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Sitting Bull I & II
Writer & Director : Brian McKenna
Featuring :
August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull
With descendants Lise Beauchamp, Lucretia Grindle, Ronald McNeil, Ronald McNeil Jr., Wiyaka McNeil, Leonard Lethbridge, Lawrence Lethbridge and Small Tall
On air : September 2002, 8pm on History Channel
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In the years following the U.S. Civil War, a hard-fought Sioux resistance to western expansion, led by warrior and healer Sitting Bull, seemed to have accomplished the impossible: a treaty in which the United States gave the Sioux control of their territory for all time. However, the potential to harvest the riches of the western plains, especially gold, soon proved more important to the U.S. than honouring their treaty. Narrated by Raoul Trujillo, this two-part episode directed by Brian McKenna eloquently chronicles the life and legacy of Sitting Bull, the remarkable Native leader that the U.S government regarded as a stubborn and dangerous obstacle.
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Poundmaker
Writer & Director : Gil Cardinal
Featuring :
Tyrone Tootoosis as Poundmaker
With descendants Gordon Tootoosis, Jim Tootoosis Sr.
On air : September 2002, 8pm on History Channel
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For two days in August of 1885, Plains Cree leader Poundmaker sat shackled in a Regina courtroom, accused of participating in a rebellion against the Queen's Canadian government. Administrators in Canada's Indian Department, including the Superintendent, Sir John A. Macdonald, saw the Cree leader as an agitator and assumed that the Cree were in complete collusion with the Louis Riel rebellion. Aided by Poundmaker descendants Gordon and Jim Tootoosis, and narrated by Tom Jackson, director Gil Cardinal takes us through Poundmaker's early days on the plains to the Regina trial of 1885, and re-examines the context of Cree participation in the events of that fateful spring.
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Joseph Brant - The Worlds of Joseph Brant
Writer & Director : Gil Cardinal
Featuring :
Lawrence Bayne as Joseph Brant
With descendants Terrylyn Brant, Dakota Brant, Jesse Brant, Theda Brant, Norman Jacobs and Phil Monture
On air : September 2002, 8pm on History Channel
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Born in 1742 in what is now New York State's Mohawk Valley, Joseph Brant's parents gave him the traditional Mohawk name Thayendanegea - 'two sticks bound together in strength'. Though unintended, the name would be strikingly symbolic of Brant's twin ambitions: to be a power broker between Indian and English societies, and to satisfy his thirst for power, recognition and eminence. Written and directed by Gil Cardinal, this episode is a rich biography of a man living in the middle of changing times for his people, the People of the Longhouse - the loss of their homeland, their re-settling in Canada, and the impact Brant had on those changing times. It is the story of a man whose name still stirs up controversy today, especially among his descendants, the people of the Six Nations.
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Black Hawk - The Black Hawk War
Writer & Director : Brian McKenna
Featuring :
Bill Merasty as Black Hawk
With descendants Donald (Duck) Marland, Preston Duncan, Muriel Wheeler and Michael Pequano
On air : September 2002, 8pm on History Channel
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While an immense statue of Black Hawk overlooks the Mississippi river today near the homeland of the Sauk and Fox nations, his descendants were forced to move from their original lands to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. As the Sauk of today relate, the violent conflict that finally erupted around Black Hawk in the spring of 1832 spelled the end of Sauk resistance to removal and nearly decimated their people. Narrated by Raoul Trujillo, this episode gathers together Sauk descendants from Oklahoma to revisit their traditional homeland in northern Illinois and Wisconsin. Through his interviews with Black Hawk's descendants, writer and director Brian McKenna uncovers an exceptional figure devoted to his people and whose eloquence helped sensitise many of his American contemporaries to the plight of First Nations.
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Pontiac - Pontiac's Rebellion
Writer & Director : Brian McKenna
Featuring :
Pierre Chagnon as Pontiac
With descendants Charlie Meyers and Rudy Pontiac
On air : September 2002, 8pm on History Channel
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Written and directed by Brian McKenna, this episode tells the story of the great native Chief who demonstrated to the world the British were not invincible. In the 1750's, Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa tribe, had a peaceful and mutually respectful relationship with the French. That harmonious situation changed when the British defeated the French on Quebec's Plains of Abraham in 1759 (The Seven Years War). The British were confident of their supremacy on the frontier and of their fearlessness towards the native people, but Pontiac proved them wrong. Pontiac's remarkably successful insurrection forced the British to reverse their policies and, through the Royal Proclamation of 1763, created a vast Indian sovereign territory.
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