his team credited her as the lead-developer of the P-38 Lightning. During the 1960s space race, NASA considered Mary as a key figure in the Apollo program as an engineer and mathematician. Additionally, Mary authored a volume of NASA’s Planetary Flight Handbook with trajectory calculations for flights to Mars.