by Rich Wandschneider | Dec 31, 2025 | Manifest Destiny, Marcus Whitman, Native Americans, Nespelem, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce
President Trump’s recent outbursts about Somali-Americans and their homeland being “garbage” have been the most xenophobic rants since those a year ago about Haitians eating pets in Illinois. There have been milder explosions about Venezuelans and South Africans and...
by Rich Wandschneider | Jul 4, 2025 | 4th of July, Albert Andrews, Code of Indian Offenses, Colville Reservation, Indian assimilation, Indian boarding schools, Indian Offenses, Nespelem, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce Homeland, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Nez Perce War, Nezpercians
Years ago, Albert Red Star Andrews of the Joseph Band of Nez Perce on the Colville Reseravtion in north central Washington, told me about a unique Fourth of July event on his reservation. It was called Pasapalloynin, meaning “to make them rejoice, to make them happy!”...
by Rich Wandschneider | Apr 26, 2025 | Chief Joseph, Colville Reservation, Colville tribes, First Foods, Indian religion, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce Homeland, Nez Perce treaty, Nez Perce Tribe, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Nez Perce War
Last weekend four of us from Wallowa County made the long highway drive to Nespelem, Washington for the annual Nez Perce root feast. After a service of drumming, singing and testimony, we sat for a huge feast of “first foods.” Wild foods from water and salmon through...
by Rich Wandschneider | Nov 16, 2024 | Antikoni, Autry Museum, Beth Piatote, Fishtrap, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce art, Nez Perce stories, Nez Perce War
That is the name of the play by Beth Piatote now playing in Los Angeles! This, from “People’s World”: “LOS ANGELES — Theatergoers are in for a very special occasion—a revelation, it’s not too excessive to say—if they will expand their horizons a bit and embrace a...
by Rich Wandschneider | Aug 11, 2024 | horses, Hudson’s Bay Company, infectious diseases, Lakota, Native revival, Navajo, Ned Blackhawk, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce War, North American Indian, Pacific Northwest Indians
I’ve written before about Ned Blackhawk’s outstanding book, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. Here’s more. The title itself is revolutionary—“rediscovering” echoing and countering the decades of homage to Columbus for...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 13, 2024 | Indian population, indigenous americans, Indigenous Continent, Indigenous population of America, infectious diseases, measles, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, whitman
The recent upsurge in measles cases in Florida and the US in general has doctors and public health officials scratching heads. Apparently, there is a big difference in infection rates when the percentage of children who receive the MMR—Measles, Mumps,...
