Sandy Hansen

04/26/2026

𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨'𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 native forever 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬.

04/25/2026

My daughter and I in our parkas I made.

04/24/2026

We need a big A'ho Proud to be Native American

04/23/2026

Type Yes IF You Support Native American

04/22/2026

04/21/2026

If you support Native American people's, history & culture 🥰Say.. "Yes

04/19/2026

A true warrior’s spirit. Sergeant Billy Walks About earned every honor through courage, service, and heart. He served with quiet strength, guided by values rooted in duty, community, and respect—never seeking attention, only doing what was right when it mattered most.

His story reminds us that bravery isn’t about recognition or headlines. It’s about sacrifice, resilience, and love for others, even in the hardest moments. Long after the uniform is set aside, that kind of courage continues to speak.

Sergeant Billy Walks About’s legacy still commands respect and gratitude—a reminder that true warriors carry honor not just in battle, but in how they live and serve. 🪶🔥

04/19/2026

The Niitsitapi, commonly known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet, refer to themselves with this term meaning “the real people” or “the original people.” They are a confederation of Indigenous nations from the Great Plains of North America, traditionally located in what is now Montana in the United States, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.
The Niitsitapi Confederacy is composed of four main nations: the Siksika (the Blackfoot proper), the Kainai (also known as the Blood), and the Piikani, who are divided into the Aamskapi Piikani (Southern Piikani) in the U.S. and the Apatohsipiikani (Northern Piikani) in Canada.
Historically, they were a warrior people and skilled buffalo hunters, with a culture deeply connected to the land and their spiritual traditions. Despite challenges and changes throughout history, the Niitsitapi have maintained a strong cultural identity and continue to preserve their language, customs, and ancestral ceremonies..

04/18/2026

Elouise Cobell – The Woman Who Took on the U.S. Government and Won
Elouise Cobell, known as Yellow Bird Woman was a Blackfeet Nation banker and rancher in Montana who grew tired of watching Native Americans get cheated out of their rightful land income. For over a century, the U.S. government mismanaged and misplaced billions of dollars in trust funds owed to Native people for the use of their lands. When no one else would step up, Elouise did.
In 1996, she filed the largest class-action lawsuit ever brought against the federal government by Native Americans. She faced endless delays, resistance, and even personal attacks. But she refused to give up. For 15 years, she battled in court, traveling the country, raising awareness, and rallying other Native people to speak out. In 2009, the government agreed to a $3.4 billion settlement—the largest in U.S. history for Indian trust mismanagement.
Elouise Cobell didn’t just win money; she won justice and recognition for generations of Native families who had been ignored and dismissed. Her fierce spirit proved that one determined woman could shake the foundations of power and force a nation to admit its wrongs. She remains a legend of courage, financial wisdom, and unshakable loyalty to her people.

04/17/2026

For generations, Indigenous stories appeared on screen without Indigenous voices guiding the lens. Representation existed, but true control rarely did. That gap shaped how the world viewed Native communities—and how Native youth learned to see themselves. 🎬🪶
The first Oscar nomination for a film directed by an Indigenous North American creator marks a long-overdue shift. This moment goes beyond trophies or headlines. It represents authorship, truth, and the power to tell stories without outside filters distorting lived experience.
When Indigenous creators lead their own narratives, the stories carry authenticity, depth, and cultural truth that cannot be replicated. This milestone opens doors—but it also highlights how many voices are still waiting for the chance to be heard on their own terms..

04/17/2026

Mourning Dove — The First Native Woman Novelist and Keeper of Plateau Memory

Long before Christine Quintasket became known as Mourning Dove, she was a young Interior Salish girl growing up along the powerful waters of the upper Columbia River. She would one day gather the stories of the Northern Plateau peoples with a voice that blended tradition, memory, and her own lived experience—much like her contemporary Zora Neale Hurston.
Her groundbreaking novel Cogewea later became the first published novel written by a Native American woman.

A Life That Began on the Water

Family stories say she entered the world between 1884 and 1888 in the most fitting way possible—born in a canoe as her mother crossed the Kootenai River. Christine’s mother, Lucy Stukin, was of Lakes and Colville ancestry, and her father, Joseph Quintasket, belonged to the Nicola band of the Okanagan people. Their home at Kettle Falls was rich with culture, language, and the rhythms of the river.

As a child, Christine learned Salish as her first language and spent summers at the great salmon fishery at Kettle Falls. Her grandmother taught her traditional Plateau ways, while Teequalt, an older woman who lived with the family, guided her spiritually. An adopted white orphan named Jimmy Ryan taught her to read—using dime novels as her first textbooks.

Schooling and Struggle

Christine entered the Goodwin Catholic Mission in 1894, where speaking her Native language brought punishment. She left due to illness, returned briefly, and later attended the Fort Spokane agency school. After her mother’s death in 1902, she stayed home to help her family until her father remarried in 1904. She then moved to Montana and attended the Fort Shaw School near her grandparents.

While living there, she witnessed a moment that stayed with her for life: the 1908 roundup of the last free-roaming bison herd. One powerful bull fought desperately against being forced into a railcar—breaking through the barrier, falling between two trains, and dying instantly. Mourning Dove carried that image with her, a symbol of a world disappearing before her eyes.

A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced

Despite hardship, loss, and attempts to erase her language, Mourning Dove grew into a writer who preserved stories that might have vanished forever. She collected tribal narratives, celebrated the strength of Plateau women, and wrote with the authority of someone who lived between two worlds—traditional and modern.

Her legacy endures not only in her writing, but in the cultural memory she protected at a time when Native voices were rarely heard.