This month features an opportunity to see a documentary, “Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock” about the failed Sioux-led protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which in the process of delivering oil from North Dakota to Illinois crosses both the Missouri and Mississippi River upstream of American Indian tribal lands. Government pushback against the protests over the course of more than a year led to around 300 injuries and 500 arrests. This film is sponsored by the Diversity Events Committee and will play five more times in various venues on campus in the months of March and April.

While the protest movement was not successful, it has brought national and international attention to the legal battles surrounding the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly rights to natural resources and the lack of safeguards against those resources becoming contaminated. Watching the film is a great way to join the conversation and learn more about this issue. A recent ‘One Book’ program at IU East focused on the importance of clean water in third world countries, but this film is a reminder that it is an important issue here, too.

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

However, the conversation surrounding this film is just a start. The library offers a plethora of resources to further your understanding of American Indian rights and jurisprudence, not just of the Dakota Access Pipeline or water rights, but many other issues of tribal sovereignty, too. From articles in major databases, to more specialized sources like American Indian Histories and Cultures and American Indian History Online, you can access focused information about the political, social and cultural conflicts that have impacted Native American relations historically and through the modern era. They feature the full text of treaties, speeches, petitions, and diaries alongside artwork, photographs, newspaper articles, and digitized books.

The Campus Library also provides a variety of books exploring American Indian rights and law include Future of Indian and Federal Reserved Water Rights by Barbara Cosens, Deadliest Enemies: Law and Making the Race Relations On and Off Rosebud Reservation by Thomas Biolsi, Making Indian Law: The Hualapai Land Case and the Birth of Ethnohistory by Christian McMillen, Drumbeats from Mescalero: Conversations with Apache Elders, Warriors, and Horseholders by H. Henrietta Stockel, The Newspaper Warrior: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Campaign for American Indian Rights, 1864-1891 by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Like a Loaded Weapon: The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights, and the Legal History of Racism in America by Robert Williams, A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith in Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom by Huston Smith, and The Other Movement: Indian Rights and Civil Rights in the Deep South by Denise Bates.

Need help finding the resources you want? Ask us! iueref@iue.edu